Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Ottawa (Feb 18/02) - Rumour has it that before the three Nasogaluak brothers flew to Ottawa to compete for the "Stanley Cup of Snow Sculpting," brother Joe was asked, "Who's the competition?"

"No-one," he replied.

He laughs sheepishly about it now. He explains that as team captain, he was raising the stakes. "You have to have a winning attitude," he says.

Evidently, it worked. Joe, Eli and Bill took first place, as well as the Artists' Choice Award, at the Canada Snow Sculpting Competition. This is their third year competing. They'd previously won second place twice.

"The teams were professional," says Eli. "They've gone international. They've won international titles. They were exceptional."

The theme this year was Our Mythological World. The brothers sculpture, entitled After Ragnarok - A new Beginning, combined Greek, Norse, Haida and Inuvialuit gods and creatures.

"We wanted to show our versatility in style," says Eli about the intricate sculpture.

Over 38 hours spanning four days, the war of the gods slowly emerged from a perfectly rectangular block of snow measuring 3.7 metres wide, 3.7 metres deep and 4.3 metres high.

"We challenged that snow," says Eli.

"We were just at the edge, pushing the limits, taking chances. It was a complicated piece," adds Joe. "People didn't think we'd finish. But this year we put the tools down before the end."

Eli notes that most of the other sculptures were single images, while theirs had several complex images, with each side of the sculpture telling a different story.

Besides the obvious artistic finesse shared by the brothers, and the support of their home territory, they attribute the win to their relationship.

"We worked as a team, without looking over what the other was doing. We worked side by side and we knew what we had to do."

The Nasogaluak's dedicated their win to Sam Pitsiulak, friend and fellow carver. Pitsiulak, a member of the Nunavut team at last year's competition, said in 2001 that he'd see them this year. Pitsiulak perished in a plane crash in Nunavut last summer.