I had planned our Western Canada trip around three or four must-do's. One of these was the Icefields Parkway. The highest and alleged most spectacular road in North America, running 232 km across the top of the Rockies joining the Jasper and Banff National Parks. Over the past two weeks we had made our way to Jasper through a combination of planes, ferries, cars, taxis and one heck of a long train. There was though a problem. A snow dump. Around the time of our arrival in Jasper, a large snow storm had covered the heights with a massive amount of the white stuff, leading to severe avalanche risk for parts of the road. Consequently the Icefields Parkway was closed in the middle for a number of days while rangers reduced the risk through controlled explosions.
In order to make it in time to catch our plane on Sunday, we had to be in Calgary by Saturday evening. The best info we could get out of the park office or the internet was that the Parkway "may" open from after 2 pm on Saturday. A pretty tight and uncertain window, especially since turning back would involve an 8 hour giant loop via Edmonton to get to Calgary. After having scoured the weather charts in the days leading up to the Saturday, we saw a break in the weather, decided to risk our luck and started out along the Parkway.
ICEFIELDS PARKWAY
The signs were looking good when we passed into the National Park. We stopped at the barrier to check in with the ranger, who told us the road was expected to open early. Incidentally, we also asked about the the half dozen massive tick like bugs we had found in our collective hair the night before, but the ranger waived our concerns off, explaining that ticks had not been reported in the park for ages (...more on that later). All that mattered was the sun was out and the road seemingly clear in front of us.
From the off the stunning scenery from around Jasper kept it up and then raised a notch or two, as the road ran through a valley between precipitous, snow covered peaks on each side. Our first stop was Athabasca Falls. The freezing water of the Athabasca river, takes a sharp turn and falls down through a steep ravine. Most of the falls were frozen solid in sheathes of giant ice stalactites. The water forced its way through one part of the chasm, causing a violent roar that echoed amongst the ice. The kids were particularly excited peering down into the chasm and noise from the bridge over the falls.
Impressive as they were, the falls were barely a drop compared to the magnificence of the wider landscape we transversed over the next few hours. Without any exaggeration, I never been anywhere more spectacularly beautiful. A true wilderness of jagged peaks falling to vast forests, broken by a rushing river and frozen lakes.
Snow and ice covered everything, except the steepest heights of the mountains and the layers between the fir branches.
I have seen the odd view that rivaled this place, but never a thousand different views over such a distance. It was jaw dropping and made it quite difficult to make progress as we were compelled to stop at one remarkable lookout after another.
Each time we got out the car we received a stark reminder of how vulnerable we were out here. Thin air, ice wind and not even a shelter to the horizon.
Adding to the feeling of isolation, we barely saw any wildlife, apart from the odd bird in flight and one massive raven dominating a stop off zone (presumably in case humans left any scraps in this desert of ice and show). This was a strange feeling after practically bumping into large wildlife on every turn around Jasper. Likely a product of the increased altitude and continuing winter conditions.
Just when we thought that would be it, a herd of the sturdiest of mammals stopped us in the road. A dozen or so mountain goats were somehow surviving in this landscape caked in meters of snow and ice. It was a heartening sight.
COLUMBIA ICEFIELD
In the middle of the Icefields Parkway, over 2000 meters into the sky is base of the Athabasca glacier. This giant river of ice rises up to the Columbia Icefields. Some 3000 meters up, it is the largest ice field in the Rockies. Sitting on the continental divides, its melt waters flow to three oceans (Arctice Pacific and Atlantic via Hudson Bay).
As we approached the glacier, the flow of the Athabasca river reduced into channels through the ice and then finally disappeared. What was left was a sheet of glacial ice reaching from the valley, and thereby our feet, up and over the mountainous cliffs overhead. Quite an awesome sight and one we wished to climb on!
Strapping each member of the family into every vestement of warm clothing we had, we set off on foot and trekked a kilometer or so on to the lower reaches of the glacier. Against our clear advice, the kids kept jumping into the deep snow and ice to our side until one of my old crevass related stories stopped them in their tracks (http://walter82.blogspot.com/2006/01/mountain-huayna-potosi-6088m.html).
With the sun now out strong, the combination of reflecting UV and freezer like cold from the icy depths treated us to that unique, peculiar sensation of residing on a river of ice. Reaching a natural stop point before evident crevasses, we took a long look back down the vast, ice-chisseled valley and then slowly headed back down.
