Snow and ice sculptures

For the “snow artist” Marcio Morais, the transience of his works is a great part of their fascination. For many people, snow is first and foremost soft and fleeting. For Morais, a native of France, it is the building material with which he turns his visions into a reality. His tools of the trade include a heavy chain saw, various shovels, knives and hand saws. With these, Morais not only models free-standing sculptures, but also walk-in objects – snow galleries, as he calls them. He likes to accompany visitors into his igloos to experience their reactions. People’s enthusiasm for his works motivates him to always implement new ideas on the Evolène ski area’s slopes.

Art or craft

Marcio Morais does not consider himself an artist. He believes that everyone can create something with their hands. His rise to become a respected snow sculptor began correspondingly unspectacularly, namely rather by chance and as a pastime during his job at the ski lift in Arolla. When there was not much going on, he used the breaks to shape the piles of snow left around him into small objects and sculptures. When the first ski tourists noticed his creations and reacted enthusiastically to them, Morais kept coming up with new, even more impressive objects, which he then perfected after work.

More than just a hobby

After his snow designs had attracted the attention of his ski guests, his employers, the cable car operators, also recognized their potential. Since last year, sculpting has been an integral part of Marcio Morais’s work remit. Snow groomers help pile up the mountains of snow he needs and then Morais works on his structures by the hour, for days on end. After his shift at the ski lift, he likes to stay a while and wind down the day here. “The peace that settles over the mountain in the evening, the light of the setting sun – these moments are simply indescribable,” he enthuses. The inside of the sculptures, decorated with candles and colored lamps and lined with cozy lambskins, invites visitors to linger or enjoy an evening fondue, a unique experience for many of the visitors.

Cold art strikes a chord

But not only Marcio’s guests in tranquil Evolène are fascinated by the imaginative formations, shapes and bodies made of snow, more and more people are discovering their fascination for snow sculptures. In Grindelwald, anyone interested can attend a workshop from December to April to learn to build snow sculptures and then have their creations judged by a “jury of experts”. The two South Tyrolean towns of San Candido and San Vigilio are expecting up to 30 snow sculptors from all over the world to take part in an international competition in January, and just one month later the third edition of the local snow sculpture festival will take place in Bernau, Germany, located deep in the Black Forest below the Feldberg. Being outdoors, making something with your own hands and living out your own creativity together with others in the fresh air – snow art simply strikes a chord with many winter enthusiasts and offers a welcome break from everyday life.