Sunday, March 10, 2013

A Snow Adventure

We got a foot of snow Thursday and Friday, so Mitka and I decided to go sledding and playing in the snow with friends from the department. Hannah, Mitka, and I had a similar adventure with friends a month ago after we got two feet, and it was pretty awesome. This time, the weather was warmer, so the snow was worse for sledding, but quite excellent for building.

I came with a definite plan: I was going to roll a ball of snow so big that I couldn't push it any further. Alas, my Katamari Damacy adventure was over pretty quick, because it turns out that compactified snow gets heavy very fast. Hans figured that he could improve upon my giant snowball rolling technique, so he rolled a second one. We then had the excellent idea of building an arch between them, and then standing on it.

We claim this mountain with our sled-flags.

at Arches National Park.
 We then figured that if we roll enough giant snowballs, we could have a snow fort. We rolled two more supports. What has four supports and arches? The Eiffel Tower, of course! After feats of engineering unbecoming of pure mathematicians, we built a tower-shaped roof on the snowball-supports, and then punched out windows.

Mitka adds finishing touches to The Eiffel Tower (an artist's impression).
 The result was tall enough to stand up in.

Mitka looks out the window.

All in a day's work.
It was pretty cozy inside.

The view out of an archway.

The view facing up towards the four upper windows.