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Raised Footprints in the Snow

footprints in the snow raised

This photograph shows a trail of footprints across Antarctica. The person who made them is long gone.

Raised footprints take weeks to form. They are the product of a very specific environment. The snow has to be loose and dry, so that the foot can sink in and compress the snow until it’s hard. Since snowfall and rain can spoil the print, the weather has to be dry. And there has to be constant wind. As someone walks, their feet tamp down the snow until it’s extremely hard in comparison to the snow all around it.

As the wind sweeps across the area, it whisks away loose particles of snow. It takes considerably longer to whisk away the compressed snow of the footprints. Eventually, the wind wears down an entire plain, or side of a hill, except for the hardened tracks in the snow.

http://io9.com/raised-footprints-when-snow-steps-up-473092187

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Footprints in the Snow: Art by Snowshoes

footprints in the snow art

Simon Beck takes playing in the snow to an extreme.  “It just seemed like a natural thing to do,” Beck says. “Right outside the building where I live in the winter, there’s a frozen lake about two-thirds the area of a soccer field. So you’ve got this great big area of completely untracked snow, which people don’t usually go on because of warnings about walking on the ice. I just thought, let’s draw something on it.” … With snowshoes.

Though Beck created the first designs in his head, as they got more complex, he started planning them out in detail on paper. He studies crop circles and other geometric patterns as inspiration. Out on the lake, he might count his steps or use string to measure angles, or, if a previous design is still peeking through the snow, he’ll use that as a template. The whole process usually takes about ten hours.

Beck likes to work on Lac Marlou, near his apartment in the French Alps, in part because a nearby mountain gives him a good place to take photos when he’s done. But the mountain also casts shadows on the snow, making it hard to get exactly the shot he wants. His next plan: Buy a drone, so he can fly a camera above a different lake. The local ski resort likes the snow art. “At first they thought I was a bit mad, but now they see it as good promotion.”

Check the link for additional pictures.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3023512/these-giant-snow-painting-are-made-by-one-mans-footprints