I was a freshman in DHH the winter of 72-73. Did you ever become part of one of those “perfect storm” organizations where everything came together just right? Our statue was one of those perfect storms.

We had some gifted people putting together plans for our statue. It included prints and a new thing for statues, structural steel reinforcing for suspended parts. Zalk Josephs in Duluth fabricated the structural supports and they were apparently delivered during Christmas break.

The statue was to include a log cabin complete with fireplace and windows, including an upstairs area, and featured the Three Bears. Baby bear was hanging from a spoon handle frozen into a bowl of porridge that Mama Bear was holding upside down. Papa Bear was standing on a much larger spoon handle trying to pry it out of a much larger bowl of porridge. Baby, Mama, and Poppa had skeletons made of structural steel welded together in one space frame.

Construction started with setting the structural steel on leveled and packed slush, followed by the base and area of the house that was to become the upstairs. Instead of using snow placed with front end loaders, we dug fresh snow out of the lawn area around DHH with yooper scoopers. This was important. We started filling the rough base with slush and then filled in the “upstairs” area with a rough mold of snowfence with slush. The slush was tamped down with people on snowshoes. As the slush froze we moved the fence up  and made several lifts. The result was a block of frozen slush about 20 ft x 20 ft x 15 ft tall. After it froze the rough form was squared off with hot water hoses used like cutting torches. The hot water came from the apparently limitless supply available in the dorm.

The next project was two walls, also about 15 ft tall, along the south and west side of the house. The north side would stay open. These walls were slip formed in four lifts with plywood forms and slush.  This is when disaster nearly struck. A warm spell came with sunshine and temps in the 40′s.  Everyone else who used dirty snow piled  up by the campus loaders was having trouble  with the statues melting in the sun. With our clean snow the south wall protected the main area and there was very little damage. We were able to keep going when cold weather returned.

By this time were clearing snow off the tennis courts that used to be east of DHH.

After the walls were formed we started free forming the characters with slush. These had to be built in layers about 4 inches thick to allow the slush to freeze without falling apart.

Finally it was time to start the details. There were three different beds on top of the upstairs,  with a full scale staircase leading up there. The exterior walls were covered with slush shaped into logs, with wood grain carved into the logs. The fireplace was built with flames cast in ice. Candle sticks, made of ice, were placed on the interior walls. Pictures were carved into the walls. We were told that to win we would need tons and tons of detail. And it slowly appeared. Doors, windows, candlesticks, silverware, dishes, texture in Mama’s apron, fur details, you name it.

Finally the all nighter came. More slush was carved into unbelievable details. The final touch was the colored lettering—cast from colored water in ice—for the statue title.

Then came morning. The ladders and scaffolding were pulled away, the snow was swept off, and the judges came. We won first prize, hands down.

At one point a couple came by with a small blind boy. They asked if they could go up on the statue and let him feel what a fire in the fireplace looked like.

The statue stayed intact for about a month, and then the campus loader came by and tried to knock it down. They were successful with the walls, but the massive block supporting the upstairs wouldn’t budge. That was left up until it softened in April.

Bruce Kettunen
Metallurgy ’76