I went out with the snowshoes today and made a long trek through the forest around the upper lake in kananaskis. It was great to walk off the 'plane legs' that never seem to be fully recovered after flying, until you work them hard.
It was an incredible day of beautiful sunshine and deep snow, there must have been considerable snowfall while we were at home in England as everything is covered. The was little to shoot other than vast swathes of white so I didn't bother much at all today, maybe not making pictures at home has continued with me back in Canada. Anyway, I had a nice set of shots from the week before we flew home so I've posted those instead. There's some great ice formations on the upper lake, riverside shots at Galatea trailhead, and another nice sunset at the lower lake. A lovely day for images even though the cold was biting all day. The ice in the main image is on the upper lake and the gallery has captions identifying locations along the way.
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I set out for kananaskis last week in search of new sunset locations to photograph. I really enjoy location scouting every once in a while, it forces me to think more about my surroundings and about what light works best there.
I started at the northernmost corner of the lower lake and after leaving the truck and hiking about half a mile west on the north shore, it was apparent that I needed to go back for the snowshoes. I'd got accustomed to wandering anywhere without difficulty this year because of the lack of snowfall. As it turns out the northern corner of the lower lake is something of a collection point for blowing snow. The plod back to the truck was disheartening, I'd slogged a mile (1.6 km) to get absolutely nowhere. Once the snowshoes were on I set out again, ploughing through the deep snow with much less effort, now I felt better about the enforced return to the truck. I skirted the northernmost end of the lake around a small peninsula to obtain the view of the mountain ranges I was seeking. On inspection, the location was not what I'd want for a sunset shoot, but I have logged it as a daytime hike in summer or autumn, there's definitely a good number of images to be made here, but not at sunset. After reaching my intended spot I crossed the frozen lake to the eastern shore and made some images along the way. At the eastern shore I found a likely spot for sunset so I suspect I'll be heading there for my next sunset shoot. From the north east corner of the lake I crossed the ice again in front of the dam and back to my awaiting truck. As I was in the area, I thought I'd go around to the upper lake before going home. At the upper lake I found some nice ice images and a lovely hard hoar frost on a stump there, and (as seems the norm this year) more methane bubbles in the ice. The main image was made by crawling into a gap in the ice close to an island on the upper lake, the gallery below has captions to show location. Sunset predictions are notoriously difficult to make in mountainous areas but I keep my eye on them anyway just in case. On saturday afternoon there was a good chance of a nice sunset in kananaskis so Sarah and I decided to make the journey out there.
Going to kananaskis is a no lose situation for us because we love it. When we arrived at the upper lake we put on our spikes and walked around the lakeshore (and across the lake) examining the thick winter ice that covers the area at this time of year. The lack of snow was really surprising, strong winds have cleared a number of patches along the ice, and where the drifts have stopped, they are only boot deep. After wandering the upper lake we jumped back in the truck and made the short hop to the lower lake for sunset. On arrival it looked pretty promising but when we hiked out to the shore and set up the camera gear clouds moved in and killed off the light. We decided to hang around and see what happened and I'm glad we did. The clouds cleared and allowed the sunset to paint its usual colour across the mountains opposite. Above the mountains a large cloud bank gathered and soaked up the last of the sun into the blue hour. It was a lovely evening, we sat drinking hot tea by the still cold lake and talking until almost dark. We didn't stop to see the milky way because low cloud sat right where it would be and the cold was beginning to get to Sarah after a long spell of inactivity watching sunset. We drove home having enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and evening at the lakes with some pretty good shots along the way too. The main image shows the north end of the lower lake as we move into the blue hour, the gallery below has captions to identify locations. Cecil and I made the trip out to kananaskis today in the hope of finding some open water and making a few shots. We were disappointed, there's little sign of liquid out here and still some significant ice and snow. Obviously we weren't going to drive all the way for nothing so we picked our way through the huge ice slabs and plummeted through deep wet snow on occasion around the side of the upper lake. We did find some dry south facing areas but paid for it when we tried walking back on north facing areas. There are still some weeks of melting required out here but at least we got out and enjoyed the day. Below are some ice shots and lakeside skeletons that we captured along the way.
I make no excuses for revisiting Kananaskis and the beautiful wind polished surface of the upper lake yet again. Cecil and I were out for our usual weekly photo tour and it was the first time he had seen the lake like this. We had a great afternoon chasing ice shots before going back to the lower lake for sunset. I found a few nice images today and had a great time out in the Canadian wilderness. On the way home we had to stop for a huge moose on the road then quickly stop again for 3 more (a 4 moose day is always a good day) As we got onto highway 40 we were stopped again by the local elk herd scattered around the highway in large numbers. Unfortunately darkness prevented us making any useful shots of the moose or elk but the sighting was the icing on the cake of another wonderful day in our favourite place.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the winter wonderland that is Upper Kananaskis Lake. There had been a good dollop of fresh snow up there in the last couple of days and we found ourselves wanting to see a bit of winter as there's been so little of it this year. We had a fantastic day and spent 5 hours circumnavigating the lake and taking it all in. You can see a full write up and all of the images by clicking here, there's also a small gallery below (no captions) to give a flavour of the day.
As everyone who reads the blog regularly will know, Upper Kananaskis Lake is our favourite place in Canada and winter doesn't change that one bit. There's always something beautiful here and winter brings it's own reward to those who would walk the 7km round trip across the frozen lake.
As the water level in the lake drops to provide hydro power through the winter, the early ice falls with the water level then, in the shallows at the north west corner of the lake, it breaks over the rocky bottom and the winter jewels of Kananaskis are created. Even in temperatures of -20 it's worth the walk, perhaps more so when you have the place to yourself as we did yesterday. The gallery below sees us starting out, crossing the lake and returning, it's worth noting that the ice on the lake is now over a foot thick and very stable, the visible ice that I've photographed is the early winter ice that was exposed some time ago as the water level fell. It looks nice in the photographs as I'd hoped but the real life experience is spectacular, the cold air bites at exposed flesh and the snow crunches underfoot while a million ice diamonds sparkle wherever the sun touches. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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