Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It's a wonder what a few high school students will do to get a day off.

They'll get into groups of six, sketch a design for a snow sculpture, participate in a competition for the 16 best designs and pack snow into large boxes at night.

All for a chance to spend a day on Lincoln Avenue creating snow sculptures for the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival.

"It's really competitive," said Steve Moos, Steamboat Springs High School athletics and activities director. "It's hard to choose who gets to do it from the drawings."

Weeks before the carnival, teams of six students create a design of a snow sculpture to match the theme of the Winter Carnival. There needs to be at least 16 teams to do sculptures, but usually more than that try out for the job, Moos said.

A group of the school faculty gets together and chooses which sculptures are the best.

The chosen groups help pack snow in boxes in front of businesses that are participating in the event.

The next day the students get the day off from school to work on the sculptures.

Of course, it's not all about getting the day off from school, Moos said.

The end project is the street lined with snow sculptures for the Winter Carnival.

But it doesn't stop there. Moos will put together a judging committee to choose the top three sculptures.

To complement the building material, cold, hard cash goes to the wining groups.

The first-place sculpture teams wins $60. Second place gets $40 and third gets $20.

Each year, the students do professional jobs on their snow sculptures.

"Last year, I was kind of surprised on how good they did," Moos said.

Last year's Winter Carnival theme was "A Century of Community Heritage."

The students depicted a child on a shovel sled being pulled by a horse, a gondola, a steamboat ship and cows.

"They were all good," Moos said.