Major support for Oregon Field Guide is provided by... ED JAHN: Next on Oregon Field Guide: MAN: I've been a professional ice competitor for about 20 years, currently the world champion.

I'm just saying that so you guys know who you have leading you.

[ music playing ] WOMAN: We're in Alaska.

It's crazy.

WOMAN: It's the World Ice Art Championship.

Three-thousand-pound blocks of ice.

MAN: I love representing Oregon.

WOMAN: Oregon is kicking butt, and they are full-on running with it.

MAN: The danger element is part of judging.

If you don't have it, you're not pushing yourself into that top category.

Steady... [ man exclaims ] [ ice shattering ] WOMAN: Come on!

There he is, there he is, there he is.

[ exclaims ] Come over here, buddy!

Good boy!

[ laughing ] WOMAN: Whoo, high five!

Yeah!

NOAH THOMAS: This is a five-foot-long Mohawk spike made of ice.

It weighs about 120 pounds.

Professional ice carver Chris Foltz and his team are about to mount it to an 18-foot-tall baby.

We're putting a Mohawk on a baby, that's what we're about to do.

Let's go heavy end first.

That needs to tip up.

It's not flat.

Tip up, tip up, tip up.

Just get right in there, little pocket right there.

Take the weight.

All right, I'm letting go.

This the first time you put spikes on a baby -at 18 feet?

-[ men laughing ] [ wind whistling ] [ music playing ] This is Ice Alaska.

Every winter, the world's most talented carvers travel here to compete in the Ice Art Championships.

This year, a team from Oregon is hoping to win it all.

Okay, let's do it.

They're led by Chris Foltz.

I'm a chef instructor at Oregon Coast Culinary Institute, and I'm also an ice artist.

Never stop being a chef or an artist or a competitor.

The extreme cold in Alaska is a world apart from the Oregon coast, but Chris is no stranger to competing in Fairbanks, and he holds a unique appreciation for this opportunity.

You're there in the middle of the night and the lights on the ice and everything's glowing and it's intense, and you're looking through the forest and you're seeing these masters, artists from all different walks of life.

It became gripping to realize that I'd gotten to that point to where I could be there with these people in this arena.

It's amazing, you know?

It's an amazing place to be.

Chris and his team are looking for its eighth world championship in Ice Alaska's flagship event, the Multi-Block Competition, where teams are given nearly a week to carve a sculpture using up to nine 2,000-pound blocks of ice.

This year, seven teams will be participating, and competition is stiff.

Carvers often work morning and night to take advantage of every minute they have.

There, perfect.

Chris is defending his title.

Last year's team clinched the gold with this battle elephant.

MAN: Look at those tusks!

CHRIS: Ice Alaska has no theme or direction, which is really cool for people like me because I just love carving stuff that I've never seen before or I think I'll never see again.

[ music playing ] This one, the "Wild Child," I was making an ice delivery outside of Salem, and this idea of this giant baby with a mohawk came into my mind, you know, and there it was.

That's one of the things I love about it.

It doesn't have to be anything except something you want to do for some weird reason.

This is the stack, and then these are all the pieces that'll be added.

We'll be building a Chihuahua, we're going to have baby blocks, we've got a binky, we've got a couple safety pins, some tattoos, and then he'll be playing the toy guitar.

If I was a bronze sculptor, I would imagine I would need something a little more serious, but it's not like it's going to be there very long.

I mean, it's going to melt.

[ music playing ] The team this year is fantastic.

We have Dean Murray.

Dean is one of my favorite people in the world.

He is intensely fun to be around.

[ laughs ] Dean's hands are all over this thing.

[ men laughing ] He actually brought me up here my first time when I came up here.

It was an invite on his team.

It didn't take long for the student to become the master and surpass me, but I think he's a better all-around sculptor than me, but I don't think he's beat me in a head-to-head competition yet.

[ Chris laughs ] I ain't from around these parts.

I'm from Dallas, Texas.

I started back in '88, I think it was, picked up my first chainsaw, did my first carving.

