The cupcake design complements the carnival theme, "Carnival in Candyland The Sweetest Carnival Ever," according to Eric Ramsey, director of the Collis Center and advisor to the Winter Carnival Council.
The plan for the sculpture begins long before the first snowfall, and theme ideas were discussed early in the Fall term, Ramsey said.
Although students started building the sculpture this week, Ramsey said they have held "many student meetings and weekly council meetings" in preparation.
The crew will work on finishing touches until moments before the opening ceremony starts, according to Ramsey. The cupcake sculpture will be unveiled at the event, which will take place on the evening of Feb. 9, according to snow sculpture committee co-chair Sarah Trahern '12.
The sculpture will be modeled after a King Arthur Flour cupcake, according to Trahern.
"Hopefully we are going to have swirling frosting, and the paper on the bottom will have ridges and sprinkles or a cherry on top," she said.
This year's sculpture will be physically smaller than last year's castle sculpture, which was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Winter Carnival, Ramsey said.
"The difference between a cupcake and castle is obviously clear, so I think this year the Winter Carnival Council and snow sculpture committee are interested in fine-tuning details to make it really interesting and stand out, including etching and details that are lost on a building," he said.
Student builders will carve surface etchings on the sides of the cupcake by using a number of chainsaws under the supervision of experienced users, Trahern said.
Despite the sculpture's smaller size, recent warm temperatures and lack of snowfall have set back construction.
"As always in New England in the winter, snow is an issue when it's going to come, what quality and how we get it to the Green, and this winter has not had great snowfall," Ramsey said.
The Snow Sculpture Committee shipped snow to the Green from the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme on Jan. 25 due to warm temperatures and inadequate snowfall, Trahern said.
"In the past, we've gotten it shipped in from fields, but this year the Skiway is making snow with their snow gun machine and trucking it in, so it should be clean, fluffy snow," she said.
Students began construction by building a wooden frame, packing it with snow, hosing it down at night and stomping it down into ice.
"Once we get the shape we want, we tear down the frame and get rid of the wood," Trahern said. "It's a temporary structure."
While the student builders have been running slightly behind schedule, they have worked rapidly since the arrival of the snow and are expected to complete the sculpture on time, she said.
The students hope to fill the bottom of the wooden frame with snow by the end of the weekend, but acknowledge "filling snow takes days and is not a simple process," Trahern said.
In order to encourage student participation in building the snow sculpture, the College began offering physical education credits to those who volunteer in January 2009.
"The two PE classes have been very great," Trahern, who is a PE instructor and has worked on the sculpture for three years, said. "There's more people in them so that has been very helpful, and they know what they're doing."
The two classes meet twice a week and are comprised of eight students per class. Individuals not enrolled in the classes also often stop and offer to help, she said.
Being involved in the snow sculpture marks an important part of the Dartmouth experience, Ramsey said.
The Winter Carnival Council helps the snow sculpture Committee incorporate the overall carnival theme into the sculpture, Winter Carnival Council co-chair Rob Brett '14 said.
During Winter Carnival Weekend, the council will hold a campus-wide snow sculpture contest, seeking input from the sculpture chairs.
"Any student organization, including Greek organizations, can use a space of their own or a provided space and make some sort of pre-regulated sized sculpture which will be judged over the week," Brett said. "The snow sculpture committee lets us know which sizes and shapes are to be expected from the competitors."
Ramsey said students and staff have expressed excitement over the upcoming unveiling of the snow sculpture, an integral part of the term's big weekend.
"I think every year the sculpture is a huge component of Carnival and something that gets so much attention, so I expect this year's sculpture will compete with and rival, if not exceed, the expectations of last year's sculpture," Ramsey said.
Henry Anderson '15 said he had been unaware of the snow sculpture tradition until construction began on the Green, but looks forward to its unveiling.
Other students expressed mixed feelings about the sculpture's form, with some praising the light-hearted nature of the "Candyland" theme and others citing the uninteresting shape of a cupcake.
"I feel like a cupcake has a lack of identifying features," William Helman '15 said.
