Over the past several weeks, the strange creation in the middle of the Green has resembled a Trojan horse, a shanty, a dumpster or, sometimes, just a large block of ice.
But, by yesterday afternoon, the final touches were being put on Dartmouth's 71st snow sculpture -- a stegosaurus standing atop a block of ice.
As the sculpture began to take on its final shape, the feeling among the students who have poured their time and energy into the structure over the last month was of elation and sweet gratification.
Admiring the completed dinosaur, sculpture committee chair Sara Paisner '96 said, "watching all these people come by and get excited about it is great. People didn't think we'd make it, so it's great to see it finished. It's been a crazy time."
During the past week Paisner said she spent almost all of her time at the sculpture, making sure it was ready for last night's Winter Carnival opening ceremonies.
Beth Bloodgood '96, a sculpture committee member, stood on top of the stegosaurus' six-foot base and pared down rough edges with an axe.
"We've had so little snow to work with, but this one has gone faster than the last couple," she said. "He's filled out pretty nicely."
Paisner has worked on the last four sculptures, but said she feels this year's is one of the best.
She said students have come out en masse during the last week to help out.
"A constant stream of randoms came by to work," Paisner said.
Earlier in the month, Paisner said the absence of snow was discouraging student interest in the sculpture.
But the show of support in the last week has "completely restored my faith in Dartmouth," she said.
Paisner estimates she has spent at least 200 hours working on the sculpture since construction began Jan. 5. As anybody who stopped by to help build the sculpture learned, the most important thing Paisner contributed was her relentless optimism.
"It's gonna work," she would repeat again and again, in spite of balmy temperatures and a lack of student interest that plagued the sculpture from the beginning.
When work began in early January, Hanover was buried in two feet of snow and the outlook could not have been better for the sculpture.
But two thaws in the last month melted almost all the snow. Brittle, granulated snow, inappropriate for sculpting, had to be trucked in from a nearby ice-skating rink.
Yesterday morning, warm weather and forecasts of rain threatened again, but the snow sculpture was complete. "All of us feel so excited that it's done that a bit of rain really can't hurt us," Bloodgood said.
She said if it did rain, the sculptors would build a tent over the sculpture using scaffolding and tarps.
But as of last night's opening ceremonies, the heavy rains had stayed away and the sculpture remained intact.
