Julian and Sheelagh in Golden

Cross Country Skiing

2006-11-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

After too much beer on Friday night (it was all in a good cause as we were at a fundraiser for Search and Rescue) we almost didn't bother to go out on Saturday. However we had a made a plan to go cross country skiing with a friend and didn't want to let her down.

So while a little hungover we headed towards Lake Louise.

At this time of year many of the minor roads are closed due to snow and maintained for cross country skiers rather than cars. This is the case for the road to Moraine Lake (which we visited and wrote about in Spetember).

What a fantastic trip. The snow was perfect, the day was just warm enough to not be too cold or too hot whilst exercising and there were lots of smiling people enjoying the day. Hangovers were soon forgotten and our souls uplifted by the scenery, the company and the joy of playing in the snow again.

During our trip we also found a very inquisitive Pine Marten.

A beautiful day

2006-11-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

A sprinkling of fresh snow followed by a crisp clear blue sky day inspired me to take these photos.

This one is of the town of Golden from just outside our appartment block.

I can see the mountain in the background from my office window on a clear day.

This picture is of the pedestrian bridge. Apparently the longest covered pedestrian bridge in Canada. I get to appreciate it every morning on my walk to work.

If you look carefully at the mountains behind you can see the ski runs of Kicking Horse Resort. (Remember if you click the mouse cursor on the picture you can see a bigger version.)

We had been told that there is always a big snowfall in Golden before the end of October. This year we thought it wasn't coming but it arrived on the 29th October and there was about 10cm of snow in town. Luckily we had the tyres changed to studded snow tyres just the day before.

Spiral Tunnels

2006-11-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Train anoraks of the world unite!

This impressive piece of engineering is between Golden and Lake Louise. Two spiral tunnels were built to reduce the terrifying gradients the trains had to ascend and descend to get through the Kicking Horse Pass. If a train over 1km in length passes through the tunnels you can see the front of it emerge from the upper tunnel some 3 to 4 metres above the back of the train which is still entering the tunnel below. If you get your timing wrong and there is no train then you just see two black holes in the side of the hill, one above the other.

We have driven past the spiral tunnels many times on our way to and from Calgary but never actually stopped to look. Sure enough when we got there we just saw two black holes!
As it was another beautiful autumn day we headed back towards Golden and stopped along the way for a walk.

While it was sunny hats and gloves are now the order of the day as there is very little heat in the sun anymore.

After a lovely walk we were just getting back into the car to head home when we heard and saw a train heading up the hill. So we chased back up to the tunnels just so we could say we had seen a train go through them hoping that our journey wouldn't be in vain and that the train would actually be long enough.

We were in luck. The train was plenty long enough. In this picture you can just see the engine about to pass over the trucks entering the tunnel below.

Fishes

2006-11-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

October was Salmon run time. After 4 years at sea the salmon return up river to the place of their birth to spawn and then die. Their offspring then repeat the whole process.

The salomon run occurs every year but every fourth year there is a peak and 2006 was one of these. Incredibly the salmon travel up to a 1000 kilometres inland in a journey that takes them a month.

As they reach their final destination they also turn bright red.The salmon pictures were taken just 20km west of Golden.

After we had watched the fish for a while we continued on to Kinbasket Lake which is a little further west of Golden. This is a huge man made lake used for hydro-electric power generation. The lake is just over 200km (120 miles) long!

As you can see from the pictures it was a beautiful autumn day. We travelled a good way along dirt roads to get to the point where we took the pictues but were still only about an 8th of the way along the lake.

It also turns out that we travelled the first part of the route to Chatter Creek which is the location of the back country lodge of Julian's new employer.

Golden's Golden

2006-09-25T01:01:00.000-06:00

The feel and smell of Autumn is now in the air. A glorious weekend with fabulous blue sky's. However while it is warm in the sun during the day temperatures are now falling each night and there is a cool edge whenever you are not in full sun. The trees are however beautiful as they assume their autumn colours.

