On Abraham Lake it’s easy to get sucked into the details—there’s so many fascinating ice patterns, but every once in a while I’d look up and see something like this.
Mountain
2
Feb 11
Abraham Lake Trip: Sleeping in the Car
I’ve seen plenty of photos of the lake in winter before. The first photos I saw were on Darwin Wiggett’s blog. He takes groups of photographers out on the lake, so it’s starting to be a pretty popular place for photography. And with good reason—the ice patterns are incredible, the snow is either non-existant or drifted due to very strong winds.
About a week before I left, I looked at the forecast and saw positive temperatures. This is crazy for Alberta in January, so I figured I should take advantage of it. I had a few days off in the middle of the week, so I left Tuesday morning, arrived late in the afternoon, and parked beside the lake at the first semi-secluded place I found. I was sheltered from the winds (or so I thought) and had pretty good access to the lake. So I set out down the bank. The last section was steep ice—I would have been stuck without the crampons I’d purchased the day before. I got down to the lake and hiked (gingerly at first) out to a point of land. I was cautious about the thickness of the ice, but it turned out to be frozen several feet down.
The ice at the edge of the lake on the way up to my car.
I had a lovely evening on the lake, and after it got dark, I headed back to the car for night. I’ve set up my car for sleeping quite comfortably. The back seat folds down completely flat, I have my camping mattress on that and even a memory foam topper to add that extra bit of luxury. The temperature that night only went down to -7, which is quite pleasant for winter camping, and I expected to sleep well. I didn’t account for the wind. All night, even sheltered by the wall of rock, the wind was trying to tip over my car. It was like a constant earthquake for 8 hours. I should have just moved, but it’s hard to find another good spot to sleep beside the road after dark. I didn’t sleep much, so I dozed as well as I could, then got up at 6:30 (the sun rises at 8:30), and decided to get some night photos.
This turned out to be impossible. With my rubber footed tripod skittering across the ice, me being blown off balance even with my crampons on, and my camera bag strap humming in the wind, I decided to wait it out till sunrise behind a snowdrift. The wind was a little less here, and I could actually keep my hood up and hear myself think. As the sun started to rise, I ventured out, got a few photos, and then headed back to the car in hopes of finding a more sheltered spot.
One of the few sunrise photos I managed to get:
A further account of this trip and more photos can be found in this post.
18
Jan 11
Night Sky Over Lake Louise
Another night shot from Lake Louise. You can see the constellation of Orion right above Fairview Mountain and the Pleiades star cluster a little higher and to the right. The brightest star you can see right at the bottom is Sirius – the brightest star (besides our sun of course). That’s pretty much the extent of my constellation knowledge (for this part of the sky anyway). If there are any astonomy or mythology buffs out there, feel free to chime in.
29
Dec 10
Blue Green Mountain Lake
Here’s a pleasantly bright respite from the winter blues.
I’ve enjoyed this tour through past photos but I’m looking forward to moving on. I’ve been working full time at McBain through December and I’m really looking forward to January when I should have time to get outside and get some new material up here. I have lots of projects I’m eager to work on, and I’ll share them here as they progress.
28
Dec 10
Mysteries
Once things are discovered they lose some of their allure. With the imagination there are so many more possibilities.
9
Dec 10
The Edge of Light
Taken at Panther Falls about a month ago as the sun was coming up. For the curious, there were no color alterations done to this photo – just boosted the shadows a bit and took down the highlights to even out the exposure. This is a good example of different white balances in one photo. It can be a huge problem when photographing people, or it can look really awesome to get some complimentary colours in nature photos from an otherwise pretty colourless scene.
14
Oct 10
Glacier Hunting
A couple of weeks ago, Anna and I went out to the mountains for a quick getaway. I’d read up on some good hikes, and I wanted to take Anna on a beautiful hike that I’d been on quite a few years ago. We drove out to Jasper and down the Icefields Parkway to the Columbia Icefield. Just past the Centre is the Wilcox Creek Campground, where we stayed that night. We did our first hike up to Wilcox Pass. This is an amazing area, although I think it would be prettier in summer or early fall. By going this late in the year we did avoid most of the tourists—you win some, you lose some.
From the trail you have a great view of the Athabasca Glacier. You can also see glimpses of the Columbia Icefield as it flows over the mountains. Looking down on the icefield from a distance, you can see many colors and textures. I wanted to know what these textures would turn into as you moved closer. So the next day I decided to go to the foot of the glacier and see what I could see. I did the little walk from the parking area up the hill and what did I see? A big roped-off area more than a 100m away from the glacier. I considered my options. I could cross the rope and disobey the signs (like I saw one couple do), reinforcing to the 30 others tourists that they could ignore the park wardens as well. Or I could pay for us to go on the official walk/ride. Or I could try another glacier. I know there are many other glaciers in the parks that I can go see. They all take a bit more effort, but they also offer a lot more solitude.
(We went up Parker Ridge—the hike I had done a few years ago—that afternoon, and you get a beautiful view of the Saskatchewan Glacier and more of the Icefield from there as well).
Upon arriving home, I started researching. There are a lot of accessible glaciers, it turns out. The one that looked most interesting to me was the Saskatchewan Glacier, which we had seen from Parker Ridge. I figured out the route (it’s not really an official trail, although it is travelled quite often) and set off the next weekend to see a glacier. I started fairly early in the morning, hiked up the hill through thick forest, and then crossed the long stretch up the glacial plain. This is the hard part —you’re not gaining any altitude, but there are loose scattered stones of every size, no trail, and you have to be careful where you step. The many moraines (ridges of glacial debris) mean a lot of hiking up a few feet to hike down a few feet. And it’s an 18km hike.
Eventually you get to the glacier. It’s spectacular. There is the roar of rushing water from the melting glacier. There are towers of ice stretching high above you. Cold winds blow off the glacier, which made me glad for my winter attire. There are stretches of fine rock dust and cement-like mud that got into everything. I should also mention right now—BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU GET CLOSE TO A GLACIER—people die on glaciers, mostly falling into crevasses and millwells. Falling chunks of ice and dislodged boulders are another frequent hazard.
I did not go up on the glacier, even though I had crampons along, because I haven’t done much mountaineering. I did step in quicksand close to the glacier and almost lost a boot. And I got to see some pretty cool stuff. Some day I want to go up on a glacier with an experienced guide to see more and to learn how to safely traverse glaciers. But for now I’m happy to have seen this one up close and personal.
7
Jul 10
Prairie in the Mountains
That is the meaning of “Ya Ha Tinda”, Parks Canada’s ranch where they raise and train all the horses they use for backcountry travel. Besides a relatively small fenced area, the ranch is open to the public and there is a free campground which is usually filled with horses, horse trailers, and a few people. This is a beautiful area of open grassland spotted with trees, full of wildlife, and surrounded by mountains. There is a spectacular waterfall a short walk from the campground where the river cuts through the prairie creating a canyon.
