{"id":96081,"date":"2018-04-12T08:59:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T12:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/\/?p=96081"},"modified":"2020-06-14T10:26:11","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T14:26:11","slug":"land-rover-defender-outline-alps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/land-rover-defender-outline-alps\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Rover “Draws” Massive Defender Outline At 9,000 Feet In The French Alps"},"content":{"rendered":"

So Land Rover has been in the truck-making game for 70 years now. That’s an impressive string, especially when you consider what the British automotive industry went through in the late-70s, early-80s. But here we are, and as you would expect, Land Rover decided to celebrate.<\/p>\n

And how did they celebrate this milestone? By making a giant Defender in the snow of the French Alps, of course. No, it doesn’t make much sense to me either, but it’s still kind of cool. The giant Land Rover snow art was made in anticipation of World Land Rover Day, April 30th, which will be exactly 70 years since the original Landy was first shown at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show.<\/p>\n

Vertical Limits<\/h2>\n

In La Plagne, France, which is southwest from Chamonix, snow artist Simon Beck, who somehow has a job creating geometric art on foot, confronted sub-zero temperatures to produce the outline of a Defender 820 feet <\/em>across, 9,000 feet up in the French Alps. Yeah, the idea is kind of nutty, and the details make it even more so. To create the high-altitude Defender, Beck walked for 20,894 steps through the French Alps. That adds up to a total of 10.2 miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking my snow art requires endurance, accuracy, and strength \u2013 all attributes shared with the Defender. Its iconic shape is so simple and recognized across the world; this must be the most recognizable piece of art I\u2019ve ever made,\u201d related Simon (although that sounds like he was reading something a marketing weasel handed him).<\/p>\n

And I get what they were going for here, but if it was me in place of Simon Beck, I would have made them trace it out on a sandy beach in Hawaii or some place warm like that.<\/p>\n

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Snow artist Simon Beck at work. Photo: Jaguar Land Rover.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Humble Beginnings<\/h2>\n

Of course, the thing about doing this in the first place is that it ties back to how Land Rover got its start. You’ve heard the phrase, “I sketched it out on the back of a napkin?” That’s pretty close to how Land Rover got going. It all started when Rover’s Engineering Director, Maurice Wilks, first sketched the shape for the original Land Rover in the sand of Red Wharf Bay, England. See guys: Sand. Hawaii would have been much <\/em>better.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Maurice proposed the idea to his brother, Spencer, who just happened to be Landy’s Managing Director. Spencer liked it, christened it the “Land Rover,” which over time turned into the modern day Defender.<\/p>\n