Incredipedia: Snow Magic

The 28th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will start on December 1, 2011 and last to February 29, 2012. The ceremony will be officially launched on January 5, 2012. As it before the festival is held with many winter activities, such as alpine skiing, sledding, winter-swimming, ice sculpture competition, ice & snow carnival, ice lantern exhibition and firework display etc.

The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival has been held since 1963, interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution until it was resumed in 1985. Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province, in northeastern China. It is nicknamed "Ice City" and aptly so for winter January temperatures that average minus 18 degrees Celsius, under the influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia.

In these stunning photographs the festival's amazing sculptures are seen illuminated from the inside after night has fallen - with visitors meandering in between the impressive works.

Those who attend the event can navigate the ice cities on foot or via the festival's horse and carriage rides. As well as walking around and marvelling in awe at the colourful creations, they can also zip down snowy slides or climb up the staircases of ice castles and investigate what's inside.
The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is one of the world's top ice festivals.

The best collections of ice artworks are exhibited in the following five main places:

Harbin Ice and Snow World - came into being in 1999 and is one of the world's largest ice architecture parks. The inspiration for the ice and snow sculptures there usually is derived from traditional Chinese fairy tales or world famous architectures such as the Great Wall, the Egyptian Pyramids, etc.
Ice Lantern Garden Party - ice lantern in broad sense refers to a series of plastic arts using ice and snow as raw material combining ice artworks with colored lights and splendid music. The specific patterns of ice lantern include ice and snow sculptures, ice flowers, ice architectures and so on.
Sun Island Scenic Area - is the site of the Snow Sculpture Exposition displaying a wonderful snow world. It has the world's largest indoor ice and snow art museum and it opens to the public from November every year.
Zhaolin Park - is a 'must see' during the Harbin Ice Festival because it has a traditional program that shows the most excellent ice lanterns. With water, lights and the natural ice from the Songhua River running through Harbin as the material, the ice lanterns are made by freezing water, piling up ice or snow, then carving, enchasing, decorating, etc.
Yabuli International Ski Resort

Recommended Tours for Harbin Ice and Snow Festival Harbin:

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One of the highest resorts in Europe, Tignes also offers more skiing in winter and in summer than pretty well anywhere else, thanks to its high altitude skiing on the Grande Motte glacier and its commitment to maintain a vertical of at least 1000 metres (3280 feet) for eight months of the year. Sharing the vast and exciting 'l'Espace Killy ' ski area with neighbouring Val d'Isère, purpose-built Tignes has the stronger French influence of the two, as well as being largely based at a higher and more snow-sure altitude.

There are in fact five base areas to Tignes, although three of them - Le Lac, Le Lavachet and Val Claret - more or less run in to one another to form the main section. They stand together in a vast snowy bowl above the tree line resembling some sort of isolated moon base, from a distance. Further down the mountain, but lift linked to l'espace Killy are Les Boisses and Les Brévières and there are three traditional villages along the valley floor on the road to Val d'Isère (Le Reculaz, Le Chevril and Le Villaret du Nial), but these are not lift-linked.

Interestingly the original base is Le Lac, the relocated genuine village of Tignes that was submerged under Lake Chevril following the construction of a dam in 1952. The church bell was the only physical momento to be carried up to the new village site, but the spirit of skiing which began in 'old Tignes' in the 1920s was certainly carried forward with spectacular results!

Lodging Profile

21 hotels, 14 rental agencies, 5 hotel residences, 11 holiday centers, 2 holiday clubs, and 72 private landlords.

Services Profile

There are 6 mountain restaurants on the resort and 78 restaurant located nearby; cuisines ranging from American, Creperie, French Regional, Gastronomique, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, and Savoyard. 130 shops located nearby along with 4 banks, 4 post offices, 1 petrol station, 5 laundrettes, car rental, and a Protestant Church. The nearest town is Bourg St Maurice which is 30 km away. Child care is not available at this resort. Ski school is available for 4 year olds to adults. Free bus service 24 hours a day.

Snowboarding Profile

Snow park and 2 halfpipes, quarter pipes, and boarder cross are available for snowboarders at the resort.

Common Misspellings

Dignes, Teens, Tegnies, Teignes, Tiges