Two British snow sculptors used 100 tonnes of the stuff to create an ice tribute to Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards' ski jump - and it's the size of a double-decker bus. <br /><br />Justin Scott, 50, and Martin Sharp, 45, spent five days recreating Edward's famous bottom-ranked jump, performed during the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.<br /><br />Their 15m long masterpiece in Austria's Tyrolean Alps features the Olympic rings and flames, with Edwards depicted mid-jump.<br /><br />The creation was part of a competition in Ischgl and saw them come fourth out of ten teams.<br /><br />Dad-of-three Martin, an IT consultant, and fitness instructor, from York, said: "You can’t get a better sports hero.<br /><br />"The others we were against were all professionals, so we're the under-dogs like Eddie.<br /><br />"He told us that Ischgl is one of the places he’s never skied.<br /><br />“Often you’re not allowed to interact with art, but we like to have people walk on it and touch it.<br /><br />"Watching parents photograph their kids climbing on it is the most important thing for us.<br /><br />"It's hilarious when we go through the airport with two shovels, three wood saws, and a snow raft all in a hockey bag.<br /><br />"The Austrian police usually pull their guns and ask us to open the bag really slowly."<br /><br />Justin, a gardener and tree surgeon, from Driffield, Yorkshire, said: "We do it for the love of it.<br /><br />"You've got to work fast and be really focussed.<br /><br />"When it’s minus 20 and snow and ice is blowing up the hill you’re basically in a blast freezer.<br /><br />"It’s even difficult to see your sculpture.<br /><br />"It’s like trying to sculpt fog.<br /><br />"It’s taking part that matters most to us.<br /><br />"It's about passing on goodwill.<br /><br />"It just lifts people and becomes bigger than us and generates something positive that can be passed on.<br /><br />"It was a cold week, but the snow was really good this year.<br /><br />"Eddie said he's never had a snow sculpture made of him before."<br /><br />The event, which took place earlier this month, sees snow plows used to move the mounds into place before the sculptors got to work.<br /><br />It involves teams of two that submit their designs based on the theme, which is then selected by a committee.<br /><br />The pals take an annual sculpting holiday together to ward off winter blues, they said.<br /><br />This year their sculpture was made between January 9 and 13, and when temperatures dropped to -14, it was so cold they had to take breaks every 90 minutes.
