Lake Louise And Radium Hot Springs - 23 Jan 2011

Hello folks! It has been long since I picked up my virtual pen and started scribbling down to narrate the sequence of events that I cherished during my travels made in Canada. I have by now, barring a few, completed the posting of all events that occured in 2010. These events can be found as a series of posts in another blog of mine http://rahulranecool2.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Ice Covered Chalet - Lake Louise

Though we (me and my group of close friends) keep making small travels on most of the weekends, I prefer writing about the ones which encompass larger distances. And on those lines, the first big trip of 2011 was the one made to Lake Louise and Radium Hot Springs on January, the 23rd.

This time it was a big group, consisting of the following people -

a. Bachelors - comprising of Monojit, Anand and myself

b. Families - comprising of Subhahis (with wife and 2 children), Debshis (with wife) and Ramesh (with wife and one kid)

To accomodate such a big group we had taken two vehicles -

a. GMC Yukon - a full sized SUV with a seating capacity of 8

b. A Full Sized Car.

While I was behind the driver's wheel in the Yukon, the car was being driven by Ramesh Takale. I had Anand, Debshis and his wife, and Subhsis and his family in my SUV. Monojit was in the other car with Ramesh and his family. Arrangements for snacks had been made by Monojit the previous day and food was brought by the families in ample quantities.

The northern skies are magnanimous in the amount of daylight they bestow on us mortals in summers, but are equally tyrannic and impounding in winters. And here on the 51st Parallel (51° 4' 60 N) in Calgary, it was pitch dark when we started at 08:00 AM in the morning. Mercury was plumetting 20° below freezing point, yet the people lighted up the environment with the joy in their hearts.

Anand Before In Front Of The SUV Before The Trip Began

The Village of Lake Louise is about 180 kilometers North-West of the city of Calgary. This probably was my fourth time there. The roads were completely ice-strewn and fresh cakes of snow had engulfed almost everything. Driving at a steady speed we reached Lake Louise at 10.15 AM. We had to wait for some time for Ramesh to arrive in his car. Some of the famous attractions of Lake Louise are - the village itself, the emerald coloured lake, the Fairmont hotel and the trek to the lakes and the coffee house which are located higher up in altitude above Lake Louise. 

Full Of Snow, The Parking Lot At Lake Louise

Every winter there is an International Ice Festival held in Lake Louise. Artists come from all over the world from different countries to show their skills in ice sculpting. I had been to the ice festival in 2010 as well, but that time the competition was already over and the ice sculptures were on display. But this time we got to see it live. After Ramesh arrived, we walked through the parking lot towards the Lake and the Hotel where the competition was being held.

The effects of this festival could be seen from the very beginning of the promenade, where placards were posted upright in full vigour. If Canada were to take a human figure, it would have topped the charts as an actor. Just like a good actor can maquerade and present totally different personalities of himself, Canada showcases totally different panoramas which are equally striking and vivid in different seasons. One has to see a place in all different seasons to be able to comprehend what I mean - the cool breeze of spring bringing in facets of green, the striking yet welcome brightness of summer, the blissful shades of the colours of fall and last but not the least, the white streaks of snow in winter. I have been to Lake Louise to see all its shades in different seasons.

Lake Louise Promenade

The environs of the Lake were resplendant with numerous people doting the landscape. Children and parents alike, on their snow skiis, waded across through the pathways and then onto the thick ice that covered the entire Lake. The festival is organised right at the entrance of the all famous legendary Fairmont hotel.

Ice Sculptors At Work

Work Of Art By A Canadian Team

The environment was simply breathtaking, sculptors were chipping away at humongous blocks of ice to carve their objects of imagination under partly clear and partly foggy skies with the Canadian Rockies just a few meters away. We strolled within the premises, along the narrow gulleys of ice and snow, stopping by at each artist to watch and admire their creations-in-progress, occasionally sliding our shoulders to avoid nudging fellow tourists.

After sometime our group split up in two, with me and Anand opting to go inside the hotel to soak in some warmth and sip on some coffee, while the rest of the group stuck outside to the snow.

Anand Having Coffee

Anand and me walked around in the hotel for quite some time before settling for some coffee. Then we decided to go out and join the rest of the group. On going outside we were amused to see lot of people flocking around a spot, but we could not make out what the fuss was all about. On closer examination we learnt that they had built a bar completely out of snow and a fire place was also being lit there. It was difficult indeed to get a snap there amid so many contenders already queued up.

The Ice Bar

Slippery and Narrow - Walkways Leading To Quiter Confines

The Chateau

We then embarked on finding rest of the group. There was fresh snow all over which made walking difficult. Walkways lead to numerous other quiter confines which can be trekked to. We had been to all of these the previous year, so we went to the centre of the lake, where a skating ring has been made and an ice castle has been constructed. We found the rest of our group there and joined them for an elaborate photo shoot.

Skating Ring Made On The Lake Along With The Ice Castle
The Fairmont Hotel In The Backdrop

Fairmont Dining Room

A Gazebo

It had been quite some time on the icy lake in the bitter cold and everyone wanted to get themselves some warmth and so we wandered into the Faitmont Hotel yet again. I have never stayed in this hotel but it is in my list of to-dos in the near future. A good amount of time was spent in doing honours to coffee. By this time there was a huge rush in the restaurant, as tourists who had spent a major part of their time outdoors wanted to now relax and break for a meal.

Radium Hot Springs

Our next stop was Radium Hot Springs - a small village nestled in the heights of the Canadian Rockies in South Eastern British Columbia. We left Lake Louise by 1.30 PM and the arrangement of people in the cars remained exactly the same as before during this leg of the journey. Radium is approximately 134 kms from Lake Louise and we took an hour and a half to reach there.

The Hot Pools Facility At Radium

This village is known for its Natural Hot Water Springs. A facility has been constructed nearby the village for bathing in the water. The "Pools" as they are called contain a very small amount of Radium in addition to Sulphur, which is responsible for heating up the water. This Radium is known to have medicinal value.

Everyone was very enthusiastic to get into the pools. We have to cross the road from underneath to go to the facility. Deba and myself had to come back to the parking lot to grab some stuff from our car and that time we changed the lot and parked our car in the lot on the other side of the road adjacent to the facility. We then purchased the tickets and got into the pools. The feeling was marvellous - air temperature was around -25 Degree Centigrade and the pool water was 37 Degrees. Due to the huge temperature gradient fog was being formed over the pool giving it a distinctive mystical feeling. We lazed around in the pool occasionally changing positions. There is another much smaller pool there which has water at 42 Degrees. It feels nice to switch pools with different temperatures.

A Painting Of Native Indians Bathing In The Pool In Olden Days



The Cold Water Pools On The Other Side Of The Facility



Vapour Emanating From The Pools

Monojit had bought a brand new underwater camera, so much time was spent on taking snaps underwater and also videos of us performing underwater acrobatics. It was great. We came out of the pool by 5.30 PM and it was pitch dark then.

Monojit



The Facility At 5:56 PM

Walkway To The Parking Lot - Snowy Snowy, Yes Papa

Entrance To The Hot Spring Facility

We rolled our gears and headed downhill to the village of Radium Hot Springs wherein we fuelled up and then started our journey back to Calgary. We stopped in between for our dinner on Trans Canada HWY1. Overall it was a sweet one day getaway.