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.
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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.
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“We’d all build a fire, get a bunch of pizza, carve it out and decorate it,” he said.
Since 2012, the Garvin family and Yellow Iron Excavating and Waste Removal in Jackson has built this humongous snowman near Teton Village. To put the size of it in perspective, the top hat is a 55-gallon drum. (Courtesy Yellow Iron Excavating and Waste Removal)
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.
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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.”
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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.
This month, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is a fitting time for reflection. Our focus turns toward family and community, and the changing weather causes us to slow down. It is a good time to take stock of the society around us. The Thanksgiving holiday naturally turns our minds to what we are grateful for — what already exists that we cherish. Christmas is a holiday of hope, focused on the promise of what is yet to come. With these holidays in mind, let us reflect on what parts of our state we are thankful for and hopeful about.
Perhaps the thing Wyomingites hold most dear is our heritage. Culturally, we are descended from pioneers and settlers — or from those who came before — and we take that frontier heritage to heart. We value independence, community and overcoming challenges. We are willing to endure hardship to build a life that we want, and we are closely attuned to the natural world and the benefits that it provides. Above all else, we know that our perch in this place is still precarious. These are perspectives that are hard to find elsewhere. They set us apart. By embracing these values, we create a society that fits our circumstances. These ideas would not fit in other places, but they fit here, and for that I am grateful.
I am also thankful for the good stewardship of our forefathers. Wyoming is a harsh place and it’s challenging to thrive here. Most of our land is arid and inhospitable, our physical conditions are difficult, and we are remote from most modern conveniences and luxuries. With poor planning or shortsighted leadership, this place could easily fall into decline.
Fortunately, we have been blessed with the opposite. The state’s early settlers understood the importance of building the infrastructure that would allow for growth. When it became clear that natural resources would power our economy, our leaders decided to set aside large portions of the state’s mineral revenue to support us in perpetuity. The easy decision — the short-sighted decision — would have been to spend those dollars on the needs of the day. They certainly could have built some nice things, and those projects would have been popular. They also would have been fleeting. Because of wise leadership and decisions that focused on the long-term, we all benefit from our state’s bounty.
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Just as we are grateful for the good decisions of the past, we should be hopeful for the future. Despite our state’s challenges, there are many good reasons to have hope. First, our state is full of opportunity. We have space, natural resources, and the ability to be nimble when it comes to building regulatory structures that can support new industries. Our people are hard-working and determined. We have existing expertise in manufacturing and mining that is missing in many other parts of the country. Our climate and location give Wyoming an advantage in attracting computing facilities to locate here. If we take advantage of the opportunities in front of us, Wyoming is poised to thrive, and that gives me hope.
I am also hopeful because there appears to be a growing consensus on the issues we face, which allows us to better meet these challenges. In surveys and conversations about Wyoming’s future, the challenges of economic diversification and talent retention quickly rise to the top. We recognize where our weaknesses are, which is a significant part of the battle. Once we agree on the problem, we can work to find solutions.
Finding a fix is often an easier undertaking than identifying the problem itself. Already, drilling into these challenges has helped us recognize the underlying problems connected to affordable housing, livable spaces, health care access and education. Understanding how these fit together and how improvements in one area can lead to improvements in others puts us on a much more manageable path. It will still not be easy to overcome our hurdles, but the fact that we must wrestle with difficult problems is not unusual or unique. We have answered big questions before. Now that we have a growing consensus on what those problems are, I am far more hopeful about our ability to move forward.
In this holiday season, we should take the time to contemplate the world around us. Self-reflection is important. We should look both behind us and ahead of us, toward the past and gratitude and the future and hope. Our state gives us plenty to consider on both accounts.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Transportation has reported that the ongoing high wind speeds throughout the state have caused 39 vehicles to crash on Wyoming highways so far this week, primarily between Dec. 9 and Dec. 11.
According to a report from WYDOT, most of the crashes occurred on Interstate 80 near Cooper Cove west of Laramie, on I-25 on Wyo Hill south of Cheyenne and along I-25 near Wheatland at Bordeaux. Many blown-over vehicles were underweight, and some trailers were even empty.
WYDOT updates the minimum weights listed on overhead digital messaging signs based on real-time wind speeds. Drivers are encouraged to check weight-based wind closure information often to ensure travel is permitted.
It’s not just commercial vehicles that are at risk, either; the department reports that campers, toy-haulers and other large trailers are also susceptible to blowing over in strong winds.
June skiing and pond-skimming at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado
Skiers and snowboarders soak in the sun and attempt to make it across a pond on a June day at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado
Snowy Range ski area is scheduled to open for the season on Dec. 12.
Daily lift ticket prices range from $40 for children to $69 for adults.
Snowy Range, one of the closest ski areas to Fort Collins, is scheduled to open for the season Dec. 12 and remain open through April 12, 2026.
The ski area had a snow depth of about 30 inches on Dec. 9, spokesperson Kate Lessman told the Coloradoan in an email.
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Daily lift tickets range in price from $59-$69 purchased onsite for adults, $52-$62 for teenagers ages 13-17 and $40-$50 for children ages 5-12. Children age 4 and younger and senior citizens age 70 and older can ski for free. Tickets purchased in advance online are discounted $5.
More: Complete Colorado ski resort guide
Snowy Range Ski and Recreation Area is located about 100 miles northwest of Fort Collins and 36 miles west of Laramie, Wyoming.
For additional information, visit the ski area’s website.
Coloradoan reporter Kelly Lyell can be reached at KellyLyell@coloradoan.com. Follow him on x.com/KellyLyell, threads.net/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
