Holy frozen Xenomorph, Batman! This incredibly awesome ice sculpture depicting the vicious Alien Queen was created by Koji Kareki & Kei Sakugawa for the 35th annual Winterlude Ice Sculpture Competition in Ottawa, Canada.

[via Obvious Winner]

Alrighty, it’s time for another Geyser of Awesome field trip! Next stop: China, for the 29th annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival:

“In the far northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the city of Harbin turns into a winter wonderland as sculptors from all of the world descend upon the city to transform ice blocks from the nearby Songhua River into amazing palaces, pyramids and mystical figures. Named by National Geographic as one of the Best Winter Trips you could take in 2013, the Harbin Ice Festival is a feast for the eyes, especially at night when the ice sculptures come alive through LED lights.”

It looks and sounds awesome. Who’s coming with us?

[via My Modern Metropolis]

Here’s an activity guaranteed to keep you busy on a wintry day: Build an awesome rainbow igloo in your own backyard! 

“Thanks to an ingenious mother from Edmonton it’s quite possible nobody will every build a plain white igloo again. The adventure began with a kernel of an idea from Brigid Burton, whose daughter Kathleen Starrie and boyfriend Daniel Gray, an engineering student, were coming for a winter visit from New Zealand. Wanting to “keep him occupied” during the frigid winter days that often dip down to -25 °F (-31 °C), last October she began filling paper cartons with colored water and setting them outside to form translucent ice bricks. She hoped Gray’s engineering skills would do the rest. Like a total champ he accepted the challenge and with the help of additional family and neighbors the team spent nearly 150 hours fitting the 500 ice bricks into place. After completion the raingbow igloo was so visually striking the local news showed up to do a feature on it.”

Read the full story at the Global Edmonton and see many more construction photos here.

[via Colossal]

24 ice carving competitors from nine different countries recently competed in the 7th International Ice Sculpture Festival in Poznań, Poland. Here are a few of their creations, photographed by KamKam Visuals.

Visit Designboom to view more.

These photos feel like a glimpse into the frozen world of Narnia while it was under the thrall of the White Witch. The original site where these images were found is in Russian, but if Google translate is at least partially right, this was winter snow that began to melt and then flash-froze into these awesome shapes.

[via Geekologie]