Unlike the previous few hours, I can't pretend that we were still enjoying the spectacle on our own. It was quite a shock reaching the glacier, as suddenly there were hundreds of people. This was a popular day trip from the vastly more visited Banff National Park. The visitor center was vast and rather money grabbing. We moved on quickly.
BANFF NATIONAL PARK
This was swiftly forgotten as we took to the road again and, if it possible, found scenery just as ridiculously impressive as before. Now dropping down through sharply sweeping valleys, the cliffs felt nearer. We drew in a breath every time we crossed a sign-posted avalanche zone and relaxed as we exited. It did not help that on each side there was evidence of multiple recent avalanches.
We were now in Banff National Park, and I could see why it was so raved about. Vast and, in these reaches, completely unspoilt. It made for a wonderful couple more hours on the road, basking in our majestic surroundings (or in the case of my two youngest children, finally catching up on some sleep...).
Given its renown, we decided to end our ride on the Icefields Parkway with a trip to Lake Louise. I will be short on this one. It was the biggest disappointment of our whole trip. A pretty enough mountain lake. Pity about the huge, out of place hotel, crazy car park and drowning crowds.
Escaping, we took a detour through Banff town. It seemed like a cool place, though much, much larger than Jasper and I guessed unlikely to have elk walking through it any time soon. Sadly, we did not get to explore it properly as Calgary and, hopefully, the Roughnecks beckoned.
COWBOY COUNTRY
Hoping to find a live ice hockey game as a final Canadian cultural experience, we instead discovered the Calgary Roughnecks were playing at the ice hockey arena that night. They are a men's lacrosse team, playing beat the crap out of the other team lacrosse on a carpet laid on the ice. What could be more Canadian than that!
The problem was one of distance, time and tickets. Despite having too much off the first, too little of the second and none of the third, we decided to try our luck. This meant jumping on the freeway and picking up the pace. I felt sad as we left the Rockies, a mood enhanced by the arid, uninspiring, end of winter cow country that makes up the land between the mountains and Calgary.
A good dollup of country radio kept us going, and before we knew it we were driving past the oddly out of place ski jump from the 1988 Calgary Olympics and into downtown. It is fair to say Calgary is not a pretty city, but the sprawl creates quite a spectacle, and the over head passageways between buildings is intriguingly different (it allows people to stay under cover when the temperature drops to minus 30!).
Joining a massive traffic jam, we inched into the stupendously large conglomeration of Calgary stadia - both a former Olynpic venue and current home of the Flames and Calgary Stampede. After what seemed like an age, we parked up amongst a vast collection of pick-up trucks on steriods and ran to the stadium.
What we found was chaos. Unbenowest to us, the Rednecks had decided this was a community day and and distributed free tickets around much of Calgary. The result was a scrum, stressed people and an unexpected sell ot.
We consoled ourselves by purchasing some awesome Flames hockey merch, taking in the atmosphere and glimpsing the insane scale of the Stampede buildings outside (it has over 1.5 million visitors each year) .
UP AND AWAY
Our trip to Canada was all but over. Without exageration, it had been one of the best trips of my life and proof (to me at least) that adventurous travel with the kids was not only doable but enhancing. From the Pacific to the Rockies, whales to bears, First Nations to Greek-Canadians, Vancouver to Calgary and everything in between, it had been a blast.
On our way out we stopped off at Fort Calgary,outpost of the frontier days. A timely reminder of the strange quirk in history that lead to the formation of this (largely) charming, giant country, but also of its adolescence. Seeing this reconstructed wooden lodge next to the grandeur of steel and glass of the modern booming city, bore witness to the energy and drive of Canada. Coming from the old world, it felt intoxicating. Combine that with its awe inspiring scenery and wildlife and I figure we have reason enough to return. Very soon.
AFTERWORD... TICK ALERT!
In the end we brought back more from Canada than memories, pictures and a lumberjack shirt. Unfortunately I was right. It was ticks we had found in our hair back in Jasper. Fortunately we had found a dozen and removed them. Unfortunately we missed two. To the shock of my mother, she discovered two ticks buried into the back of my daughters head. I can't describe the relief (and satisfaction) when the doctor removed them (and squished them). Nasty little buggers. Encountering wildlife stays with you, but I hoped not in this way!
