Snow Artist Goes Back To The Drawing Board After Wind Erases His Art

SILVERTHORNE, Colo. (CBS4) - After battling strong winds, English snow artist Simon Beck took a break from his snowshoes Sunday to regroup. Beck has spent more than a decade translating intricate geometries of snowflakes and other designs into massive, ephemeral artworks.

He pats down the snow foot by painstaking foot.

Dillon has their ice castles, Breckenridge has their troll, and now Silverthorne is jumping feet first into the arts. They brought in an artist to create snow murals on the ground for two weeks.

Think crop circles in the snow.

But, Beck was met with a hurdle on Saturday night. Strong winds blew away his art at Lake Dillon before he completed the work.

"Walking around and around wasting your time when you know you're not going to get a good result," Beck said.

The two week-long project is on hold for now as winds erase the hours of work.

"This morning you could barely see it at all," Beck said.

A pair of snowshoes is no match for the mighty winds taking aim at the delicate art Beck is creating now.

"Provided we get photographs, I consider it a job done. When we don't get photographs, well it's a bit disappointing," he told CBS4 Sunday.

But with calmer weather on the horizon this unique art can begin to take shape again.

"We are going to drive around tomorrow to find a good place to make a drawing on Tuesday. Myself and my assistant are going to try to get it done on one day and photograph on Wednesday."

From frozen lakes to soccer fields, Silverthorne is seeing a transformation, even if this is just around long enough for a photo.