CHRIS: Texas Dean, he's there to work and he's there to win, you know, and I really respect that about Dean.

Dean's doing this.

We just don't know which Dean yet.

One Dean will start, one Dean will finish.

If you like it, Dean did it.

If you don't like it, Dean did it.

Ready?

MURRAY: It's a special compound.

Two parts hydrogen, one part-- what is it?

-MAN: Oxygen.

-Oxygen, yeah.

No, I was like, "Did I get the ratio right?"

-You did, yeah, H2O.

-H2O.

CHRIS: Nick, the student this year on the team, I love having that student influence, you know, or that younger perspective.

It's good energy, you know?

It's cool.

It's like visiting your family again, you know, every time you come up here.

Dang it, Dean.

[ laughs ] Chris is just a badass.

There ain't nothing else to say about the man.

Put a chainsaw in front of him, put a fish in front of him.

Hell, you could drop a moose right in front of him, I'm sure we'll have a gourmet meal in 30 minutes.

You know, he's just that type of person, that type of thinking that you love to be around, you know?

Chris really loves to carve ice.

But he carves a bunch of other things as well, including wood, sugar, and even pumpkins.

In fact, his team recently won first place at a national sand castle competition in St. Helens, Oregon.

For most of his life, Chris worked as a chef, and making ice sculptures was a way for him to stand out in a competitive industry.

Yeah, I was right about 24, working in a casino, and there was a chef there that was doing ice carving.

The director came down and said that the executive chef abruptly left and wasn't coming back.

Just like out of the movies, like all six other sous chefs just kind of faded away, and I didn't realize it, and I just looked at my director and I was like, "Ice carving, that's with a chainsaw, right?

I've seen that."

And that was it, man, I was the resident ice carver.

Chris now teaches classes at the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute.

Okay, looks like we got everybody here.

And in 2022, he launched a program aimed at training students in the art of ice carving.

So you're going to use a chainsaw today and that's it.

This works pretty easy.

Pull back... -[ chainsaw whirs ] -...and it's going to run, okay?

This is the dangerous end.

This is your template.

You're going to carve a star.

Or something that looks like it.

You're going to put your template on and you're going to run a little water in.

See that water go behind the paper?

Easy, now the template's on.

You're just going to draw the lines.

I definitely introduce ice carving to my students because I think about it all the time.

And one thing I learned about teaching is when you teach, you are, like, compounding education into your mind, you know?

You're learning ten times faster.

But it pushes me even further every year.

Now the image is in your block.

If this was a cookie cutter, all you would do is, like, punch, right?

The idea is that it would go straight through.

That's all you have to do is to try to make this go straight.

Now, if my saw is straight, like this, I'm going to have a nice clean connection.

Okay, let's try.

Okay?

That is literally the most important thing I can teach you, is how to cut straight.

[ music playing ] Starting today, these students have four months to learn the art of ice carving.

Those with the most potential will travel with Chris to Alaska and enter the Collegiate Competition, also held in Fairbanks.

I have never used a chainsaw.

I cut, like, parts of a tree off, but nothing more than that, you know?

Yeah, so nothing-- no professional experience with chainsaws.

I think I got the shape going, but not as pretty as I wanted.

Oh, my God.

That's really fun.

For their first time, I think students, their most difficult piece is being in control of the saw rather than the saw in control of them and actually just holding it up for 30 minutes.

It's definitely something that they have to adjust to over the next few months in order to do a competition.

-Looking rough.

-[ laughs ] Looks great, honestly.

He's lying.

MAN: I think it's an awesome opportunity, hopefully get up to Alaska and freeze my hands off while I'm chopping something cool.

I'm excited, very excited.

Over the next three days, Chris' students will compete against carvers from other colleges to see who takes home the gold medal.

Skyeler, you're side one, right?

But even if they don't win, the skills built up here in Alaska will pay dividends for these young chefs.

CHRIS: As a chef, if you go apply for a job someday but you happen to be the one person that can make ice carvings, you get the job.

