O Canada!

In what is becoming a Winter Break Tradition, cousin Ev and Mark joined me and Anil for another snowy holiday adventure. We'd planned the trip five months earlier in the summer, during one of the most severe heat waves that Cambridge had ever seen. Anil reaaaaally wanted to go somewhere cold, so after debating a few locations, we decided on the Canadian Rockies.

The plan was to go to Lake Louise for a few days before joining E/M, but weather and incompetence by the airlines meant Anil and I left 4 days later than expected. Instead, E/M picked us up from the airport in Calgary and we immediately drove two hours north to Rocky Mountain House. Before heading out the next morning, we had to try out the infamous Tim Hortons - the Canadian staple known for its donuts. The eponymous Tim was a famous hockey player who played in the NHL for 24 years. It is apparently a Canadian tradition that everyone knows about, but I'd never been there. And I am VERY particular about my donuts, so I was eager to try it. We got a box of "Timbits" - essentially an assortment of overly-sweet donut holes. While it was an exciting prospect, Ev said it best - it's basically like eating Winchell's. I was definitely under-impressed... sigh. 

We headed west past the tiny former coal mining town of Nordegg, on the way to Lake Abraham. Our goal was to see the methane ice bubbles frozen into the lake, before heading up to Jasper via the famous Icefields Parkway, one of the most scenic drives in the world. 

Along the edge of Lake Abraham

Lake Abraham was created when a dam was built by the power company. Decaying vegetation on the bottom of the lake releases methane gas in stacked bubbles, which become trapped as the lake freezes in the winter.

Knowing we were going hiking on ice and snow, we had purchased ice cleats - definitely worth it!! Other tourists around us were sliding around and having difficulty climbing back out of the lake, whose edges were slightly sloped since the dam was releasing water and the water level was lower than when it first froze. We spent some time playing around on the frozen lake - which for me was a little nerve-wracking since there were areas that definitely looked like the water wasn't solid! But seeing the bubbles and playing around the lake was so much fun - absolutely mind blowing!

We then continued to Hwy 93  - but discovered it was closed because of avalanche warnings! This meant instead of a leisurely 2 hour drive to Jasper, we had a detour back through Rocky Mountain House, adding an extra 6 hours. Exhausting! Thanks for driving, Mark!

Luckily there was nothing on the agenda for the next day, so we could sleep in and relax. After breakfast, we took advantage of the resort's free skate rentals and went ice skating on Pyramid Lake. It's a common winter activity for Canadians, but it was weird for us Californians! The ice was clearly VERY thick, but it was still so unnerving to skate where we knew there was water under the ice. And it was kind of hard to skate on the areas where the surface was rough and there were cracks and fissures in the ice - particularly for someone like me, who hadn't ice skated in years.

In the afternoon, we went snowshoeing from the resort to Pyramid Island in the middle of Pyramid Lake. We trudged through the snow that accumulated on the frozen lake surface, so it was a pretty easy and flat 2.5 km round trip. As the sun started setting, a thick fog descended on the north side of the lake, and it was an eerie sight watching the fog thicken and creep towards us as we hiked back to the resort!

After dinner, we went to the Fairmont Hotel to the Jasper Planetarium tour. There was a surprisingly interesting show (only because it was a very small canvas dome, and we sat on reclining lawn chairs), and small telescopes that gave a great closeup view of the moon.

The next day we took an underwhelming wildlife tour in Jasper National Park - although we did see some elk and bighorn sheep, and we spotted a northern flicker. 

The trip started late and dropped us off late, which meant we had little time for lunch and a late start for our Maligne Canyon ice walk. The canyon is named after the Maligne River, or "Evil River" - named so because a French or Belgian priest who was an early explorer to the area lost all his gear trying to cross. The river carves into the limestone creating the deep slot canyon.

Maligne Canyon is 50 meters deep, with several waterfalls that freeze in the winter. During our excursion, we walked most of the way along the top of the gorge, crossing several bridges with a vantage of the river below. 

We then worked our way down onto the riverbed and walked a ways up to see the frozen waterfalls. The trip was AWESOME - absolutely gorgeous scenery and a fun hike,  with sliding, crawling, and wading. I'd be so curious to see what the canyon looks like during other times of the year!

An added bonus to the trip was that there were two moose that decided to hang out by the side of the road, to lick the salt. It was a mom and her calf, who was clearly more skittish, but they both were there for several hours and let us ogle them for quite a while!

It was New Year's Eve, so that night we had a lovely dinner at the Pyramid Lake restaurant.

The next morning we had a late start out for our drive down the Icefields Parkway to Banff. 

A lovely hike to Sunwapta Falls

I was particularly excited for this drive since it had been closed due to avalanches when we first arrived, but it is such an iconic part of the Canadian Rockies. Along the way there are several small hikes and frozen waterfalls, and we put our ice cleats to good use since we had them!

