Cold As Ice

Tuesday September 25th

And it was a cold night, Rach was dressed in all clothes to hand and was still frozen, as was my toothpaste again!

To start the day we went and did the touristy thing of going up the Banff Gondola, a cable car that stretches its way up the side of Sulphur Mountain to a summit at 2255m. The day wasn't so clear but we still had great views between the clouds of the Bow Valley below us and the countless peaks around us. We also had an opportunity to throw a slightly icy snowball. After enjoying the views at the top and also a couple of hot teas (you can take Rach and Jon out of England...) we descended back down (again in the cable car, we're on holiday!) and headed into town to book ourselves up for some back country camping that we will be embarking on tomorrow. This may be the last post you see on this blog as we've been warned that there is the possibility of encounters with bears, wolves, wolverines (badgers with attitude!), coyotes and also psychotic long-horned sheep. If they don't get us then the parasites in the water will and if that doesn't do the job then the temperature should finish us off nicely. Anyway, should be a good trip!

In the afternoon we took a good walk on the C-Level Cirque to the east face of Cascade Mountain, again in snow but a good climb and great views from the lookout at the top of the walk.

On our way back to base we came across a couple of herds of elk, showing themselves off nicely for the spectators.

24/7: Very fresh last night, fresher still tonight