So it is a very beneficial piece.

In Coos Bay, the students practiced on ice blocks that were 175 pounds.

These blocks are 20 times larger.

Adding to the challenge is the cold.

Temperatures on this day will reach negative 24 degrees Fahrenheit.

Twenty below is prime ice carving temperature because everything freezes nice and fast.

I just put my tail feathers on, froze 'em to the sides, it froze instantly and it's going to hold.

The wings that I have on my piece are probably about 150 pounds each, sticking out about four, five feet outwards, and they're being held up by about two inches of ice.

Once I take that support out, any vibrations or touching at all will bring it crashing down probably.

Call that ice acoustics, that's what will shatter the whole thing.

We're in Alaska.

It's crazy.

I don't even know.

I have like five layers on right now.

I'm still cold, so... [ chuckles ] I knew I wanted to do some type of wing and something mystical.

I always loved horses when I was little, so I was like, my little self would love if I could carve it right now.

That was my inspiration, really.

CHRIS: The ear looks fantastic, by the way.

You really did nice on that.

Don't be afraid to, like, flare a little bit.

To make it clear, you want to go to chisel.

What I'm looking for in a student is not really artistic ability as much as it is, just plain and simple, they want to do it.

I want somebody who actually just wants to do it, that's it.

Awesome, awesome.

So you're carving this completely while the supports are on, right?

While it's on there, yep.

That's going to be your last thing?

My very last thing.

-Good luck, man.

-Thanks.

The students are well on their way, so Chris turns his attention to the multi-block competition.

And all eyes are on the Japanese team, headed by Junichi Nakamura, basically the Michael Jordan of ice carving.

Junichi's one of the people that have been carving, like, their whole life, so it's hard to compete against somebody that level.

He's very talented.

But even for an expert like Junichi, disaster can strike, like in 2005, as he was putting the finishing touches on this sculpture.

[ people gasp, scream, exclaiming ] CHRIS: And it looks like it crushes him.

You can hear the crowd just, "Oh, my gosh, is he okay?"

And of course he was okay, you know, but it's what you have to deal with.

It is ice.

First rule I was ever taught about ice is that ice breaks.

And I've always kept that in my mind.

[ ice shatters ] The ice blocks are harvested from a local gravel pit turned pond which is free of plants and animals, ensuring the ice stays crystal clear.

A custom chainsaw rig is used to cut the blocks and a forklift moves them to a holding area for tempering.

After a few days, the blocks are rock solid but can easily become unstable when stacked two stories high.

Setting the blocks in a solid foundation will be key to avoiding catastrophe.

So, what we're going to do is this core stack right here.

The team uses volunteer forklift drivers to carefully position the two-ton blocks.

CHRIS: Those drivers are unbelievable.

You can see how talented these guys are.

It's serious [ bleep ], dude.

I mean, people can get hurt out here.

They've got to have some pros out here, otherwise the show doesn't go.

Thanks, Jasper.

So this point right here is very delicate, and it's supporting an immense amount of weight, probably upwards of 50,000 pounds in the end.

And we're going to drop that onto about a foot and a half block.

So this is where we really need to take our time this morning.

Make sure that gets lined up, dude.

I'm pushing on his butt.

[ grunting ] Oh, yeah.

We should be good.

Okay.

Usually your artwork is either subtractive or additive.

So either you're adding clay or you're subtracting from stone.

Ice carving is both.

So you have all these blocks that you need to build, so your structure is additive.

And then you move to a subtractive nature where you're actually sculpting, kind of like stone.

Like, you're just chipping away what you don't want.

But then at another point, you can fuse it, so then you go back to additive in the end.

So you're always kind of back and forth with the ideas of how to do it.

WOMAN: How long have you been ice carving?

About a year and a half.

-WOMAN: That's it?

-Well, I had a good teacher.

My instructor's a seven-time world champion, so... pretty nice to have someone like that teaching you how to ice carve.