One of my favorite stops was actually just a quick hop out of the car - the base of Athabasca Glacier. It was so much colder there than just a few miles away - evidence of that katabatic wind! Too bad we didn't have time to hike closer... 

It was SO cold at the base of Athabasca Glacier!

Overall, the Icefields Parkway is a gorgeous drive - not difficult at all, and so much beautiful scenery and plenty of places to stop. I would definitely do it again during the summer months, with the Columbia Icefield is open and you can take tours to Athabasca Glacier. And even with multiple stops along the way, we made it to our next cabin with plenty of time to relax before dinner.

Our home for the next four days was at Baker Creek - a cozy cabin about 15 minutes south of Lake Louise. With a small kitchen and a wood-burning stove, it was a great place to use as base camp since we all were doing different things.

The next day, while E/M went skiing and Anil hung out at the cabin, I drove to Yoho National Park and snowshoed around the Emerald Lake Loop. It was a gorgeous walk, but there was one slightly scary section with huge 'avalanche warning' signs that made me really nervous! Luckily, I made it out alive!

The view of Banff from Sulfur Mountain

That night, we took the Banff Gondola up to the top of Sulfur Mountain. There was an evening light exhibit, and we had the best dinner at the restaurant at the top.

During our drive through the Icefields Parkway, we'd seen several iceclimbers and decided the next day that we needed to try it ourselves! Our guide was a Nepalese Sherpa who'd summited Mt. Everest 7 times(!) - so our little intro to ice climbing adventure was going to be a piece of cake for him. 

We set off for a 30 minute hike to a frozen waterfall - and it is really nerve-wracking since most of these waterfalls still have flowing water behind them! Ice climbing is actually easier than rock climbing, but definitely more intimidating. We have ice cleats on our boots, with sharp spikes sticking out from the front of our toes. Like in rock climbing, you put all your weight on your legs and use your arms to balance yourself - and since you are holding two ice picks that you whack into the ice, unlike rock climbing you always have an easy hand-hold. But since I don't rock climb, I wasn't used to relying on my legs  - plus I had a hard time getting my feet to stay in the ice, so I didn't trust putting all my weight on my legs. My arms got tired reaaallly fast (that's what happens when you have the arm strength of a wet spaghetti noodle... sigh...) but nonetheless I had a great time!

The ice castle on Lake Louise

One of the most famous spots in the Canadian Rockies is Lake Louise - a gorgeous turquoise glacial lake nestled between snowy mountains. In the winter, it freezes over and an ice skating rink is cleared on the ice. Anil and I were supposed to have stayed at the Fairmont resort during the 4 days we missed because of the weather (and stupid United Airlines), but at least we got a little taste of what we missed. 

E&M had snowshoes so they went off on their own, while I went to rent some skis. I cross-country skied across to the back of the lake (but didn't go any further since there were avalanche warnings and I was by myself). Since the track was right on the lake, it was really flat and easy - but it did get so cold that my eyelashes froze!

Anil stayed in the lobby to do some work, and when we all met up afterwards, we decided to have afternoon tea at the Fairmont. I always feel so sophisticated and posh when having afternoon tea - but as always, it was delicious!

Mmmmm, tea!

On our last day in Lake Louise, I wanted to experience other National Parks so I spent the day at Kootenay to see Marble Canyon. It is another short but cool hike to see a snowy slot canyon from above, with several bridges crossing it so you can see down into the canyon. Very cool! And just down the road were the Paint Pots, which were unfortunately covered in snow. But it was still a nice, peaceful hike through the snowy forest.

Driving back from the Paint Pots, I notice a 'continental divide' sign so of course I had to snap a picture! So now I can say I've straddled the divide in two different countries! And here, the Divide is also the dividing line between two National Parks - Banff and Kootenay!

National Parks in Canada are quite different from the ones in the US (at least the ones we visited - Jasper, Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay). For one, it doesn't seem like people go to the parks for the sake of the park - they go for activities like skiing or hiking. The vast majority of visitor centers are closed during the winter, so we couldn't even go in to see why the areas that were designated as parks were chosen to be protected. We never saw any rangers, and it was hard to tell when we were even within park boundaries. And in the smaller parks, like Yoho and Kootenay, there were very few people (I think I saw maybe a half dozen on my hikes).

Deep fried dough with cinnamon
sugar? Why yes, please!

On our way back to Calgary, we stopped in Banff and tried Beavertails: delicious deep fried pastries that were SOOO good - I  could see why they are so well known in the area! 

After checking into the hotel, we had a final dinner of Tibetan hot pot before heading to the Calgary Flames hockey game. Even though we had nosebleed seats, it was fun watching them beat the New York Islanders! A fun and very Canadian way to end our trip - Thanks, Canada!