After 10 days, several thousand ice blocks and a lot of hard work by the volunteers in Ice Palace Workers 101, the Myths and Legends palace is fully constructed and full of sculptures, both mythological and legendary.

At 3 p.m. Wednesday a few of the builders sat on ice logs around an icy fire pit filled with ice fire, kicking back and celebrating a successful build.

Among the towering walls and soaring turrets of the structure, are a myriad of photo opportunities and Easter egg carvings: a giant Yeti, an Easter Island head, gargoyles peering down into the courtroom and Paul Bunyan’s axe.

This year, for the first time, the palace features a spiral staircase. Chris Grimone, a builder and designer, said this addition spawned from one of the design crew’s long brainstorming sessions, fooling around with builder and designer Joe Plumb’s wooden blocks.

Volunteer builders sit inside the completed Winter Carnival Ice Palace Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Styled like a castle, the spiral stairs are more than a cool architectural feat to admire, they are the palace’s major line of defense. The spiral design is to allow defenders of the palace the largest range of motion with their sword arms while giving attackers the least.

Grimone said it will come in handy if Tupper Lake decides to invade.

The Ice Palace will be lit up alongside a fireworks show at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Buildings on River Street, Saranac Lake, are seen from the Winter Carnival Ice Palace Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

An icy UFO sits outside the Winter Carnival Ice Palace Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

The Saranac Waterfront Lodge is being built across Pontiac Bay from the Winter Carnival Ice Palace Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Some sort of mythical or legendary cat prowls along a wall of the recently finished Ice Palace Wednesday. Perhaps it is one of the cougars that prowled the Adirondacks long ago and are still sometimes reportedly seen here. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Some sort of mythical or legendary cat prowls along a wall of the recently finished Ice Palace Wednesday. Perhaps it is one of the cougars that prowled the Adirondacks long ago and are still sometimes reportedly seen here. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)