Behind the scenes at Driggs SnowScapes
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DRIGGS — For six years now, Driggs Snowscapes has delighted visitors and residents of Teton Valley.
We all marvel at the incredible job of the sculptors who pour their efforts and talent into a work of art that would be worthy of a place in a museum were it in bronze or marble, but which are destined to melt away into memories and photographs with winter. The sheer scale of these works, the tiniest detail, and everything in between, goes beyond amazing every year.
But behind the scenes before the carving starts, there is also an amazing amount of effort that goes into creating those huge blocks of snow that are the raw material for the artists.
It begins with planning and organizing the various groups of people that all need to come together in the effort, including an invitation to the whole community to come stomp the snow once it’s in the molds. The community never fails to respond.
This year, the planning went into action on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 12. Up went the concrete molds, each surrounded by whaler brackets and boards to prevent the weight of the snow soon to fill them from bulging them out. Finally, each board was wrapped with bright yellow caution tape to prevent heads and tractors from bumping into them.
The next day, Friday, the molds were filled with snow following this recipe: Two scoops of snow, stomp, repeat until full.
The first two scoops, even from the large buckets on the tractors, didn’t come close to filling the boxes. The first stompers had to use two ladders, one to get up and another to get down to the snow on the bottom of the box.
The tractor operators followed a counterclockwise pattern, and by the end of the day all 10 boxes were full and stomped by eager volunteers, young and old. Stomping is an important part of the process; it prevents air holes in the snow and it prevents pockets of loose, powdery snow, both difficult for sculptors to deal with. Stompers were also asked to toss out any clods of dirt that might have been plowed up with the snow.
After the stomp and the fun in the warming gallery complete with art, music, and warm refreshments, and after the after party, the boxes of snow sat for two full days to set into a solid block of workable material. Sun during the day and below zero nights during that 48 hours did the job perfectly.
On Monday morning when the walls came down, the blocks of snow were ideal for carving. The surface was hard packed snow, without holes, soft spots, or solid ice. And with all that great stomping, it was nearly impossible to tell where each layer of snow had been added.
From there, it was just a matter of cleaning up the blocks and the area around them so the artists and interested public can easily walk around and enjoy the event. Homemade tools smoothed out the surface of each block, and shovels and choppers cleaned up the ground below. Volunteers and the artists themselves tend to each block. Sculptors do not know which block will be theirs until a random drawing is held later, so each block is treated with tender loving care.
Weather, of course, is a major concern of the artists during Snowscapes. The main enemy is the sun; too much of it makes the blocks soft, wet, and very difficult to work. Even more than warm air temperatures, sunshine is the enemy. The day the snow was freed from the forms, and the day the sculpting began were both sunny days, but the forecast was for clouds and some snow for the remainder of Snowscapes, and that was encouraging. Everyone remembered the difficulties the sun and warm temperatures caused last year, and were hoping Teton Valley Weather would deal them a better hand this time. We do our best!
Final judging will be Saturday. Click here for more information on the event.
This story first appeared in Teton Valley News. It is used here with permission.