Snow Giants on the St. Croix — The return of the World Snow Sculpting Championship in Stillwater

Snow sculptors from around the world have descended on Stillwater for the 2025 World Snow Sculpting Championship.

Twelve teams have been chiseling and carving on the banks of the St. Croix River since Wednesday. The canvas? A 10-foot cube of packed snow. Tools will go down at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Judges will use criteria including technical skill, creativity and expressive impact. The winners of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, as well as Artist’s Choice and People’s Choice, will be announced during a closing ceremony at 6 p.m.

This week, Team India is working on a design that features an elephant with a city on its back. Team member Mridul Upadhyay says they traveled to Stillwater from the Kashmir region and Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

“We have the Himalayas, which get a lot of amazing peaks, and it gets really good quality of snow,” Upadhyay says.

The snow quality in Minnesota is a bit different, he says.

“The temperature goes a little bit lower than what we have in Kashmir. So the snow is really dense, really beautiful,” Upadhyay.

He says this makes the snow stick better and gives them the ability to take more artistic risks.

“This is an amazing, amazing art form, where it’s like a meditation,” Upadhyay says. “You’re working for four days, and you cannot take this back. You cannot purchase this. You cannot sell this. You cannot claim that this was your piece. You cannot put this in a museum.”

Other designs include a trapped angel from Team Mexico, a crowned skull from Team USA and a Moche warrior from Team Peru.

This is the fourth year Stillwater has hosted the championship. This year the competition has been expanded into the World Snow Celebration, says Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event.

“We have figure skating, we have a candle night walk, we have accessibility day, where we focus on folks with disabilities or seniors veterans. We have a snowman-building contest, or actually, it’s an experience, because everyone’s a winner, and we have the world’s coolest block party,” Anthony-Evenson says.

The celebration runs through Jan. 26. The snow sculptures will stand, weather permitting, for several weeks.