Invermere and beyond
After spending another day around Banff (going up in the gondola, doing some laundry, building a little fire at the campsite at night...) it was time to head to Invermere. I made a phone inquiry, and agreed to just head over on wedsday, being there around noon. It's about a 150km drive from Banff to Invermere, again crossing some beautifull scenery. I made it to the airfield on time, but the weather didn't look too promissing yet. I had a chat with Trevor, the owner of the operation there and the one who was going to take me up in the Duo. He was confident it was worth waiting a bit, so that's what I did. I wend to luch with an American from Seattle who was flying there, and generally just chatted with the people hanging around at the field. Slowly the weather improved, and around four, it looked promissing enough to start putting some gliders together and opening some hanger doors. We took a tow at 16:30, and low and behold! Thermals! :-)
We climed using some thermals along the ridge, and although Trevor thought they weren't as strong as he'd like them, they did the job just fine (2-3 meter thermals). We first flew over the mountains to the east of te valley, and later on crossed to the west where conditions looked better and the scenery was even more spectacular with snowcapped mountains and glaciers everywhere. Unfortunatly, I got sick twice during the flight, but I did not let that hinder the fun too much. After two hours of flying and making lots of pictures, we landed back at the field.
Trevor had offered to let me camp out on the field for the night, and to stay for dinner, so I did not have to go anywhere. Nice! We spend a nice afternoon and evening out on the deck and in the clubhouse.
june 16
Time to head back into the Rockies again! I drove back to Lake Louise, hoping the road to the falls would be open by now. It was not (opens june 24), so I just drove on to the Columbia Icefields once more. I stayed at the same campsite just under the glaciers again, and when I arrived, I was the only one there. Later on more people showed up, but it wasn't full by any means. The weather had cleared again nicely, but by the time I though it was nice enough to head onto the glacier, the tours had allready stopped running. That could not be helped, so I headed back to the campsite, and build a little fire again, had a couple of beers, and thought about what was yet to come...
I wend to bed on time, but I had trouble catching my sleep.
june 17
I was up fairly early, and washed myself in the (cold!) stream that was rushing next to my tent. Still, it was nice and refreshing. I cleared away my stuff, and headed for the visitors centre to have some breakfast. While I was up in the restaurant, I saw the cloudbase comming down and it started to rain. What to do? I was planning to hike up Wilcox pass (a hike highly recommended in a guidebook I bought), but the weather did not look too cooperative. I asked the information what they thought about the plan, and they said to just go for it as long as I had decent gear. I judged that I had, so I went to the trailhead, put on my coat, and just walked up the trail. While it continued to rain lightly, it was still a very nice hike, with some great views of the glaciers (at least, of the parts not covered by clouds). The good thing about the weather was that it was very quiet on the otherwise bussy trail. Only at the top I met another group, and on my way down another couple. So, not too bad after all!
After comming down again, it was time to head back to the car, and drive on the Jasper. And that is where I am now, writing this log entry :-) Tomorrow, I have to hand in my car. I'm not exactly sure what to do next yet. The plan is to head into BC, but I'm not sure where I'll get of the bus yet. We'll see.
We climed using some thermals along the ridge, and although Trevor thought they weren't as strong as he'd like them, they did the job just fine (2-3 meter thermals). We first flew over the mountains to the east of te valley, and later on crossed to the west where conditions looked better and the scenery was even more spectacular with snowcapped mountains and glaciers everywhere. Unfortunatly, I got sick twice during the flight, but I did not let that hinder the fun too much. After two hours of flying and making lots of pictures, we landed back at the field.
Trevor had offered to let me camp out on the field for the night, and to stay for dinner, so I did not have to go anywhere. Nice! We spend a nice afternoon and evening out on the deck and in the clubhouse.
june 16
Time to head back into the Rockies again! I drove back to Lake Louise, hoping the road to the falls would be open by now. It was not (opens june 24), so I just drove on to the Columbia Icefields once more. I stayed at the same campsite just under the glaciers again, and when I arrived, I was the only one there. Later on more people showed up, but it wasn't full by any means. The weather had cleared again nicely, but by the time I though it was nice enough to head onto the glacier, the tours had allready stopped running. That could not be helped, so I headed back to the campsite, and build a little fire again, had a couple of beers, and thought about what was yet to come...
I wend to bed on time, but I had trouble catching my sleep.
june 17
I was up fairly early, and washed myself in the (cold!) stream that was rushing next to my tent. Still, it was nice and refreshing. I cleared away my stuff, and headed for the visitors centre to have some breakfast. While I was up in the restaurant, I saw the cloudbase comming down and it started to rain. What to do? I was planning to hike up Wilcox pass (a hike highly recommended in a guidebook I bought), but the weather did not look too cooperative. I asked the information what they thought about the plan, and they said to just go for it as long as I had decent gear. I judged that I had, so I went to the trailhead, put on my coat, and just walked up the trail. While it continued to rain lightly, it was still a very nice hike, with some great views of the glaciers (at least, of the parts not covered by clouds). The good thing about the weather was that it was very quiet on the otherwise bussy trail. Only at the top I met another group, and on my way down another couple. So, not too bad after all!
After comming down again, it was time to head back to the car, and drive on the Jasper. And that is where I am now, writing this log entry :-) Tomorrow, I have to hand in my car. I'm not exactly sure what to do next yet. The plan is to head into BC, but I'm not sure where I'll get of the bus yet. We'll see.
posted by André Somers at 2:00 PM
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