Photo submitted to the Times Observer Former Russell residents were part of a team that won at this year’s Ice Alaska World Ice Carving competition. Ben and Melanie Firth both grew up in Russell and attended Eisenhower High School.

A family whose origins come from Russell is the winner of an ice carving competition in Alaska.

Ben and Melanie Firth both grew up in Russell and attended Eisenhower High School. Ben Firth has been going to Alaska with his family since the age of 7, and the pair moved up there and had a family once they were married.

The competition — officially known as Ice Alaska World Ice Carving — has been taking place in Fairbanks for the past 30 or 40 years, according to the Firths’s son, Silas. People come from all over the world to compete, and though there have been some struggles with bringing international people back after COVID, the competition was held this year.

The overall competition runs from Feb. 17 to March 4. There are multiple categories and competitions, including the single block and multi block. The Firth family was the winner of the Multi Block competition announced on Feb. 23.

According to Silas Firth, the competition is the only one like it in the world because of the ability of the ice in Fairbanks to get up to 3 feet thick. Each block is 4 feet by 6 feet. A lot of people are drawn to the competition, and Firth said it has the ability to be highly competitive.

Firth’s father first entered the competition around 1998, making this the 25th year that he has entered. This year they were able to form a team as a family made up of Firth, his father Ben Firth, brother Barnabus Firth, and sister Aurora Fagan Firth. Their winning sculpture was called “White Friday.”

“It was inspired by a story from World War I that my brother found that is not very well-known,” Firth said. “It is about a day in the Austrian alps where an avalanche killed 10,000 soldiers.”

White Friday occurred on Dec. 13, 1916, during the Italian Front of WWI. The Austro-Hungarian barracks that were stationed on Mount Marmolada in Italy were struck by an avalanche, killing 270 soldiers in the barracks. It is estimated that more than 10,000 soldiers on all sides were killed that December because of avalanches. While the disaster occurred on a Wednesday, the day was still called “White Friday.”

It is the second worst avalanche-related disaster ever recorded.

The Firth’s sculpture portrays soldiers standing in front of the avalanche.

Firth said his father has won the competition a few times in other categories, but this is the first time he was able to win the Multi Block competition, which is also the biggest. The fact that they were also able to win as a family is something that Firth said is very special.

“I’ve grown up doing this competition,” Firth said. “I’ve been around the culture of the competition my whole life. To get to compete against these people that I’ve grown up watching and win is something I didn’t think would ever happen. To be able to win as a family is pretty special too. My dad has won on his own a few times, but I think to be able to win as a family is the height of the dream for my dad.”

With this big accomplishment under their belts, Firth said they will probably still come back next time.

“I said we should just retire now,” Firth said. “But, it is hard to get away from it. We’ll probably be back next year. It hooks you once you get started. We’ll probably be back. It was a cool experience to be able to do as a family and I hope we get to do it again.”