Snow sculptures through the years
For many, the term “snow sculpture” could be considered a fancy way of describing a snowman. At Dartmouth, however, snow sculptures are anything but your typical carrot-nosed Jack Frost.
Several of the first snow sculptures drew inspiration from mythical stories — 1941 saw the creation of the mythical Norse skiing god Hyderdahl, rising 45 feet over the Green. Previous sculptures also depicted the College’s former school mascot — the 1940 “Starshooter” sculpture featured a Native American shooting an arrow up toward the sky.
The sculptures have ranged from the elaborate — the 1969 Carnival featured a fire-breathing dragon with a butane tank in the dragon’s throat — to the, ahem, mediocre: last year’s cupcake sculpture…no comment.
Most sculptures reflect the yearly Carnival theme or play ode to recent world events. In honor of the 1980 Olympics, a luge with the Olympic rings was constructed on the Green. A skier was perched on the edge, his skis protruding off the end of the luge. The 1972 castle sculpture was a virtual winter wonderland in and of itself: people could walk up stairs into the castle and slide down the back.
Though the snow sculpture today is located on the Green, in the past snow sculptures dotted the entire campus. While the campus-wide snow sculpture competition still exists, it has declined in popularity and has been recently hindered by the lack of snow during Winter Carnival.
The design and construction of the snow sculpture is organized by students who comprise the Winter Carnival Council. The Council first chooses a theme for Winter Carnival and then brainstorms ideas for the sculpture. After receiving approval from the College for the design, a team begins building. Students can help build the sculpture for physical education credit, and the construction crew often continues working on the sculpture through the night before Carnival officially starts.
This year’s sculpture design will be Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf for the theme “A Very Grimm Carnival.”