when i grow up / first aid kit
So ... when you get to the Icefield you'll see this place:
Except it was rainy. Drizzly rain.
The Centre is full of people from every place on the planet.
It has a restaurant/cafeteria; a gift shop; a viewing deck; historical displays; toilets ... lots of stuff.
This is also where you buy tickets for the Icefield Tour. They cost over 100 bucks each.
Then you head out back ...
... and jump on one of these things.
They're called buses.
This is Shawn ... or Shane?. Our driver.
You can see the drizzly rain.
Below; MAP: Where we're going ...
On the bus ...
10 minute bus ride?
Ice Explorer Depot ahead.
We made it.
The Ice Explorer.
Not your average bus.
VROOOOOM !
Let's ride !
Next ... To the Ice!
Climb Ev'ry Mountain / Peggy Wood
from The Sound of Music / Rogers and Hammerstein
The Icefields as they are today.
Coast Publishing Co (Publisher) . Athabasca Glacier and Columbia Icefield Chalet, Banff - Jasper highway, Canadian Rockies. Vancouver: Coast Publishing Co., Vancouver, B.C, cca. 1920.
Harmon Byron (Photographer) . Columbia Icefields. Banff: Photographed and Copyrighted by Byron Harmon, Banff, Canada, [before 1942].
Six-Hundred Lovat Scouts trained during the Second World War on the Athabasca Glacier in 1944. Yellowhead-Museum and Archives.
Finally we arrive at our modern Icefield conveyance:
The ICE EXPLORER!
Next ... To the ICE !
Rainy Day People / Gordon Lightfoot
Rainy.
But we've got an appointment at the Icefields.
Mountains are like oceans.
Even in bad weather
they are beautiful
and mysterious.
At Last!!!
Icefields in sight!
Blue Water / Poco
Day 2: Rain
We head out for our scheduled Tour of Columbia Icefields.
But on the way we stop at
Decisions, decisions ...
Be careful ...
Posted date: August 12, 2011 / https://www.fitzhugh.ca/author/admin/
... Public Safety Warden Garth Lemke ... said the individual went over the very top left-hand side of the falls at approximately 3:15 pm.
... “It looked like every solid structure in his body had been broken,” ... “It wasn’t a pleasant scene.”
In the past 20 years, the park has reported five fatalities at Athabasca Falls, all of the accidents occurring in a similar location.
... "Chances are the victim died from the impact of the fall into the rocky waters, but hypothermia can also be fatal if a victim survives the fall ..."
The area where the individual fell is blocked off by protective railings, along with signage warning visitors to stay back.
Hear the thunder
Ray and Sarah's video. Thanks guys.
Next: on to the Icefields
We May Never Pass this Way Again / Seals & Crofts
The Happy Wanderer / Tiny Tim
The Happy Wanderer / The Obernkirchen Children / 1954
Headin' for wonders.
'Neath the guardian peak of Pyramid Mountain
Lies sleepy Jasper town
The jewel of the Rockies
Come! Come see the wonders!
Loaded for bear.
The den if full.
One of the best places I ever stayed.
Charming to a fault.
But first things first:
A pic with Jasper the Bear!
I've seen better pics of me.
What could be more Canadian than Jasper the Bear?!
Well how about Jasper the beer?
EH!
Or Jasper on a dollar!
Onward ...
Where the Long River Flows / Gordon Lightfoot (1966)
Some critter's bin rubbin' on this tree.
Signs of bear.
Let Your Love Flow / The Bellamy Brothers
Heading for Jasper - paused at Tangle Creek
Tangle Ridge Mountain was named by Mary Schäffer in 1907 for the difficulty that climbers had descending down Tangle Creek from the ridge. The mountain's name became official in 1935 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.
Tangle Falls is a multi-tiered cascade that might be the most often photographed waterfall alongside the Icefields Parkway because of its easy access.
Blue Canadian Rockies / Vera Lynn
The Columbia Icefields seem massive. Yet year by year, the glaciers recede.
Soon to be gone.
Scientists say they will gone in 80 years.
Google Maps image of Columbia Icefield and area
Soon to be the Columbia gravel pit.
Panorama shot
See those dots?
Those are people.
But we missed our scheduled Icefield Tour.
Have to come back tomorrow.
See you then.
Fire Prayer / Denean
Below Castle Mountain
Unidentified Range
Cirrus Mountain (left)
Hilda Peak (right) looks a little like the Matterhorn of Switzerland.
Athabasca Mountain with glacier in the Centre.
Snow Dome Mountain and Mount Kitchener
Snow Dome and Dome Glacier
Finally! The Columbia Icefields!
We head into the Columbia Icefield Visitors Centre
My amateur video. Suggest you play on HD and .75 speed
- adjust in lower right.
Wonders to behold.
Where to now St. Peter / Elton John
Mountains are sort of like flowers.
Only bigger.
Heading out from Calgary. Rockies ahead.
Apology: A lot of these are going to be pedestrian quality images - tourist shots.
Grotto Mountain
Cascade Mountain
Cascade - How it got it's name.
Mount Bourgeau
Unidentified Mountain
Every mountain has it's own personality.
Castle Mountain (Left)
Was Mount Eisenhower for many years. Could have left it that way.
He was worthy of a Mountain.
Castle Mountain
Probably one of the most photographed mountains in the world.
Majestic, Amazing, Powerful
A Minor Ballad / Gordon Lightfoot
“If Lake Louise is a pearl, Maligne is the entire pearl necklace.”
- Mary Schäffer
Just in case you thought I snitched this photo of Spirit Island at Jasper off the Net ...
I didn't. That's mine.
I could easily have done that though - many great shots of this famous scene.
But I took this with my Sony DSC-HX80.
A nice little camera - but not Pro level.
And if I really knew how to operate that thing the photo would likely have been better.
Yet it's almost impossible to take a lousy pic up there.
I was hoping to get a nice reflection shot, but there was too much wind and rain.
Still nice.
We'll be posting some more soon. Rose took a number of great shots.
Below is Peter Gales' famous photo of Spirit Island "Maligne Lake".
Peter Gales' image of Spirit Island hung in Kodak’s Colorama showcase in New York City’s
Grand Central Terminal in August and September of 1960.
This certainly helped to make Jasper famous.
"The island is a spiritual place for the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, who believe mountains are physical representations of their ancestors. The fact that Spirit Island is surrounded on three sides by the same mountain range is very rare and makes it particularly significant to the Stoney."
- https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/maligne-lake-cruise/stories/8-amazing-facts-about-spirit-island/
(1861 – 1939)
American-Canadian naturalist, illustrator, photographer, and writer.
She is famous for her experiences in the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century.
Samson Beaver and Family: daughter, Frances Louise and wife Leah.
Photograph taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. 
In 1907, Samson Beaver met Mary Schaffer, who had just failed in an attempt to find the route to a reputed large lake high in the mountains between Lake Louise and Jasper. Samson sketched a map showing the route to Chaba Imne.
