by Joel Maillet, a.k.a. Avalanche Kid

Years ago the Snowking gave me a book titled, Ice Palaces. I take it down from time to time when I am searching for inspiration. In the book it describes how, 130 years ago, in places like St Paul, Minnesota and Montreal, Quebec, ice-harvesting ice was a huge industry.

A passage: SA国际影视传媒淭he 1888 ice palace (of St. Paul), replete with turrets, arches, sculpture, and battlements, covered almost an acre. It included 55,000 blocks of ice and stood 130 feet tall.SA国际影视传媒�

When I read these descriptions and look at the accompanying images, it seems like a total fiction SA国际影视传媒� like the lost city of Atlantis. These huge ice castles would hold elegant fancy dress balls with a couple thousand people on skates! And there I find my inspiration for the Snow Castle at Snowking's Winter Festival, and I start to imagine SA国际影视传媒�

I imagine ice: ice walls of herringbone pattern, ice staked two stories tall, ice walls facing south creating a greenhouse area for parents to sit in. I imagine cutting larger and larger ice blocks to incorporate more sculpture and ice architecture into the castle.

If we mechanized our ice harvest, heck, we could make The Snow & Ice Castle. This year, I cut a 10-foot long trench into the lake ice without having it flood, then I covered with a snow tunnel ISA国际影视传媒檓 calling it the ice cellar.

I dream of a playground where adults, kids and toddlers can play, and inclusive space for many abilities and ages with mazes, climbing walls, slides, swings, and more! WeSA国际影视传媒檝e talked about a loverSA国际影视传媒檚 swing, what a great photo op that would be!

A games table, like shuffleboard or crokinole for the adults. And slides, weSA国际影视传媒檝e done dual racers, how about quad racers? ISA国际影视传媒檝e been dreaming of a helter-skelter (a downwards spiral slide) for a few years now.

Maybe people could rent skis or skates and get active, or head out on a guided tour. The castle could be a gateway for a whole bunch of winter activity on the bay. How about a skating moat around the castle?

The Snowkademy fills me with imaginings too, that is the junior snow builders camp weSA国际影视传媒檝e been doing for March break for the last few years.

What if every kid in town got to spend a week outside learning the skills to build with snow and ice? What if learning the ways of snow and ice was valuable curriculum to the schools?

Seriously, Yellowknife could become known for world-class snow and ice builders and carvers. And imagine the castle weSA国际影视传媒檇 build with a trained army of young builders and carvers!

My greatest ambition in building the Snow Castle is to inspire people like the Ice Palaces book does for me. I am always eager to hear what people have to say; what they would build using ice and snow and how the castle could improve.

After all, this castle belongs to you, the Yellowknifers who turn out to use it.