'A lot of work': Snow chapel pops up next to Manitoba snow maze

Snow Chapel carved in Manitoba A new snow chapel graces the grounds at the World's Largest Snow Maze near St. Adolphe, Man. CTV's Jamie Dowsett takes us inside.

WINNIPEG — The corn maze near St. Adolphe is already well known for having the world's largest snow maze and now the site has added more to the attraction.

To go along with the maze is a large snow chapel that has been carved by hand.

"(It's) a lot of work," laughed Glen Paavola, who is one of the sculptors. "Many people doing the forms, blowing the snow, packing the snow, moving the snow around it. It's a big job."

He said when he first came to do the project he was quite surprised to see what crews were wanting to build.

Even though it's just snow, Paavola said there is a lot to understand about the white stuff when shaping it.

"Sometimes you will get little bits of ice in the snow, which makes it really hard for carving and all of a sudden your knife or shovel hits some snow."

The sculptors also have to watch out for something called 'popcorn snow' which has voids and adds to the challenges.

Blocks of ice are also used in the creation of this chapel.

"They have to mould them all from shape. I'm not sure how many blocks, but they got them all from the river because you can't just depend on the ice being thick enough," said Kevin Peters, who is another sculptor on the project.

Paavola said projects like this all just start with a big block of snow and an idea and then the work starts.

He added he thinks it would be a good place to hold a wedding, but there hasn't been any bookings yet.