The pictures are taken at Cedar Lake which is just 5 minutes from downtown Golden.

Our mini-van still rumbles along too. Rumble being the operative word as it needs a wheel bearing replacing!

First Snow - 15th Spetember

2006-09-25T00:50:00.000-06:00

To remind us that winter is on its way we were greeted by snow on the mountains that surround Golden this morning. While most of this has now melted remnants of this snowfall are still on the mountain tops.

We visited Calgary that weekend and the drive from Banff to Canmore was through driving snow which was settling heavily on the grass verges although thankfully the roads were too wet for it to settle.

Mt. Robson Provincial Park

2006-09-24T23:16:00.000-06:00

Labour Day long weekend (a day off to celebrate going to work - go figure!) saw us heading North up the Icefields Parkway to the Mt Robson Provincial Park where we were to meet Simon and Chantale.

We left Golden at 5pm, it was the last long weekend of the summer and it was rush hour. Prepared for the worst we found the extent of the traffic delays to be one car ahead of us at Golden's single traffic light.

"The splendour of the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) can hardly be overstated: a 230-kilometre road from Lake Louise to Jasper through the heart of the Rockies, it ranks as one of the world's ultimate drives. Its unending succession of huge peaks, immense glaciers, iridescent lakes, wild-flower meadows, wildlife and forests – capped by the stark grandeur of the Columbia Icefield – is absolutely overwhelming." (Pacific Island Travel)

Sunset at start of Icefields Parkway
Unless you end up traveling along it at night like we did, then it is just very dark!

However in 4 hours (less time than it would take to travel from Birmingham to Wasdale on a good day) we were camped below Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. What's more we had 3 glorious days of weather, a less frequent ocurrence at Wasdale despite Tommo's best efforts to book the sun each year.

On Saturday we borrowed a cute Golden Retriever and went for a hike while Simon, Chantale and friends went kayaking.

Mount Robson

A tired dog cools off in the river at the end of a long hike

A relaxed evening with beers around a campfire was a great end to the day.

Sunday saw us hiking again, this time to Kinney Lake which is on the approach route to Mt. Robson.

Dinner at the campsite and another campfire rounded the day off.

Early Monday morning saw me back in a kayak and paddling with Simon for the first time in fourteen years. It appears that kayaking is like riding a bike, you don't forget how. Although I was a bit wobbly and have to confess to a capsize.

We then packed up camp and went our separate ways. Sheelagh and I went to visit Maligne Lake just North of Jasper as we didn't manage to fit this in on our trip with Mike and Mary.

We hired a sea kayak and went for a paddle on part of the lake, but at 23km long we were never going to get that far in an hour.

A bald eagle keeps a beady eye on us

On the return journey we visited Maligne Canyon and some lakes just outside Jasper where we ended up a little closer to some Elk than the guidebooks recommend. Luckily they were too busy eating grass to be bothered by us.

Dinner in Jasper meant a late return down the Icefields Parkway where once again it was "very dark". However for what is billed as one of the busiest bank holiday weekends of the year we only passed 6 cars in 4 hours on the way home. Fantastic.

360 degrees of wow

2006-09-08T01:00:00.000-06:00

That is how they describe the view from the Eagle Eye Restaurant at Kicking Horse Resort.

We went to see for ourselves as the offer of a ride on the gondola and an all you can eat brunch for just $19.95 was an offer too good to miss.

This promotion has been recommended to us by many of the locals in Golden. It has been so popular that booking is recommended and it is rumoured that it will continue throughout the winter.

During the Gondola ride we saw Boo the, newly neutered, captive grizzly bear in his refuge.

Brunch was truly all you could eat and was excellent. We had to go for a hike to walk some of it off. The pictures below are from Kicking Horse Resort of Golden and the surrounding mountains.

