Day 14: Lake Louise

It is freezing cold this morning. I have been awake since 0530.
More clothes applied to body in attempt to warm up.
Did the trick. Slept some more.

Wilma had arranged to fetch me at 0830 this morning. We were going for a hike above Lake Louise and had to be out early to beat the crowds.
I met her at the gate at 0830 sharp and we headed up to the parking area at the lake.

"We'll be out for about 6 hours, that ok?"

Sure. A change of muscle groups would do my legs good.

We headed up past the hotel and towards the Beehive, a walk/climb that passed a tea-house and a few (frozen) lakes. It was cold, but the climb up soon had us puffing and working up a little sweat. My lungs seemed to be OK from all the biking and my legs soon took to the new motion.

Past Mirror Lake, which was still partially frozen, and up the zig-zag path that would take us up the Beehive and to the shelter at the top. The path was still quiet with only a few people out. As a result there was no noise and the silence, apart from our breathing, was beautiful.

The clouds were still low on the mountains, but were slowly lifting, giving us a glimpse of the valley below. Following a contour around and down the side of the Beehive, we entered the valley behind the lake and headed up towards the Valley of Six Glaciers, where there was another tea-house.

Avalanches had obscured some of the paths, so a little creative walking was employed to get through these sections. The lateral and terminal moraines were massive, just looking up the valley made me feel so small and insignificant. Glaciers hung from rock lips high above us, seemingly ready to tumble down on us at any moment. The weather cooled the higher we went, and once at the upper tea house, it had closed in and was trying really hard to snow. It did rain though. Big, wet rain.

A gunshot-like sound echoed down the valley as a plume of snow dropped from above, the avalanche hanging in the air for what seemed like ages.
And that was a small one!

A quick bite to eat and we headed back down the trail. It would be trickier going down, the compacted snow a nightmare to walk on. A few slips and slides later we reached solid ground, and warmer air. It was balmy down here in the valley. Outer layers were stripped off as the sun burst through the clouds. We managed to get a few great photos of us on the snow and slopes.

Before heading back to the car and escaping the crowds we took a quick detour through the Fairmont Chateau, to the lobby, admiring the interior.

We popped in at Moraine Lake on the way back to the campsite, but the cloud cover meant that is wasn't as blue as it could have been.

Oh well, I was still a rather grand day out.

Wilma expressed an interest in riding to Bow Summit and Peyto Lake with me tomorrow. It would be nice to have some company on the road, so said yes.

See you in the morning.