The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory once again anchored Hanover’s annual Occom Pond Party snow sculpture contest. This year’s theme was Blizzardry. Leading the CRREL crew was Associate Technical Director Randy Hill, who created a Hungarian Horntail Dragon. On Feb. 4, the crew built the snow block and did some initial shaping. During the next few days, they made teeth, spikes, horns, and chains of ice – details that helped bring the snow sculpture to life. The carving phase began on Feb. 10. Under Randy’s guidance, a team of helpers worked hard to remove non-dragon snow, which some of the team are actually very good at! The final touches, including an ice chain to keep the dragon from escaping, the golden egg it guards, and glistening eyeballs that peer into your soul, were all added at the end of the day.
The snow sculpture team this year was Randy Hill, T.J. Melendy, Ted Letcher, John Weatherly, Lauren Waldrop, Matt Parno, Julie Parno, Devin O’Connor, Ginger Boitnott, Emma Menio, Don Perovich, Emily Asenath-Smith, Taylor Hodgdon, Kathy Jones, and assorted friends and relatives.
Besides CRREL’s sculpture, there were two other snow sculptures and all three were declared winners.
The Occom Pond Party is held each year in conjunction with Dartmouth’s Winter Carnival, bringing the town and college together.