Ski Scenes from the Big City

Another part of the 2010 Olympic event in NYC last Friday was the ice scuplture artists, who entertained the crowd with animated antics while carving up their blocks of ice with chainsaws, drills and other tools.

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One of our super-secret SKI Magazine spies was on assignment in New York the other day and happened by Rockefeller Center, where NBC was putting on a promotional event at Rockefeller Center for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Our spy's report follows:

The first setup consisted of two people, dressed head to toe in white skiwear, with white painted faces, carving big blocks of ice with chainsaws, electric drills and other tools, and hamming it up while they worked. They were fabulous. You can see the results in the photos. The other event consisted of two large trampolines and members of our ski team (I think) putting on a fantastic show of aerial acrobatics, including doing jumps with skis attached, and even snowboards. Mind-boggling. As if these two events weren’t enough of a novelty, down on the skating rink was a demonstration of hockey playing by members of the Special Olympics.  They were strapped into sled-like devices that had runners like ice skate blades, and they propelled themselves with rubber-tipped poles, and they zipped around the ice with fantastic speed and agility. All in all, it was unbelievable.  Just the kind of serendipitous event you’d hope to come across during a New York walk.

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2010 Olympic Ice Sculpture

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