Category: loppet

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Ice Fires

Ice campfires defend the shores of Lake of the Isles in Uptown.

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Ice Sculptures and Lights

This past Saturday, Dusty, SnapShutter, Ravsitar and I spend a long cold evening photographing the unusual Minneapolis event known as the Luminary Loppet. This next series is from what was called the Enchanted Forest and was created by Jennifer of Ice Lanterns. It was created on the peninsula by the Northwest bay of Lake of the Isles.

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Luminary Loppet Sculpture

The cross-country ski race known as a "Loppet" is coming to Uptown on Feb 6&7. That Saturday night they light up ice sculptures with candles all around the lake. This is the beginnings of the sculpture at the Northwest corner of Isles. It's quite the sight to behold and to take photos of. If you are interested in coming down to take photos, leave a comment and let me know, there's a group of us locals planning the best locations and techniques.

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I Think it's a Manitee

I had to walk around it to figure it out, but I'm pretty sure it's a Manitee sculpture. Good subject choice, they're pretty much a blob with a nose. The sculptures for the Loppet are in the background. Come see them lit up the night of Feb 6th.

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City of Lakes Loppet Sculpture

The Minneapolis City of Lakes Loppet Cross Country Ski Race comes right through my neighborhood of Uptown. On Saturday night, they light up ice sculptures all around Lake of the Isles. They have already begun construction of the ice sculptures. These pillars are part of the space created in the Northwest Bay.

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Fake Snow Pile

Space Management - the art of arranging snow piles in a manner that allows for more snow. Sometimes so much snow falls here that it becomes an issue. The piles on the boulevards fall into the street, pushing the parked cars so far from the curb that the streets become narrow cow-paths. In the past, the city has declared one-sided parking for the season because the fire trucks can't get down the street. This pile of snow is actually fake. It was made with snow machines down by the lake, hauled in by dump trucks, laid down on the streets, and then a few days later scraped up and stacked here near the bike trail. OK, some nutter stacked the small pieces on top, but the whole pile of snow is a Minneapolis Parks Department creation. Why? This is the long-term effect of the City of Lakes Loppet. That cross-county ski race that went through my neighborhood. They made a perfectly-groomed four-block-long trail right through uptown out of fake snow. Yep, imported man-made snow in Minneapolis. As we Minneapolitains would say in the local dialect, "huh, that's different."

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Last Luminary

The last luminary from the City of Lakes Loppet both literally and figuratively. This was my favorite shot from that night; it was on the wall as we were climbing out of the lagoon. Worked out real well too, since my camera battery gave it's last for this shot before it froze up. Yes Virginia, camera batteries will freeze.

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Luminaries Under the Bridge

Recoiling from the shock of pure daylight, we return to the safety of the night. Here are a few more of the luminaries (look to previous posts to see what I'm talking about). I really enjoy this image, it has a real Gothic feel to it.

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City of Lakes Loppet Kids Race

OK, time to brighten things up. I've been posting a lot of night pictures lately and though I like the colors and the mystical effects, it gets heavy with all that black. So today I bring you the 'content' of the Loppet: one of the races. This was the beginning of the kids race. If you have been to Uptown for the art fair, you know this place. That gray roof above the flag is the bus terminal on Hennepin. The skiers are on the boulevard by the Greenway (for the locals, it's called The Mall). They actually haul in snow and cover the streets all the way to the lake. This is the start and finish line for the kids race, they go out to the lake, circle around and come back.

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Up Close and Luminary

Here is a close-up of one of the luminaries from the City of Lakes Loppet that I've been talking about.