The event is open to the public, which means a steady stream of bystanders.

CHRIS: Dealing with the spectators or the crowd, you know, that's a big piece of it.

That's why we're there, you know?

That's what the show's all about, is for people to come see it.

It's midway through the competition, and the sculpture is beginning to take form.

Good morning, guys.

[ saw whirring ] The intimidation factor is real when you're surrounded by the world's best carvers and the clock is ticking.

We're moving really good.

We just want to put the back four spikes on the baby, put the right arm, and mount the guitar.

If we can get that done, that's a fantastic day.

Once we put the hand and the guitar on, we can't put the spikes on.

It's too dangerous, because if the spike breaks and falls, it takes the hand and guitar with it.

It's always in case something falls, because ice breaks.

And once you realize that and you're calm with it, you start planning things out appropriately.

So, it's going to be a very dangerous situation, but, you know, that's where a lot of experience comes in, you know?

-You got a hold of it, Nick?

-NICK: Yeah.

CHRIS: It looks good from here.

-Very baby-ish.

-Yep.

Go over the hand.

Okay.

Good.

This is great.

Let's go down...

They make quick work of the mohawk spikes... All right, I'm letting go.

...but now it's time for the most challenging stage of the build.

Let's put the guitar up there.

MURRAY: That guitar weighs, whoo, 1,500 to 2,000 pounds.

This is probably the most intricate, I would say.

Having to connect to the leg and the hand, just gets a little tight.

So, we'll see how it goes.

No matter how much they prepare, there's no way to know whether the guitar will fit as planned... -CHRIS: Okay.

-...until it's lifted and set in place by the crane.

CHRIS [ sighs ]: Okay.

We need to get it seated in that leg.

How's that?

Steady, steady!

Okay...

Okay, so, can you guys pull your side out a little bit?

Steady.

Nice.

A little more.

Oh!

[ Chris sighs ] Are you guys good?

I'd like a little tap.

Thank you.

All right, all right, all right.

That's okay.

We can build around it.

-It's only one spike.

-We only lost one?

-Yeah.

-Okay, all right.

Nice and easy, let's just keep going.

Push it in towards me.

We can slush it from behind.

This is your learning lesson, you know?

It's your experience where nature's telling you you were wrong, and this is the only way you can learn.

Well, that was exciting.

It swung a little bit more than we expected and-- Hey, there's a toe.

[ laughs ] No, that's not the toe, that's a thumb.

No, it's a thumb, so, uh, we had the arm snap at the elbow.

And luckily, no one got hurt.

I just got skimmed on the side of my head and a little rattled, because that's the first time I have experienced a crash before.

Oh!

CHRIS: Ice breaks.

I want you to lodge that into your mind.

Once you have that, you'll know you can fix anything.

But don't ever imagine ice is not going to break.

-Mother Nature wins.

-[ Murray laughs ] Yeah, yeah.

[snowfall crackling] The accident set Chris' team back at least three hours.

While they work through the night to play catch-up, judges have chosen the winners of the Collegiate Competition.

CHRIS: Can you guys hear me?

ALL: Yes.

All right, so just to say a couple words about the Collegiate, this year we had over 20 competitors, and you guys are absolutely amazing.

I just want to say that.

[ all cheering ] All right, second place: Skyeler Martius, get up here.

[ all cheer, applaud ] WOMAN: Let's go!

Whoo!

SKYELER: I couldn't believe it.

Just coming out here, I was just here having fun.

I wasn't even caring about the place or anything, but it was really cool to-- my first competition and sculpture that big.

So, that was awesome.

Don't forget, Skyeler, you will wear that medal all the way home.

And first place... "Dinner Bell" by Isaac Rodrigues.

[ all cheering, applauding ] ISAAC: Chef Chris taught me everything I know.

Thank you for all you've done for me and all that you've taught me.

I'll see you here next year, and I'm going to try to beat you.

That's right, that's right.

Hey!

I'm here for it, man.

Good job, dude.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations, man.

