LED Lighting Enhances Breckenridge Snow Sculpture Championships

BRECKENRIDGE, CO - The 21st annual Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships were held recently at Breckenridge Resort, lit with wirelessly-controlled LED fixtures provided by Denver-based Mountain Light Company. The gear list included 21Philips Color Kinetics ColorReach fixtures, more than 100 ColorBlast12s with ShowDMX wireless control and a power distribution system that included 22 City Theatrical PDS units. The event also used truss towers from Xtreme Structures and several new enclosures to keep control equipment dry for three weeks in the mountain setting.

Although the snow sculptures were bathed in white light for the judging phase of the competition, the color-changing capabilities of the fixtures were put to use afterwards. Because the fixtures were so much more energy efficient than those used in the past, Mountain Light was able to cut the number of generators supporting the lighting in half.

With the power draw less than 8,000 watts during the course of the event, the lighting and production company was also able to use smaller generators to support the event. The net reduction to the lighting's carbon footprint was estimated to be 7,684 lbs. of CO2. Less noise, fewer diesel fumes and the color-changing capabilities of the LED fixtures all served to enhance the event.