This video has been around for quite a while. But that doesn’t make it any less spectacular. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. The sculpture, “The Birth of the Bluebird,” was carved in 2005 at the World Ice Art Championships by Junichi Nakamura, Shinichi Sawamura, Dan Rebholz, and Hitoshi Shimmoto. Junichi Nakamura is wielding the chainsaw in the video. The sculpture was not scored because of the crash.

    It’s not unusual for Junichi to push the boundaries of ice sculpture physics. In 2003, Junichi and Shinichi (along with Hideaki Sone and Hiroaki Kimura) worked on a sculpture, “Chains,” that also fell just before the end of the competition. I was fortunate enough to work with Junichi and Shinichi in 2004. That year, our sculpture, “Ancestral Spirit,” did not fall. However, Junichi did have to remove some final support struts from “Ancestral Spirit,” and he did so very carefully. He wouldn’t let anyone else except Shinichi get close during the process.

    From a technical point of view, notice how “Bluebird” crashes. Junichi removes the last thin support and a break immediately appears underneath a vertical weld and the upper torso of the sculpture falls straight down as the sculpture collapses. The break appeared to occur in solid ice and not on a fracture or weld line. However, you wonder how strong the upper weld was and if that had anything to do with the collapse. I was surprised to see how the sculpture collapsed. Junichi apparently wasn’t completely surprised, which is probably why he’s still alive.

    The video above is dependent on its presence on YouTube, so if it’s removed then the link will be dead. Comment or email if the link breaks and I’ll try to fix it. (Thanks for the comments below; the video has been replaced with one from another source.)