Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous to collect snow off lake for carving

The recent snowfall in Whitehorse is making Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous organizers happy.

The City of Whitehorse traditionally gathers snow and dumps it in Shipyards Park for the competition but this year, there isn't enough in the usual places for the 50 or so dump truck loads of snow that's required.

Rachel Morgan, Rendezvous' executive director, saysthis yearthe Society is renting a snow-cat from the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club andthe city will use the machine to scrape clean snow from a lake.

"It is a lot of snow, and it's crazy that they have to move it all down there," Morgan said.

"But, especially for the snow carvers, it's important to have a certain kind of snow, density-wise. And of course it needs to be clean snow so that when they're carving it it looks fresh and pretty and doesn't have any gravel in it or anything like that."

Morgan says the snow sculpture competition is an important part of Sourdough Rendezvous, and is one of the attractions that attracts crowds to the festival site.

Other snow-demanding Rendezvous features, including a planned snow castle and an ice slide, were cancelled. Warm weather, over the past few weeks, didn't leave enough time for them to be built.