IT was a brrrrrilliant piece of snow art.

A Hampshire woman and a Winchester man were among a team of four who travelled to America to compete in the International Snow Carving Championships in Colorado.

Maya Martin, 38, who is a stone mason who works at the Granary Creative Arts Centre in Brockwood near Alresford and Winchester man Ollie Annaly were among the team of four representing Great Britain.

They had five days to carve a three metre by three metre block of compact snow into their design of a sabre tooth tiger and huntsman.

Their piece is called ‘Spirit of the North Wind’ – and although the team didn’t win, they faced tough competition from the likes of China, Finland, Sweden and Mongolia.

They worked around-the-clock on their project – and at one point they stayed awake through the night coping in temperatures of minus 18 degrees to add the finishing touches.

Although the team didn't win they were delighted to be a part of the competition.

Maya said: “It was fantastic, it was such an experience to do it but it was exhausting.

“It was really cold we worked through the night and it was minus 18, some teams really struggled with the altitude as we were 3000 metres above sea level.”

“The best thing was meeting people from across the world and the achievement of seeing it take shape, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Some of the team like Ollie Annaly have since gone on to Canada to continue snow carving but Maya is back in Hampshire and hopes to take part next year.