Mike Lane (d. 2017)
Mike Lane was born in Vernon, British Columbia and studied art through the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, British Columbia with a fourth year in commercial art. He went to Yellowknife in 1974 where he established Tundra Graphics with a couple of partners. He and the enterprise moved to Whitehorse in 1980.1) He and his wife raised three children in the Yukon. He was a soccer coach for five years, a cub and scout leader for six, and a long-time softball coach.2)
Mike Lane and Donald Watt made up two-thirds of the Yukon snow carving team for over twenty years. Mike developed the theme and Don would figure out the shape. Lane had never tried ice carving when he was asked to join the team of Watt and Trevor Sellars. They needed the security of a three-man team after Sellers fell ill at a competition. Watt and Lane knew one another from activities at the Guild Hall. Lane sold Terra Firma and bought Chem-Dry Yukon, a carpet cleaning company in 2004, so he could take time off in the winter for the carving competitions.3) For ten years the team travelled to as many as seven world championships during January and part of February. After they returned, they organized the Yukon Snow Sculpting Challenge during the Sourdough Rendezvous.4) Lane started suffering from dementia in his 60s and his tour in 2016 was a non-competitive journey.5)