So, I just won first place for my piece, "Dinner Bell," the owl sweeping down to get the rabbit.

I feel great, I worked hard on it and had a lot of setbacks, a lot of things break, but I was able to create what I think is a beautiful piece.

[ music playing ] It's the last day of the main event, and if teams aren't in the home stretch, they're in trouble.

CHRIS: Day six, we've got about eight hours left.

Super ready for the finish line.

We've been averaging 12-hour days, a couple longer days.

We're looking at coming up on that 70-, 80-hour mark for the full piece.

The team has one big piece left to move, a 9-foot-tall Chihuahua that will lean against the baby.

And like the guitar before it, this will be a delicate balancing act.

You can see the dog's basically vertical right now, but we're going to set it so it's leaning up against the baby.

You want it to look like it's almost impossible that you made it, and that's kind of the idea.

Coming down, coming down.

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

Yeah, I think you're solid.

[ Chris chuckles ] Whew.

Come on, this is it.

This is the one shot, right here.

That actually holds and supports and gives me just a little gap.

CHRIS: Yeah, it looks great, dude.

ISAAC: It's been a really productive day.

Honestly, a lot smoother than I thought it was going to be.

[ ice scraping ] [ music playing ] 8:50!

Ten minutes left!

DEMARAIS: Multi-block is almost over.

CHRIS: Uniqueness?

Check.

Difficulty?

Check.

Danger elements?

Check.

WOMAN: Oh, "Wild Child."

I didn't see that part.

MAN: Oh, the bottle.

WOMAN: Yeah!

ISAAC: Home stretch.

Looks great.

CHRIS: Yep, yep, yep.

Got any idea?

Maybe something like that?

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

-[ horn honks ] -WOMAN: That's it!

[ people cheering, applauding ] Horn's blown, so that's it.

And, uh, yeah, it's on to the judges.

So, that's the end of it.

-I think it looks cool.

-Yeah.

After six days and the carvers working for nearly 80 hours, "Wild Child" is done.

Now judges will score each sculpture on creativity, complexity, precision, and, of course, the danger element.

[ people chattering ] CHILD: Look out, that fire might burn us!

It's getting higher!

Hello!

Thank you all for being here.

[ crowd cheering, applauding ] Thank you for supporting Ice Alaska.

Thank you for supporting this community.

I have the privilege of announcing the winners of the Multi-Block Competition.

All right, second place: Junichi Nakamura, captain.

[ crowd applauding, cheering ] -Congratulations!

-Thank you, thank you.

One of Ice Alaska's most respected competitors failed to take first place, leaving hope that the gold medal is still within reach.

First place... Do I get a drum roll?

[ people imitating drum roll ] Silas Firth, captain.

-Holy [ bleep ].

-Wow.

-[ crowd applauding ] -WOMAN: Nice job!

[ all cheering ] SILAS: That was unexpected.

Our piece is a tribute to Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces who were battling in World War I.

Thank you.

[ crowd cheering, applauding ] It always hurts a little bit when you don't place.

You always see your piece as the gem, you know what I mean?

But when you're in a community like this of artists that are just at that-- at that level, sometimes you get on the stage, sometimes you don't.

It's the reason to come back and try to figure out how to do it better.

Chris and the guys have experienced both sides of victory many times.

And for them, Ice Alaska is about much more than just medals.

[ music playing ] Alaska is so far away.

It costs a lot to get there, it is an immense amount of work.

And then when you get there, all of your work is going to melt away, you know what I mean?

But as a professional artist, it's the one place that I get to go and do whatever I want to do.

Thank you, thank you.

[ both laughing ] How about-- how about in another six years?

[ both laugh ] Damn good time.

CHRIS: Nice work, dude.

I know it may sound wild because I'm not on vacation in most people's view, but it is truly my vacation.

It's the place where I just get to do my piece, you know?

So I'm going back, you know?

As many times as I can, I'll keep going back, that's it.

[ music playing ] You can now find many Oregon Field Guide stories and episodes online.

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