Engineers take their knowledge to the snow

Engineering secrets lie within the depths of the Snow Cave.
Few of us expected the contemptuous cold that hit the east coast on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and fewer still saw that subsequent surprise snow day coming.
Though it was only a mere week and a half into the semester, the spontaneous break came to the relief of many beleaguered students who hoped the spring semester would at least live up to the first half of its name.
However, a some students, spirits rose, and the techniques learned in class were usurped to create some fun throughout that bleak Wednesday afternoon.
If you were to direct your attention towards the DeBaun Athletic Field that day, you’d see that its use was not obsoleted by the obstructive snowy weather, but it in fact served as a tool to build an icy cavern worthy of spelunking.
A team of four students had constructed the infamous Snow Cave of 2014, a team renowned for building other giant sculptures out of the powdery stuff.
“I made one with friends my freshman year, it was better because we had like five people running a conveyor belt type thing of carving out snow, loading it into garbage containers and sliding them out the entrance,” remarked Hart Wells, leader of the project.
“If I had more people helping out it would’ve got done faster. This year all I had were Zane Schacht on day one, joined shortly by Mike Marnell and Andrew Butkus before getting kicked off the field until I could get permission from Dean Nilsen.”
Say what?
Indeed, though the project was of wondrous marvel, it was technically an unauthorized construction on the field designated exclusively for Stevens Athletics, and thus required police reinforcement.
Not that building the snow cave wasn’t of equal strenuity.
“It’s tough work, but having friends working with you keeps you motivated,” Wells continues. And he has greater visions for this endeavor.
“My vision was to have a tunnel extend into a bigger second chamber.”
So on the next snow day, perhaps it would interest you to help create the next great snow structure, albeit on authorized property.
It shouldn’t be hard to find.