Norway's Rugged Roadways
By Dan Snow

Since the time of the Vikings, Norwegians have been seafaring people. It's understandable that they would choose the water for their livelihood, and transportation needs. From the fjords, Norway's landscape rises dramatically. Much of the terrain is difficult, if not impossible, to negotiate.

Until the 19th century Norwegians relied upon foot trails and packhorse tracks to travel the interior. Before any type of wheeled vehicle, horse-drawn or motorized, could be introduced, narrow passes had to be widened, steep grades reduced and rivers bridged.

At the heart of Norway's ambitious road building programs were gangs of laborers and skilled stone workers. Crews of men, aided by very rudimentary mechanical devices, built extensive infrastructure that relied heavily on dry stone construction. Looping switchbacks climbed out of fjord valleys on the backs of massive retaining walls. Long causeways crossed wide streams. Ravine-spanning dry stone arch bridges became signature creations of Norway's pioneering road builders.

Many of their Herculean efforts survive today as integral parts of Norway's road system. Others have been bypassed with more modern structures but remain preserved and treasured as testaments to Norway's hand-built past.

Dan Snow is an art maker specializing is dry stone constructions. He has been building with stone since 1972 when he worked on the restoration of a 13th century castle in Tuscany, Italy. His career as a professional dry stone waller began soon after, in his native Windham County, Vermont, with retaining wall and field fence reconstructions. In 1986 he apprenticed with "master dry stane dyker" Dave Goulder. Returning to Scotland in 1994, he passed the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain's, Intermediate level, Craftsman Certification Test. Snow became a DSWA Mastercraftsman in 2000.

Dan's dry stone constructions include stock-proof fences, pillars, stiles, staircases and arch bridges. Utilitarian works have expanded into garden follies, grottos, grandstands and pyramids. Snow applies his dry stone walling skills to sculpture of a purely abstract nature, and environmental art pieces, as well.

In 2001 Snow authored "In the Company of Stone", published by Artisan, with photographs of his work by Peter Mauss. "Stone Rising," a film by Camilla Rockwell, released in 2005, captures the spirit of Snow's constructions and chronicles the process of their creation. A new book by Snow and Mauss will be on store shelves October, 2008.

Dan Snow has instructed many workshops in dry stone walling and lectured on the craft across the USA, Canada and Great Britain. As a DSWA Examiner he has organized many test venues and examined dozens of test applicants in the certification scheme. In 2003 and 2007 he taught environmental art workshops in Finland for the University of Art and Design, Helsinki.