Moraine Lake and Consolation Lake

2006-09-07T23:30:00.000-06:00

Moraine Lake and Consolation Lake are close to Lake Louise and well worth a visit. In summer Moraine Lake is very busy with tourists who all stay within 5 minutes of the car park. Very few bother to set off on the hike to Consolation Lake and so you can quickly leave the hustle and bustle behind.

Moraine Lake, like many lakes in the Rocky Mountains, is an incredible bright blue colour. Unfortunately this didn't show up that well in the photograph we took and the numpte that took a photo of Sheelagh and I with the lake behind us captured the blue colour but managed to take an out of focus picture with a point and shoot digital camera!

The hike to Consolation Lakes is an easy 6km stroll and rates as "Worthwhile" in the excellent hiking guide "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies" (DWYTITCR in all posts from now). When we went we had to hike in tight groups of six to minimise the human impact on the local bear population. We saw no paw prints, scat or other evidence of bears whatsoever but failure to do so is punishable by a $2000 fine.

From Moraine Lake you can also hike to the valley of the Ten Peaks. We will be returning to do this hike and will hopefully get a better picture of Moraine Lake when we do.

We then drove to Banff and had dinner with Chantale and Simon at the Rose and Crown. A traditional English pub with half decent Guinness. It is great to be able to meet up with them more easily than when we were living in Sun Peaks.

On the journey home we took tha back route along the Bow Valley Parkway just as it was getting dusk and we were lucky enough to spot a grizzly bear in among th

We have moved to Golden

2006-09-07T22:59:00.000-06:00

After thinking that we were getting settled into Sun Peaks life in Canada has recently taken a different turn and we have moved to a small town in BC called Golden.

Golden is a town of around 5,000 people and is 2.5 hours from Calgary to the East, 6 hours to Vancouver travelling West and just an hour from Lake Louise and the Banff national park. Golden is in a valley with the Rockies to the West and the Columbia mountains to the East. In winter it gets 72 inches of snow and from April to October gets just 12 inches of rain, so the winters are cold and snowy while the summers are warm and dry.

We have a 2 bed apartment close to the centre of town and just 30 yards from the Kicking Horse River. We are not sure how long we will remain in this particular appartment but given that it was the only thing available to rent when we were looking it will do nicely! There is also a spare bedroom for anyone who would like to visit.

Sheelagh has a job on the local ski hill managing the water and wastewater treatment plants. It seems like a great opportunity so she took it! Julian doesn't have a job yet but we have met several nice people during our two brief visits to Golden and everyone says that there should be plenty of opportunities that come up now we have moved in.

The local ski hill is Kicking Horse Resort (www.kickinghorseresort.com) which is just 10 minutes out of town, it gets over 30ft of snow every year and claims the second greatest vertical in North America. While the mountain has a greater proportion of advanced terrain then most ski hills it does of course have easier terrain as well. Other well known ski resorts are close by with Lake Louise 1 hour away, Sunshine 1.5 hours, Panorama 1.5 hours and Fernie 3hours. There are also great ski touring opportunities throughout the area and large networks of cross country ski trails pretty much from the doorstep.

A mile behind our apartment is Mount 7 which has been described as one of the ten best flying sites in the world. This may be local hyperbole but I have been paragliding from it twice already and it certainly rates as very good! (www.flygolden.ca) The picture is taken from the take-off and is of the last rays of sun setting behind the Columbia mountains.

We are surrounded by all sorts of mountain biking from easy trails through to extreme downhill. The local paddling (which is known as kayaking to all those who don't do it) is also supposed to be world class. There is climbing locally and the Bugaboos are just down the road. The rumour is a British couple who are emigrating out here are planning to open a climbing wall in town too.

There is also hiking a plenty with the national park so close by and also straight out of the door in Golden (www.goldenhikes.ca).

The only thing Golden is missing is a lake but lake Windermere is only an hour away and who wouldn't want to live within an hour of lake Windermere?

Giddy with excitement best sums up how we feel about our new home!