Lake Louise February 2012
Having finally got settled in the house, with all of the furniture delivered and knowing our way around a little we decided it was time to take a short break together and enjoy ourselves. We chose Lake Louise because of its iconic reputation and because it is quite close to home. Sarah took Friday off to allow for a long weekend and after a nice lay in we set off for the mountains, stopping once to stare at the beauty of our surroundings and to suffer some sort of 'Hitchcock moment' with two crows....
we explored this path a little but one step off the side (off the compressed snow) and you were up to your hips
We had booked a room with a lake view and had seen a thousand pictures of Lake Louise but it didn't prepare us for the stunning scene directly out of our window.
we dropped our bags and set off downstairs to find a lunch spot, we quickly decided on this restaurant (one of several) and enjoyed a lovely lunch looking out over the frozen lake.
after lunch we scampered outside to explore the ice sculptures dotted around the space between the hotel and the lake
out on the lake there was a huge area cleared for skating and an ice hockey rink but it still left tons of room for snow shoeing, skiing or snowman making
in the middle of the skating rink is an ice sculpture of some scale stranded on a small island. Roses are frozen into the blocks in places to give a little colour and all in all it is an impressive construction though we gave the ice seats a miss
we decided to take a walk beside the lake before sunset and set off down the flat trail used by the horse drawn sleigh toward the western end of the lake
after a while the sleigh came toward us and we stepped to the side to let it pass, a squeal from Sarah caused me to look around in time to see her sink up to her middle in snow, laughing as she tried to escape she almost got out before sinking again, as I pulled her out the sleigh went past with a whole bunch of smiling faces on it
it is a lovely walk beside the lake as the sun circles round from behind the adjacent mountains
looking back to the hotel we are both in awe of this place. All too often a well known place fails to live up to its reputation when visited but Lake Louise does not fall into that category
it's great to be out in the sun and in such a beautiful location, everyone we see is smiling from ear to ear, and so are we
soon we are closing in on the end of the 2km walk, it actually looks further when looking back to the hotel
having forgotten my tripod I am happy to find a low branch that will balance the camera to grab a rare shot of the two of us
the pathway rises up and provides a view of a beautiful frozen waterfall that ice climbers have been using (right in the centre of this shot is one guy in a blue jacket and white hard hat in front of the small group of trees providing some scale)
we circle around toward the end of the lake and the small feeder stream that is strangely still in liquid form
here Sarah provides some scale to the beautiful winter scene
we drop down to the lake and set off back across the ice careful to avoid the water holes around the inlet stream
walking back along the ice was easy going and we even passed mums with pushchairs (strollers) out on the lake. The twin lines are made by cross country skiers
back at the hotel the sun has moved around and provides perfect lighting for the ice sculptures, the ice bar opens in the evening for a short time serving drinks in the cool surroundings of the mountains. (click small pics for larger)
We had a wonderful dinner in the hotel and sat talking until late, we were up early Saturday morning and after breakfast we were out to hike/snowshoe toward the Plain of Six Glaciers, ultimately we turned back agonisingly short of our target as Sarah was suffering with the strenuous effort in the altitude up here - Click here for the full hike report and pics
When we got back Sarah was really feeling the hike so we took a drive down to Lake Louise Village (which is actually just a few shops in a square) and had a late afternoon lunch there
from the village we drove up to the ski resort thinking of taking the gondola to the summit for the view but at 3:45 we were too late as it closed at 4 and we wanted time to explore the top. We decided to go back to the hotel and rest and return here in the morning.
Sarah had a really rough evening with a headache that wouldn't go away caused by doing a bit too much at this altitude (not easy for people from the flatlands) a couple of tablets from reception finally got her off to sleep. In the morning the cloud was low and snow was blowing in a light breeze.
we decided to leave the gondola for another day (its on our doorstep after all) and instead checked out and headed for the town of Banff (on the route home) along a scenic highway where a lot of wolves have been reported lately, it may not have been the best of conditions but the road was empty and we took a nice slow drive dropping in at viewpoints along the way.
In Banff we had a nice lunch and then used the free WiFi in a coffee shop to have a quick video chat with Mark and Hayley before hitting the shops, where Sarah soon forgot about the strain of the previous day
Banff is a typical tourist town with a good supply of plastic junk with Canadian flags on, Moose of all shapes and sizes and occasionally some good stuff mingled in.
none of that prevented Sarah from making a large hole in $500 but it was good to see her back to her normal self again after last night....retail therapy obviously works.
a street hockey festival provided some laughs and also meant the main street was closed to traffic making shopping all the better.
all in all we had a great weekend (with the exception of Sarah's Saturday night sickness) and we'll be heading back to Lake Louise again soon to do it all again, as for the reported wolves......maybe next time ; )