It’s almost Snowcastle time. How was building it in -40C?

“It definitely caught us by surprise. But it’s not our first rodeo and we made it happen.”

Yellowknife is reaching the end of a particularly cold February. It’s one thing to write those words from a cosy newsroom on a Friday night – it’s another to have lived through the days of -40C while building a Snowcastle on a frozen lake, like Philippe Deslandes.

Snowkings’ Winter Festival and its signature castle of snow and ice open at noon on Sunday, March 1. This year’s schedule is on the festival website.

Deslandes, one of a team of builders, says this year’s festival – known as Snowking XXXI – will feature an “art deco” castle.

“Lots of inspiration from the 1920s, the golden era before the depression,” he said of the architecture that will be on display until the castle closes down on March 28, after which it slowly melts into the lake as spring arrives.

“Think Empire State Building – lots of geometry, symmetric lines, patterns that repeat themselves across many walls and many windows,” said Deslandes.

“It’s actually really amazing. And with the snow we can give a lot of depth to those lines, so we have 3D effects and perspectives going on.”

‘Best snow in the world’

Conditions this winter have had a nuanced impact on the people building the Snowcastle.

Ice harvesting season, which started in November and is one of the first steps, went especially well. Deslandes said 476 blocks of ice were cut from the bay. The result? “People should expect a lot more windows this year.”

By February, lining up all those ice blocks and sealing them together became dead easy because of the sheer, brutal cold.

“When I’m doing ice masonry and we weld the blocks together with liquid water, it freezes instantly, so we can move on much quicker,” said Deslandes. “When it’s -10C, you’ve got to wait maybe three, four minutes before moving on.”

On the other hand, the Bobcat being used to help build the castle has needed much more time to warm up. The work has been tougher and more tiring in the extreme cold, Deslandes said. On at least one day, the propane gelled so the workers’ rest and warming area became just as chilly as anywhere else.

“This year is definitely colder. We keep track of that in the log book with daily entries of weather and progress,” said Deslandes, who is in his third year as a Snowcastle builder.

“Last year was more up and down, we went up to -10C and back to -30C. We didn’t have any -40Cs, I think, last year. But this year we had three. Today was a -42C. We got a -44C one day.”

The final product is worth it, he said.

“The Snowcastle is an amazing hub of world-class art. We have world-class carvers coming from all over and being stoked, working on perhaps the best snow in the world,” Deslandes told Cabin Radio.

“And now we have the snow carving symposium, which will take place March 5-8. So people can expect lots of ice, lots of snow carvings and eventually, next weekend, we’ll have nine pristine snow carvings from international teams.”

Brewpub launches festival lager

Organizers said Sunday’s grand opening will feature the traditional breaking down of the castle main gate, followed by performances from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers, Peekaboo Kazoo and Mallory Chipman.

The Yellowknife Guild of Arts and Crafts will stage an exhibition of fibre and mixed media artists to celebrate its 80th anniversary. (On March 21 and 22, guild members will run demonstrations of various activities at the Snowcastle.)

The castle’s ice slides and tunnels will also be available to try out for the first time this season.

Meanwhile, a special edition lager brewed by NWT Brewing Co is being released on Saturday, February 28 for Snowkings’ Winter Festival season.

The Snowkings’ XXXI Lager “brings two Old Town icons together to celebrate one of Yellowknife’s great events,” festival president Bill Braden was quoted as saying in a news release.

The label for the lager is designed to replicate the art deco theme of the real-life Snowcastle. The beer will be available at Yellowknife liquor stores as well as NWT Brewing Co’s Woodyard brewpub.

At The Woodyard, a special fish and chips feature will donate $2 from each sale to future Snowkings’ Winter Festivals.