One event that wasn't affected by the weather

As many struggled with the snow storm Wednesday, a group of snow sculptors in Mount Prospect couldn't have been more pleased.

The Chicago Snow Sculpting Competition kicked off next to the Randhurst Shopping Center during one of the season's worst storms.

Teams from as far away as the Netherlands are contending this week in a competition where anything below freezing is considered optimum weather.

Arlington Heights' Rob Brooke, who is competing in his first snow sculpting contest with his brother, Norm, began hacking away Wednesday morning at a 10-foot-tall block of snow that the team will hone into a polar bear.

Brooke, who owns Tribal Expressions, an American Indian art gallery in Arlington Heights, described the experience so far as "humbling," -- especially after a snow sculpting veteran offered him a bit of advice, not knowing what Brooke had planned.

"He said, 'Stay away from bears,'" Brooke said Wednesday night after his first day of sculpting was over. "But he hasn't seen a bear like ours yet."

While Brooke aspires to place in the top three, his brother simply hopes no one mistakes the duo's bear for a "gigantic squirrel."

If the pair seemed a bit nervous about the competition, the Fulk family from Michigan appeared otherwise.

The team of Bob Fulk, his son Mike and Mike's wife, Dawn, have traveled the world sculpting snow. The trio competes in four to five contests a year with some as far as way as China. The weather Wednesday was a bit warm for their liking.

The Fulk family will be attempting a nautilus shell spiral.

"We are quite comfortable with it," Bob Fulk said.

Even with experience and confidence on the team's side, Fulk said he's dubious about the chances of winning, even though the team came in third last year in Harbin Ice Festival in Harbin, China, which netted them about $130. "I know most of the people competing here, and there as so many great carvers here," he said.

The competition continues through Saturday.

Eight local high school teams will be competing as well; however, they won't receive a monetary award. The professional teams are vying for $1,500, $1,000 and $500 prizes for first, second and third place, respectively.