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. Due to extremely cold weather, the sculpture, named "Nanook," refused to melt and was finally destroyed with dynamite.
But there have also been other memorable sculptures that had nothing to do with the Native American mascot.
One such sculpture was the 1953 sculpture, "Skigo," patterned after the Walt Kelly comic strip "Pogo."
Although recent sculptures have not rivaled those of years past, there have still been some impressive examples of snow engineering.
In 1983, for example, students built a 40-foot tall Pegasus, whose height rivaled the sculptures of the tradition's glory years.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists "Mardi Gras in Bourbon Street," a 47.5 foot snowman playing a saxophone that was built in 1987, as the tallest snowman ever built.
Sculpture politics
The nature of the sculpture often reflects current events.
During World War II, for example, students constructed a sculpture depicting a Native American riding an army jeep, while another featured a Japanese soldier pulling an American marine in a
rickshaw.
In 1943, Carnival was canceled because the administration did not think it was appropriate to have such a frivolous party while soldiers were dying by the thousands every day.
But a few students, inspired by the "death" of the Carnival and the sacrifice of their countrymen, went ahead and built a snow sculpture anyway.
The Dartmouth reported that the sculpture "was to be a coffin in the foreground containing the figure of a doleful snowman complete with skis at his side and beer bottle clutched in one hand. In the background will be a huge V, and on the front of the base will be the words 'HERE LIES WINTER CARNIVAL WHO DIED FOR VICTORY'."
In 1980, the sculpture consisted of a ski jumper framed by the Olympic Rings in recognition of the Winter Olympic games in Lake Placid, N.Y.
In 1992, students protesting the banning of common-source alcohol like kegs from residence halls constructed a sculpture of the Grinch, a cartoon character created by children's author Dr. Seuss '25, sitting atop a beer keg.
Politics have also affected the sculpture in the form of vandalism.
In 1991, students protesting the Gulf War defaced the sculpture of Neptune with spray paint.
In 1994, the letters "AIM" were scrawled on the sculpture. No one claimed credit, or was apprehended, for this act of vandalism.
Construction
A lot of effort goes into building the sculpture.
First, a design is picked by members of the Dartmouth Outing Club's Winter Carnival division from a group of prototypes submitted by College undergraduates.
A miniature mock-up is then constructed and the work on the real sculpture begins a few weeks prior to the start of the Carnival.
Work is traditionally behind schedule, the weather is often uncooperative and the sculpture is almost always incomplete until virtually the last minute.
In 1969, the sculpture was so behind schedule that its organizers sent a memorandum to the College's faculty to ask for their assistance with its completion.
The letter cited "problems of student labor, organization of the work, and certain distractions such as studies and women" as the causes of the problems.
They asked members of the College's administration to come out one night with "one bucket and one shovel each" to help with its completion, and offered "coffee, hot chocolate, beer and a hot rum concoction," afterwards as incentive.
The Death of St. George
Disaster can strike in unexpected ways.
No miracle could save St. George last year when warm weather helped the dragon defeat the Carnival warrior. Only quick thinking by the sculpture chairs prevented the dragon's surprising victory from destroying the monument to Winter Carnival for the first time in the history of the sculpture tradition.
The design originally called for St. George to be displayed, mounted on a horse, fighting against the dragon as part of the theme, "'Twas A Cold and Snowy Knight : A Medieval Carnival." When the horse and knight portion of the sculpture became unstable, they "put it inside the coffin," Sculpture Chair Chris Carbone '97 told the crowd during the Carnival's opening ceremonies.
The dragon perched triumphantly atop the coffin, and snowmen were built around the sculpture to mourn St. George.
Last year's incident led this year's sculpture chairs to ask professors from the Thayer School of Engineering to examine plans for the sculpture's design. The chairs hope their efforts will ensure the forces of weather and gravity will not combine to crash the Rolls Royce car as they toppled St. George a year ago.
