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Just as Winter Carnival represents the center of Dartmouth's winter social scene, the giant snow sculpture sits in the center of the Green every year--for the past 73 years-- as one of the most important traditions of this winter celebration.
Since the first snow sculpture was built in 1925, Dartmouth students have engaged in the yearly tradition of sculpting the snows of winter into a monument to Carnival.
Campus politics, changing times and the always unpredictable New England weather have all played a role in shaping the frozen works of art over the years.
For the past 72 years of the snow sculpture, students of every era have constructed a number of memorable sculptures.
Many older sculptures often depicted the pagan gods of winter, or attempted to evoke the College's traditional relationship with Native Americans.
In 1941 there was Hyderdahl, a mythical Norse skier, and in 1956 students constructed Urrl, the Norse god of skiing, a sculpture which towered 45 feet above the Green.
During this period, a number of sculptures also depicted Dartmouth's mascot at the time, the Indian.
A record-setting 40-foot tall statue of a Native American shooting an arrow at the skies, called "Starshooter," was constructed in 1940.
This creation was equaled in height by a "Fire and Ice" sculpture in 1957, which depicted a Native American emerging from a pillar of flames, and was named after a Robert Frost poem.
In 1955, students built a sculpture of an Eskimo riding a whale.
