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Edward Fraze and Don Harrison Jr, aka the "Icemen", have readied their tools - now all they need is a big ice block. Photo: Brendan Esposito
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Darling Harbour has a pair of pocket aces up its sleeve in its attempt to draw families and tourists to the precinct as the mercury dips: two "extreme ice sculptors" from Colorado.
Armed with chisels and chain saws, "Icemen" Edward Fraze and Don Harrison jnr will give three live sculpting performances from Tuesday night until Friday.
The pair will have just 30 minutes to transform large slabs of ice, weighing up to 150 kilograms, into winter-theme pieces, and Fraze says audiences can expect a "very high energy, very intense performance".
"As the performance starts, one of us will take one part of the sculpture and the other will take the other part, and we just go to town. We almost race each other," Fraze said.
The duo "like to improvise along the way", and Fraze hinted that a menagerie of icy polar bears, penguins and other snow-loving creatures would grace the Harbourside Amphitheatre before melting down to a puddle – eventually.
While Sydney's winter is substantially milder than the Americans are used to, a supply of dry ice and water will slow the melting process.
The free Extreme Ice Show is part of Darling Harbour's Cool Yule festival, which runs for four weeks until July 13. Other activities include a snow pit, an open-air ice-skating rink, a 25-metre inflatable snow slide, firework displays and a frozen forest installation.
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