Hang in there--spring's almost here

This is a close up shot of a cement goose buried in about two feet of snow. I like the general composition of the shot, but I'm not happy with the contrast and sharpness. I would have liked to have a little more detail and contrast on the old cement goose, which has nice little spots of lichen and other marks that give it character.

I tried cleaning the shot up a bit in Paint Shop Pro, but I couldn't get the contrast I wanted without overexposing the snow and losing all the texture. Could my issue with sharpness and contrast be a result of film processing, and not the shot itself?

Comments, tips and criticism are welcome.

Here's the tech bits in case they help:
Nikon N80, 50mm f/1.8 lens
Ilford 50 B&W film
exposure details promptly forgotten

Pretty cool shot, but I think you've answered yourself with the issues here...the lack of contrast gives the frame a rather dull look, but I can see that if you increased the contrast, you'd lose a lot of detail in the snow. Good composition.