Calendar Quality...

As you may have learned from the comments on my past entry I was out at the Columbia Ice Fields last Friday for a company trip. It was so amazing that I just wanted to tell a bit about the place and show a few pictures (pictures might take a while, need a new computer).

It's about a 3 hour drive out to the Ice Fields but the trip is part of the fun. The mountains and scenery along the Banff/Jasper highway are breathtaking. I was running on 4 hours of sleep but wasn't tired at all (partly due to the view and partly the coffee). There are a few turnouts along the way that are worth a stop and a couple pictures.

Once at the Ice Fields you park at the visitor center, take a shuttle bus up to the edge of the Athabasca Glacier, and then board the ice crawler. The crawler is a pretty neat machine. Has six huge wheels that are $5,000 a piece and can to up and down pretty incredible grades. They take you out on the ice as far as it's safe and let you out to walk around. We took some company group photos and I played super-professional-photographer with my mom's awesome Canon Rebel. I sure do need some photography courses.

I've been to the Ice Field before with my family but we just parked at the base of the glacier and looked up. This trip was quite different for a couple reasons. In addition to getting you closer to the top of the ice, the crawler drivers provide some commentary on the history and geology of the area. That, plus my EAS class last year in university, gave me a new perspective of what I was seeing. I took pictures of the lateral and terminal moraines, the beautiful blue tarn lake filled with rock flour, and the variety of crevasses higher up on the ice. I was also fortunate enough to witness an avalanche. They'd had an overnight snowfall and one of the adjacent peaks had a shelf of snow break off and fall over the 1000ft cliff. Luckily I had the camera out and was quickly taking pictures as the snow billowed from the fall and impact. The image reminded me of the World Trade Centers falling.

On the way home we stopped at Peyto Lake. This is one of those "calendar quality" lakes that you don't really believe is real. The rock flour (finely ground rock dust) from the glacier gives it the intense blue colour. I think it looks like some chemical was added. Beautiful. The Ice Fields are a bit of a trek out of Calgary but Peyto is just past Lake Louise and definitely worth a day trip sometime. I think a hike for next summer is in order.