The journey to complete a half-mile wide snow mandala begins with one step and pockets stuffed with bananas and chocolate chip cookies.
In the high-altitude snowfields of Powder Mountain, Utah, the world-renowned snowshoe artist Simon Beck demonstrated just how far the limits of human creativity can be taken. Equipped with nothing but snowshoes, waterproof gear, and a compass, Simon took to the fields of the mighty Wasatch mountain range and traversed well over the equivalent of a marathon to “draw” his large-scale ephemeral snow art.
Simon’s process begins with a drawing or printed image on a regular sheet of printer paper. Once the design is finalized, Simon carefully measures and calculates the steps necessary to enlarge the image for use in the field. Shapes like the Koch triangle or repeating hexagons, which happen to be the basic structural patterns for snowflakes, often make the most successful patterns in Beck’s eyes.