If you are trapped in a snow maze and suddenly find yourself face to face with a polar bear, do not be afraid. Chances are you are in St. Adolphe.

The polar bear is one of three sculptures Steinbach resident Lyle Peters built to decorate St Adolph’s “A Maze In Snow”. The other two sculptures, a mounted Roman soldier and a couple of cougars, are equally impressive.

Peters says he has been passionate about snow sculpting for a long time so when he first saw the snow maze he also saw an opportunity to create art.

Owner Clint Masse, agreed to let Peters decorate the walls of his labyrinth, something which made the forming of these frozen statues considerably easier.

“Part of making snow sculptures is making the blocks and setting everything up,” explains Peters, “but [Clint] had man-made snow that was already packed really well so, in a way, half the work was done for me.”

Peters indicates that the walls of the maze are two feet thick and six and a half feet wide; measurements that dictated the size of his three statues.

This mounted Roman soldier stands guard at one of the snow maze's warming stations

According to Peters, the maze has four fire pits spread throughout, and the goal of the maze is to successfully find all four. “At three of these warming stations, there’s a carving now,” states Peters.

While many people across Manitoba have been less than thrilled about the recent chilly weather, Peters does not really mind it.

“Its nice working in really cold weather, like -25, because the snow is good for carving, and your gloves don’t get wet or icy.”

When asked why he spent 20 plus hours carving snow in the cold, Peters replied: “just for sport”. However, there was some other motivation involved.

Peters admits that the making of these sculptures was also practice for a much bigger project he will be taking on later this month at Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg. 

“Way up on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris there’s a railing and some gargoyles that look kind of cool. So that’s what we are going to do at Festival.”

Peters tried to build this exact sculpture a few years ago, but it melted after an unforeseen spell of warm weather. This year, the long range forecast looks like it will stay fairly cold, and Peters says it will feel good to finally get this sculpture out of his system.