Kemi snow castle promises to be a bit yellowish in colour this year

Artificial snow made of sea water is slightly too moist because of the mild weather

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By Tapio Mainio in Kemi
     
      This year’s snow castle in the northern town of Kemi is going to be slightly yellowish in colour, though rest assured it has nothing whatsoever to do with the canine-related phenomenon referred to in the late Frank Zappa's famous 1974 composition Don't Eat The Yellow Snow.
      Owing to difficult weather conditions, the production of artificial snow with snow cannons has been delayed and when the cannons have been used, the efforts to produce pristine white snow have failed.
      “The snow castle’s snow is made out of sea water. To get pure white snow, we would need a longer period of continuous frosty weather with temperatures below -7 degrees Celsius. The early winter’s frosty periods have been too short”, says mistress of the castle Marika Tomminen.
      “As a result, the produced artificial snow is slightly too moist and to a trained eye it looks a bit yellowish in colour.”
     
The snow castle is being built by a Kemi-based construction company, IP-Heikkilä Oy.
      Around 21,000 cubic metres of snow is needed. The construction cost is in the region of EUR 240,000.
      “For that money one could get a small detached house”, Tomminen compares.
     
Up in Kemi thereckoning is that the castle’s positive image value for the region is worth the trouble.
      The start of the construction of the castle was postponed to a record-late date this winter.
      The work was commenced only on Saturday. Nevertheless, the castle is still likely to be opened, as before, on the last weekend of January.
      “We will try to stay on schedule, even though the densifying of the damp snow, for example where there is vaulting to be considered, is slower with this weather we're having. The snow will be trodden in tight above the moulds, which will then be removed once the snow has hardened properly”, foreman Juho Ruotsalainen explains.
      On Monday, construction workers Juha-Matti Alatalo and Petri Kuusiniemi worked on the vaulted walls of the snow restaurant.
     
The castle’s chapel, which is to be built next, has already been reserved for a couple of wedding ceremonies.
      Each year around ten weddings have taken place in the snow castle.
      The castle will be kept open past Easter into April, unless it gets surprised by an early spring.
      To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Helsinki Summer Olympics, this year’s theme for the castle’s snow and ice sculptures is sports.
      An eight-metre tall replica of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium Tower already adorns the castle.
      The castle’s total interior floor area will be 1,100 square metres.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.1.2012


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tourists take icebreaker ride to frolic in chilly northern sea (23.2.2010)

See also:
  Weddings of foreign visitors latest hit product of Lapland tourism (24.3.2009)

Links:
  Kemi Snow Castle
  Kemi Snow Castle (Wikipedia)

TAPIO MAINIO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.mainio@hs.fi