Gallery

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin said the tallest snow sculpture he's worked on was 19 feet tall. The smallest about two feet.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - "The idea is that you process the snow, heat it up, and then pack it into your form as...best that you can, so you get that really nice, tight snowball feel," said snow and ice carver Keith Martin.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Dean Martin, Keith Martin's six-year-old Great Dane, watches as Martin starts in on a snow sculpture of a puppy recently at his Durango home.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - "If it falls down when it's in clay, it absolutely won't hold up in snow," said snow and ice carver Keith Martin. Martin said his creations always start out as clay models to help him and his team visualize the sculpture.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Snow carver Keith Martin says he has around a hundred hand tools for sculpting snow. Martin said he made half of them himself and almost all of his store-bought tools have been altered in some way to meet his needs.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin's snow sculpture of a puppy begins to take shape, bearing a resemblance to Martin's six-year-old Great Dane, Dean Martin.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin's six-year-old Great Dane, Dean Martin, tries to stay awake while Martin works on a snow sculpture recently at his Durango home.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Snow and ice carver Keith Martin said he started ice carving in culinary school back in 1996. Martin said his love of snow carving came later in 2001 when he took a job as a chef in Breckenridge across the street from the site of an international snow sculpture event.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Snow carver Keith Martin said snow sculpting competitions only allow the use of hand tools. Martin said he has around a hundred of them, half of which he made himself.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin works on a snow sculpture recently at his Durango home.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - "I love the idea that it's all temporary art," said snow and ice carver Keith Martin, who sculpted a puppy out of snow during a recent demonstration at his durango home.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin finishes up a snow sculpture recently at his Durango home.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin's six-year-old Great Dane, Dean Martin, with Martin's new snow sculpture.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Keith Martin and his six-year-old Great Dane, Dean Martin, pose with Martin's puppy sculpture recently at his Durango home.