Tag Archives: Lake Louise

Posts from the road

Lake Louise

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(Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada)

Right before our first day of skiing, we visited the legendary Lake Louise (the village, the lake, and the hotel, but not the ski area…yet).

View of the lake, from Chateau Lake Louise

I’m sure every Canadian has seen multiple pictures of Lake Louise: the grand hotel overlooking the narrow mountain lake with snowy peaks in the background…it is an iconic Canadian sight.

Skating in front of the Chateau Lake Louise

And yet, it wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined it. I thought it would be at the bottom of a steep and narrow alpine valley.  But that would be wrong: it is actually located some distance up from the broad valley floor, on a winding mountain road.  

Only in Canada!

It actually reminds me quite a bit of St. Moritz, Switzerland…except that there is only one hotel (rather than hundreds) and it seems isolated even with hundreds of people enjoying the lake.

Hiking across Lake Louise

Anyway, it is definitely beautiful and there was plenty going on when we arrived.  There was a fully operational ice bar, a huge number of ice sculptures, multiple hockey games in progress on the lake, cross-country skiers darting to and fro, and many others just walking on and around the lake.  A horse-drawn sled was ferrying people around the coastal trail, while some fearless folks were climbing an ice waterfall. 

A climber ascending the ice falls at Lake Louise

As we were just visiting and not actually staying at the hotel, we chose to walk the length of the lake (about 2 km) and back, taking in the views and the general good cheer about winter.  It seemed like the right thing to do, given that the temperatures were more than cold enough for us to curse them.  Of course, the happiest creature we saw was a very photogenic husky.  Sadly, I didn’t take a picture!

Hiking alongside Lake Louise

Lake Louise (the lake, with the hotel) also turns out to be different from Lake Louise (the village) and Lake Louise (the ski area).  The village is on the valley floor, a couple of kilometers down from the lake, on the Trans-Canada Highway.  The ski area is even further from the lake, on the other side of the valley.  

Ice bar at the Chateau Lake Louise

The verdict:  yes, as you can see, it is definitely worth a visit.  I’m sure I haven’t seen the last of this famous lake…and hopefully, I will get back here at least once in the warmer seasons, so I can see the lake’s (apparently) mesmerizing colours for myself.  

Posts from the road

My Coldest Skiing Ever?

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(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

I have now been skiing for two days in the Canadian Rockies.  Winter is ending in a few weeks, and it was reasonable to assume that temperatures would not be significantly lower than what I usually encounter during my March ski trips.  But that would be wrong.

-29’C on the car dashboard, en route to Lake Louise for skiing

Thanks to a Polar Vortex situation, the temperature en route to the Lake Louise ski resort (see photo at top of this post) reached an incredible -29’C.  While I know that it can often be much colder than that in Canada, it is not the kind of temperature commonly associated with sustainable ski resorts.  They even issued a frostbite warning!

Me and the distant Mt. Assiniboine (in British Columbia!), while skiing at Sunshine

Maybe it was just a one-off?  Well, it warmed up the next day to a relatively balmy -27’C on the way to the Sunshine (Banff) ski resort.  In fact, that day was probably more challenging: it felt even colder (perhaps due to the altitude) than it did at Lake Louise, and I had to return to the lodge after only two runs.  As the day progressed, I was generally able to complete three runs in a row before I had to restore some warmth to my frozen hands and face.

One of the “Back Bowls” at Lake Louise ski resort

But!  This is not a story of icy gloom!  It is, instead, a story of ingenuity and survival against the odds.  Yes, I have discovered an easy way to continue skiing, even in the most frigid temperatures.

Entering the Back Bowls at Lake Louise

Thanks to the automatic hand dryer, found in most public washrooms, you too can restore at least some temporary warmth to your hands and mitts (I don’t recommend this technique with feet, boots, or faces).  Simply find a washroom with an automatic hand dryer, and forego the unnecessary preliminaries of actually using the washroom or washing your hands.  Just let the toasty hand dryer work its magic, and you’ll be ready to face the elements once again. Trust me, it works!

Back Bowls at Lake Louise

Of course, this places some limits on your ski itinerary.  My hands also feel very dried out right now.  But desperate times call for desperate measures!

Lake Louise summit

Around 1:00 p.m. or so, on both days, the overhead sun did help out quite a bit.  And I’m certainly not complaining about the crowds: lift lines were non-existent, and we often had huge pistes all to ourselves.  But I do have to admit that unconditional alpine enjoyment took a bit of a hit over the past two days.

Empty pistes in the middle of the day at Sunshine (Banff)

Fortunately, temperatures are expected to rise for the next two days of skiing, so I hope to provide some substantive commentary on these two beautifully situated ski areas in my subsequent blog entries.  And, just in case, I will also be buying a couple of “Hot Shots” (hand warmers that I haven’t used since the 1990s) to put in my mitts on the last day of skiing…temperatures are expected to plunge once again by then.

Near the summit of Lake Louise

Canadian skiing isn’t always like this. Stay tuned to find out what it’s really like when the weather is not so much of a factor.