From the press release:

The Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Missouri is the site chosen to host the 2012 National Ice Carving Competition, a preliminary for competitors to end up in the city of Sochi, Russia, the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014. The two-day event will beheld on Sat., Feb. 4, and Sun., Feb. 5, 2012.

I must admit I have never given ice carving a serious thought. I know that people do carve fantastic shapes in ice but never knew it had its had its own national and even international competitions (other than reading about the occasional ice carving contests). This event has a nice purse of $25,000 for the winner (minus taxes of course, never forget the outstretched hand of the revenue collector). According to the release:

The Master Division will carve three blocks of ice on Saturday and one block of ice on Sunday. The Professional Division will carve one block of ice on Saturday and two blocks of ice on Sunday. Dimensions of each block of ice are 40x20x10inches and each ice block weighs in at 300 pounds. Carvers will use a large array of tools such as chainsaws, chisels, blowtorches, hot irons, knives, drills, and much more.

These obviously are not your ordinary ice blocks but giant slabs made at an industrial ice plant and trucked in. I will not be surprised if some creative mixologist (the fancy name for bartender these days), comes up with some special drink for the event. With ice, of course! 🙂

Source:
PR Newswire, Branson, Missouri to Host 2012 National Ice Carving Competition, 12 Jul 2011