Wyoming
Not Enough Snow This Season To Build Gigantic 25-Foot Wyoming Snowman
The Yellow Iron Snowman was as alive as it could be, but with little snow, it’s a no-show this winter.
The massive 25-foot snowman that traditionally appears near Teton Village on Christmas Eve was noticeably absent this past holiday. After such a dry December, there just wasn’t enough snow to make Frosty’s gigantic Wyoming cousin this last go-round.
“We’ve had some years where we’ve had lack of snow when we actually haul it in,” said Opie Garvin, president of Yellow Iron Excavating and Waste Removal. “But there wasn’t even no snow to haul in this year.”
The Yellow Iron Snowman is a real-life fairy tale, they say. He’s always been made of snow, but the Garvin Family knows how he came to life that one special day in 2012.
Family Tradition
The massive snowman started as a fun family tradition.
Garvin said he and his wife, Karen, thought building it would be a fun way to spend Christmas Eve with their three daughters.
“Let’s run and have some fun before it goes away,” he recalled. “We always try to find something to keep them busy on Christmas Eve.
“We had some friends in town that year, and some people who came into town had never built a snowman. Got another family in the area and just carved it out for something to do.”
Garvin admits he got carried away once he started using an excavator to built a massive mountain of snow into the snowman. Nevertheless, the tradition has been going strong for more than a decade.
“We’d all build a fire, get a bunch of pizza, carve it out and decorate it,” he said.
Proper Planning
Snowmen can be difficult to construct, even when using an obscene amount of snow. While there’s usually enough snow in Jackson to build something, Garvin has always planned ahead to make sure there’s enough for the traditional behemoth, which takes huge amounts off the white stuff to build.
“We’ll pile the snow a couple of weeks in advance to let it harden,” he said. “We have to pile it, which takes about a day, let it set, and then half a day to carve it out.”
The scale is enormous.
Garvin estimates it takes the equivalent of around 200 dump truck loads of snow. For perspective, the snowman’s top hat is a 55-gallon barrel.
That’s why the snowman didn’t come together this season. There just wasn’t enough snow to build it by the week of Christmas, and the holiday had come and gone by the time the snow arrived.
“We thought about doing it later in the year,” he said, “but we just want to stick with our tradition.”
Christmas Cheer Next Year
There must’ve been some magic in that old barrel they found, for when they placed it on his head, everyone loved the giant mound.
The Garvin family snowman has become a holiday highlight for many Jackson residents and holiday visitors. Garvin didn’t anticipate such a positive reaction to their holiday project, or outcry of disappointment when it couldn’t happen.
“We just started doing it for fun, but we’ve had a lot of comments and some really nice ones,” he said. “A lady with a boy that’s autistic (said) they were having a really bad day. Then they rounded the corner and saw the snowman, and it changed his whole day.”
Garvin was sad his family had to wave the snowman goodbye, but told Frosty fans not to cry. He’ll be back again someday — specifically next Christmas Eve (weather permitting).
“If we have enough snow, it’ll definitely be there,” he said.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
The 2026 postseason has arrived for Wyoming High School boys’ basketball teams in Class 3A and 4A. They participate in regional tournaments from Thursday through Saturday. The regionals will be in Buffalo, Evanston, Gillette, and Lovell. Three sites will use the format: two wins qualify a team for the state tournament next week in Casper, or two losses eliminate a team. The 4A East Region has three loser-out first-round games on Thursday, followed by two days of games for seeding. The 4A East Regular Season champ draws a first-round bye and has qualified for the state tournament.
WYOPREPS 3A-4A BOYS BASKETBALL REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES
Except in the 4A East Regional, Friday starts with elimination games. The regional semifinals are on Friday night. The final seeds for next week’s state tournament will be determined on Saturday. The schedules below for this weekend are based on the brackets sent to WyoPreps. It is subject to change.
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (3) Pinedale 58 (6) Mountain View 40
Final Score: (2) Cody 58 (7) Powell 46
Final Score: (1) Lovell 75 (8) Lyman 43
Final Score: (4) Lander 65 (5) Worland 40
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Mountain View vs. Powell, noon – loser out
Game 6: Lyman vs. Worland, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Pinedale vs. Cody, 6 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Lovell vs. Lander, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11 a.m. – loser out
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11 a.m. – loser out (at LMS)
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. – 3rd Place Game
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. – Championship Game
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (3) Douglas 85 (6) Rawlins 50
Final Score: (2) Wheatland 57 (7) Burns 40
Final Score: (5) Torrington 35 (4) Newcastle 28
Final Score: (1) Buffalo 69 (8) Glenrock 44
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Rawlins vs. Burns, noon – loser out
Game 6: Newcastle vs. Glenrock, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Douglas vs. Wheatland, 6 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Torrington vs. Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, noon – loser out
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 7:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (if necessary)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (NW-3) Kelly Walsh 64 (SW-2) Riverton 49
Final Score: (NW-1) Natrona County 77 (SW-4) Jackson 23
Final Score: (NW-2) Green River 50 (SW-3) Evanston 40
Final Score: (SW-1) Star Valley 62 (NW-4) Rock Springs 60 – Erickson makes a turnaround jumper at the buzzer off an offensive rebound for the Braves.
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Riverton vs. Jackson, noon – loser out
Game 6: Evanston vs. Rock Springs, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Kelly Walsh vs. Natrona County, 6:30 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Green River vs. Star Valley, 8 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11:30 a.m. – loser out
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1 p.m. – loser out
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 4:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (at EMS)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Game 1: (1) Sheridan = Bye
Final Score: (2) Cheyenne Central 75 (7) Cheyenne South 35 – Bison are eliminated
Final Score: (3) Thunder Basin 75 (6) Laramie 59 – Plainsmen are eliminated; Bolts qualify for state
Final Score: (4) Campbell County 59 (5) Cheyenne East 39 – loser out; Thunderbirds are eliminated; Camels qualify for state.
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 6: Cheyenne Central vs. Thunder Basin, 4:30 p.m. – semifinal
Game 5: Sheridan vs. Campbell County, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 7: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 11:30 a.m. – 3rd Place Game
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 2:30 p.m. – Championship Game
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Photos from game action at the James Johnson Winter Showcase tournament in Cheyenne.
Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Shannon Dutcher
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