Thursday night at the Winter Carnival opening ceremonies on the Green, snow sculpture committee co-chair Dan Schneider '07 lit an Olympic-style torch and placed it on top of the large D-shaped snow sculpture, completing what had been a particularly difficult production.
Construction this winter was slowed by unseasonably warm weather and a lack of snow on the Green, although Schneider said that the committee had managed to stick to its original design.
"Every year there are many people who don't think it will get finished, but it always gets finished," Schneider said.
The snow sculpture, which was inspired by the theme of this year's carnival, "The Stupendous Games: Mischief in the Snow," features a 24-foot tall sloping "D" with a young boy and his tiger friend, resembling comic strip characters Calvin and Hobbes, sliding down the side in a bobsled. The D-shaped structure is open in the center, and people will be able to walk inside to view photographs of current and former Dartmouth Olympians.
Schneider admitted that the committee had considered changing their design to account for the weather, as several rumors predicted last week, but he said that their back-up plans were never necessary.
When construction on the sculpture began nearly three weeks ago, 40-degree days had melted nearly all of the snow on the Green. The committee made arrangements with Facilities and Operations Management to transport snow to the Green from several places, including Scully-Fahey field, where the lacrosse and field hockey teams practice.
"The men's [lacrosse] team practices outside in the winter, and whenever it snows, the ground crew needs to plow the field," Schneider said. "Instead of tossing the snow in the woods, they truck it to the Green for us."
Another quarter of the snow is brought in from ice-rink Zamboni shavings, including those at the Campion Ice Rink in Lebanon and the Thompson Arena, Schneider said. Less than five percent of the snow actually used in the sculpture came from the green.
Many students expressed doubts last week as to the plausibility of completing the sculpture, which looked strikingly out of place in the center of the verdant lawn. The large, un-formed pile of snow and large wooden planks sticking out of it led to much confusion about what it was supposed to look like and how it would tie in to the theme.
"It looked nothing like Calvin and Hobbes," Samuel Gilroy '09 said. "For a while, my friend and I joked that this year they were doing the minimalist snow sculpture, just a huge block of snow."
The sculpture took form quickly over the last couple days, especially on Wednesday night, when volunteers worked into the early hours of Thursday morning to finish the sculpture.
"It was cold and long and totally worth it," Jeff Wiltsey '09 said.
Wiltsey was one of an estimated 200 volunteers who helped out some time during the three-week construction period. Despite the unanticipated weather, many students were enthusiastic about helping with the 2006 sculpture.
"We actually haven't had that bad a turnout," Schneider said on Monday. "We've had more varsity teams out this year than any other."
Students at the opening ceremonies listened to members of Dartmouth's ski teams and College President James Wright reflect on the century old tradition. Snow started falling at one point during the ceremonies, returning a wintery color to the Green.
"The whole thing was amazing. It's so nice that it started snowing," Julia DeWahl '09 said.
Despite the completion of this year's sculpture, some students took the above-average weather of the past two winters as a bad omen for snow sculptures in the future.
"I have two words for you," Anna Tobin '08 said. "Global warming."
