Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta

I was sad to leave Jasper, it was such a nice quiet township and there was a lot to explore — a 21st century Hobbiton I reckon, populated by humans, and delicious dwarvish beer. But alas, I've now set off 232 kilometres south to Lake Louise; my first stop in Banff National Park. The bus was supposed to pick me up outside my accommodation at 06:30-06:45am, so I was outside ready at quarter past in what must have been -9°C, however it didn't arrive until after 07:30 much to my discomfort. It worked out for the best however, as the 3 hour drive through the Icefields Parkway was the best stretch of road I have ever travelled, and with the delayed departure time, it meant we had much more use of the morning light. There was no need for a lookout along the way, as the entire stretch of highway fulfilled that purpose — it was like taking a trip through a postcard. There had been a decent snowfall the night before and the morning was crisp without a cloud in the sky, giving us a clear view of the mountain range. The highway hadn't been cleared by snow-plow, but we were still speeding through snow at 80-100 km/h, leaving a massive wake as if an outboard motor had been strapped to the back. Just past mid-way we stopped at the 360 metre high Weeping Wall, a top ice climbing spot in Canada, and from the road you could make out a small speck, which was a climber making his way up.

Arriving in Lake Louise was quite a spectacle, and very unlike what I'd seen in Jasper so far. The entire place is a tourist mecca, and nothing here exists that isn't geared toward visitors. There was a 50 metre line of people waiting to take the bus up to the chateau (and lake itself) — but I had a better idea, renting snowshoes and making my way up on foot, collecting photos as I climbed. Lake Louise has a dense population of Grizzly bears, and although they should all be hibernating, it was spooky walking alongside sections of electrified fence which is used to deter the bears from the tiny village. Once I made it to the top I was awestruck — the lake has to be seen in person, it simply is incredible. I spent a couple of hours just snowshoeing around the frozen, snow covered surface, and once I distanced myself from the bustling chateau, it was quite an experience.

Over the last couple of days, I've ticked off most of the winter-accessible hikes in the area. Much of the summer trails sit in avalanche zones with some I'm told run regularly enough to warrant concern. In researching the different hikes and trail conditions, I came across dozens of stories involving tourists caught in places they shouldn't be. On my hike up to Mirror lake, I saw a few touristy-looking groups returning from Lake Agnes, with a couple in jeans even, which sits in a dangerous avalanche zone. I read 3 people died last winter season, just 400 metres from where I hiked to the "safe-zone" as they were ill prepared, equipped and triggered an avalanche. I was quite content making the trip just to where I did, and made a couple of bird-friends. After an extensive session of Googling, I found my first friend Artemis is a Clark's Nutcracker, and he was carrying more than a dozen seeds in his sublingual pouch (which I also had to Google — confused watching this bird seemingly regurgitate and re-arrange a collection of seeds every so often). I stole a couple of his seeds (they looked tasty), and had him hop up onto my hand without any sort of further encouragement. I haven't figured out what kind of bird my second friend Ron is, but my best guess is a Mountain Chickadee — he too was rather friendly.

I also made the trek out to an Ice Climbing spot, which required some extensive (snow) climbing on my part to reach the base. Despite being sensibly geared, it was rather hairy in parts — I went for a weeee bit of a unintended trip thanks to gravity... sliced open my hand on the hard snow? but didn't do any serious damage. Like the sensible cookie I am, I got to break out the first aid kit for the first time this trip, so I can tick that off as well. Once at the top I met with some climbers and safely watched them ascend behind some large boulders as the ice chunks came flying down. Apparently the large ice stalagmites occasionally break off unexpectedly and hurtle down, killing anyone underneath, so I thought it best to keep a fair distance and not hang around for too long...

I'm heading off to the main town of Banff, a further 50 kilometres SE tomorrow afternoon which is my final and longest stop in the Canadian Rockies. So there is more adventure to come.