Rocky mountain highs
Someone has shaken our snow dome and we’re driving in a whiteout.
Bitumen is buried in an icy slurry, cloud mist obliterates visibility, and our nerves are all shook up.
It’s our first time driving on the opposite side of the road and first experience driving in snow.
We engage ‘snow’ setting on our rental 4WD, repeat the mantras ‘keep right’ and ‘mind the ditch’ and wonder what we’ve got ourselves into.
Then the mist swirls away, the flurry of snow settles, pockets of cobalt sky appear, and sunrays illuminate frosted peaks.
It’s a Christmas card scene of snowdusted pines, razorback ridges and icicledraped cliffs.
A wind-swept section of the icefields Parkway.
The Icefields Parkway curving through coniferous forests in the Canadian Rockies, billed as one of the most scenic drives in the world, is breathtakingly beautiful, and worth every out-of-our-comfort-zone kilometre. (We soon adapt to the road conditions and chiselling ice from inside wheel arches.)
We’re driving from Calgary, Alberta, to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper, ensconced within Banff and Jasper National Parks, both part of the Canadian Rockies UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These townships, adjacent to the Canadian Pacific Railway, are famous for their chateau-like Fairmont hotels perched beside glacial lakes and rivers.
Most popular in summer, we’re here at the end of winter, when crowds are less, and are blessed with late season snow.
Banff: Town with something for everyone
Banff was Canada'sfirst national park, established in 1885.
The township, with a population of about 10,000, is the largest of these triptych alpine towns.
It bustles with snow bunnies, outdoor sports stores and Aussies calling the place home.
Hotel Canoe & Suites, the latest chic accommodation, is an easy bus ride to atmospheric eateries like Three Bears Brewery and Pizzeria Sophia.
Vermillion Lakes on the edge of town are prized for summer reflections of Mount Rundle, now they’re a vast fluffy carpet of sparkling snow atop the frozen lakes.
Bow Falls are frozen mid-drop, water bubbling underneath like a fizzing ice confectionary.
Banff Gondola glides up Sulphur Mountain at dusk above the forest dusted icing sugar white.
Winter street scene in Banff.
At the summit Nightrise, an indooroutdoor multimedia light and sound experience, is an invitation from the Stoney Nakoda Nation, who were ‘removed’ from the park when it was established, to experience nature in new ways.
Walking above sunken clouds we listen to whispering snow as rainbow lights twinkle through the treetops At Sunshine Meadows we try snowshoeing with White Mountain Adventures.
We take the gondola then chairlift and cross to the back of the mountain sinking to our shins in fresh snow.
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It’s mostly downhill as we cross the rope border into British Columbia and back into Alberta.
During a stop for hot chocolate and maple biscuits, guide Amelio measures the snow beneath us at 160cm, which is over my head.
Lake Louise: Little town, big on charm
If these three towns were sisters Lake Louise would be the adorable tiny tot with loads of charisma but early bedtime.
As Canada’s highest village there’s just a pint-sized shopping centre, but captivating alpine vistas everywhere you look.
After checking into Lake Louise Inn, we head to Brewster Adventures for a sleigh ride.
Glossy black draft horses clop along the edge of snow-doused Lake Louise where visitors stroll hand-in-hand or swirl around on ice skates in the lowering sun.
Afterwards we settle into the Fairmont Chateau’s Lakeview Lounge with a glacial green cocktail and dine overlooking the frozen lake to Victoria Glacier.
The next day we ride the Winter Sightseeing Gondola up above spruce and fir trees through a flurry of snow to bracing winds at the top.
Snow aplenty on the Johnston Canyon Icewalk.
But we score ideal conditions for Johnston Canyon Icewalk with White Mountain Adventures.
Boot cleats give added grip as we follow guide May up the horse trail cleared by tourism pioneers Walter and Marguerite Camp in 1929.
Gin-clear pools with early season salmon appear between frosted falls.
The pinnacle is the upper falls, snap frozen into a frothy wedding veil. Beside it, mammoth icicles drip off a cliff like candle wax. On the return drive via Bow
Valley Parkway we stop at Moose Meadows searching in vain for their namesake animals.
Jasper: Rising from the ashes
Mid-sized Jasper nestles in the valley beside the Athabasca River.
Devastating bushfires in July 2024 burnt 32,000ha and many residents who lost their homes are residing in holiday accommodation like our cabin at Bear Hill Lodge.
The town is keen for visitors to return, says Nick from Jasper Food Tours, as we sample the town’s multicultural food scene, including local whiskey, salmon, elk, beef, poutine and maple cheesecake.
On a SunDog Ecology of Fire tour, the monochrome landscape exudes stark beauty.
Scorched trunks spike from the snow totem-like, resembling a charcoal etching on white parchment.
Species like lodgepole pines require fire for regeneration and guide Norm says the cleared undergrowth will facilitate nutritious summer grasses, wildflowers and berries, which will attract wildlife, including bears. Jasper may become Alberta’s bear-viewing capital.
Frozen Vermillion Lakes near Banff.
Elk wander across the road, bighorn sheep feed up a hillside and we see nesting bald eagles, but moose prove elusive, although Norm shows us antlers, along with a beaver pelt and bear-paw replicas that are astonishing in size.
On Pleckaitis Canyon Ice Walk, with Jasper Hikes & Tours, we have the place to ourselves.
With cleated gumboots we trek up the iced-over river, funnelled into the narrow glacial-gouged gorge until melting ice impedes our path.
After dinner at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, we venture to the edge of the observable universe in their Planetarium.
Jasper is the world’s second-largest Dark Sky Preserve, and we rug-up to see Mars and Jupiter through their telescopes.
On the return to Calgary a wild wind scours snow off the Columbia Icefield, whipping it across the road in rivulets of white as ethereal sunlight slivers the landscape – a surreal scene seared into our memories forever.
Know before you go
Air Canada flies from Brisbane direct to Vancouver with onward flights to Calgary.
Go to banfflakelouise.com, jasper.travel and canada.travel for more information.
The writer travelled as a guest of Destination Canada, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism and Tourism Jasper. Hire car supplied through Europcar’s Canadian partner Routes.
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