New Brunswicker lends an icy hand to Quebec City's winter carnival

Eric Ouellette is known for a few reasons around the small town of Grand Falls. 

Not only does he operate the zip line across the falls, but he's also famous for creating massive ice domes.

And just over a year ago, his icy skills caught the attention of Canada's largest winter festival.

"One day I get a call from Winter Carnival out of the blue asking about my dome skills and how to build one," said Ouellette.

"It just snowballed from there, I guess," he said with a laugh.

Ouellette was invited to last year's carnival so organizers could meet him and ask about his skills. 

After hours of planning meetings, the plans were made — he would construct an ice dome for the special 70th anniversary Winter Carnival of 2024.

"It was a roller coaster ride of emotion, but man, it paid off," Ouellette said.

But following the steps from planning to crafting to constructing the ice dome was no easy task. He began by discussing plans and safety measures with the carnival team in November.

Ouellette said he's built six or seven ice domes in the past, and is the current Guinness World Record holder of the largest dome igloo made of ice.

But his previous builds have been around the Grand Falls area, not a whole province over, so he devised a plan.

Ouellette would construct the ice blocks in New Brunswick, and transport them to Quebec City, where the ice dome will be constructed.

"I'll just say we needed more than one trailer, we had more than 66,000 pounds of ice for this igloo."

But even preparing the blocks would be quite the task, because he needed so many molds. But working with an organization as large as Quebec's winter carnival has its perks.