Watershed, Days 6-8
DAY 6
After all the stormy weather the skies cleared for a perfect dawn with 10cm of soft powder snow covering everything. We made new tracks to a site to the north and began work on a three-part sculpture.
With strong sun and no wind it was too warm and the first one collapsed in a heap while we were building the second one. We developed a strategy in the hope of preventing further collapses: by building all three at once and keeping snow piled up on their north, sunny sides they would stay standing through the heat of the day.
About 5pm it became cool enough to begin shaping these mounds with the aid of a headtorches.
DAY 7
With the morning snow hard underfoot we cramponed out to a partly frozen waterfall where we built a sculpture overlooking this extraordinary spectacle. Keas circled above us calling and diving and the sun made the work arduous. The walk back was heavy going as we sank into the softened snow at every step but we were enthralled by the beauty of this awe inspiring place.
We began planning how to create some ice to work with. Since there was none naturally occurring we made a mould by digging a shallow pit in the snow and lining it with a tarpaulin. We poured water into it and left it to freeze overnight.
DAY 8
At dawn after a cold clear moonlit night surface ice had formed on our mould but it was not not quite thick enough to lift in one piece. It broke as we tried, and we quickly developed another concept using a shard of the ice to great effect in front of the sunrise. With the wind picking up and the skies grey I finalised a work titled Cold Facts on Bottled Water and photographed it before breakfast.
A freezing clear night brought another sensational sunrise on Mt Aspiring. With the three sculptures lit against the shadows of the Matukituki valley and the sun highlighting the tracks of a hare in the foreground the image was finally completed as planned.
Making our own ice
Building one of the three sculptures
Sculptures aligned
Frozen waterfall