Banff above the treeline

Okay, I'll attempt to rejoin the picture show with the rest of the hike at Lake Louise. I'll warn you though, I've still got a heck of a lot of pics to post. Enjoy!

The Plain of Six Glaciers

First wildlife spotted on the trail. We think this was a wolverine. Or a really big marmot.

As you'll see later, this guy was bigger and had a bushy, red tail.

We stalked each other for fifty yards on the trail.

He paused to eat some plant shoots along the way.

Tommy trying to get a good shot as he walks away.

"Okay, enough of the paparazzi, I'm outta here!"

Looking to the south across the glacial moraine. The small peak in the middle is The Mitre and to the right is Mt. Lefroy.

Looking up the valley at the headwall of Mt. Victoria. That's Victoria glacier at the top of the wall, which is where we were hoping to get pictures of an avalanche. We heard and saw a big one while at the tea house.

Looking back down the valley. Chateau Lake Louise is somewhere down there in the haze.

Surmounting one of the many heavy winter leftovers.

A wider view of the Mt. Victoria headwall. I got to use a classic line here, "Sir, do you mind if I yodel?"

Unfortunately my yodeling did not incite an avalanche, but we heard lots of ice cracking and popping. It sounds a lot like thunder. The middle, snow covered, area is called The Death Trap because of the avalanches and rock fall from both peaks. At the top of that area is Abbot Pass where there is a stone shelter for climbers attempting either summit.

 

A close up of the Death Trap and Abbott Pass. You can barely make out the shelter at the top. We glassed it with cameras and a monocular. It looked like it had snow up to the eaves still.

Intrepid travelers.

Mt. Lefroy

The view of the tea house from up valley.

Rocky Mountain sheep or mountain goats on the side of the mountain above the tea house.

Brought to you by....Arc'teryx. (Think Banff Mountain Film Festival announcer voice)

They should really sponsor us. Each of us had at least one piece of their clothing on and neither of these pictures is me. I know, I know, I have a problem.

Looking back down valley at Lake Louise.

Jason tries glissading. Relatively successful, too.

We happened upon these two guys. Now, these were smaller and looked slightly different from the first one, so we think these were marmots. One of them split while the other was quite happy to pose for pictures. Many pictures.

With his coloring, they are hard to see in the similarly colored rocks.

While Jason, Melissa and I distracted him, Tommy was able to get pretty close for some up close portraits.

Yet another furry creature farther down the trail. I think there were at least three at this point but only one stuck around for pictures.

I'm down in a crevasse while they pose for pictures. Oh, don't worry, I went in to the crevasse willingly. It was only about four feet deep. And not really a crevasse, but it sounds cool, doesn't it?

Another angle of Mt. Lefroy.

A frickin' porcupine! This scared Melissa and I because he was very well camouflaged against the bushes.

Does anyone know if they can shoot their quills any distance? To be safe I used as much of the zoom as I could.

The stream that drains the valley below the glaciers and feeds Lake Louise. The rock flour from the glaciers, flowing down this stream in to the Lake, is what gives it the aquamarine color.

The Chateau from the other end of the Lake.

Replica birch bark canoes on the Lake.

Was this a loon? I can't remember.

A fireman has to take pictures of a Canadian fire hydrant. Funny there's no steamer connection.

One of the wildlife overpasses.

These must be quite successful because they are building more of them. Jason and Melissa were able to see and take a picture of a grizzly crossing over on one like this.