A day away from the studio and a Lake Louise hike

Christy standing on frozen Lake Louise.

It was a beautiful day for a hike and a group of almost 30 visual artists and musicians from the Banff Centre took a bus about 60km and spent the afternoon hiking around Lake Louise. At this time of year Lake Louise is completely frozen, so many people were enjoying the sunshine, walking around and even playing hockey on the lake.

View from the hike up to the tea house.

 We decided to take a 3.8km (about 2 miles) hike up the mountain. The map promised a tea house at the top and for most of the hike I was motivated by visions of hot cocoa or hot milky tea. The air was incredibly dry, and I drank all of my water before reaching the top of our hike. The snow packed beautifully, and we were surprised to find our hands dry after forming dense, hard snowballs. The water evaporated from our hands almost instantly. The altitude made for much heavy breathing as we made our way up the hill.

Tall trees (maybe spruce?) and a steep fall. It was warm in the sun.

About a half mile from the top a few hikers told us the tea house was closed in the winter. Disappointment rippled through our group, but we were still determined to make it the tea house for the view, even if there was no cocoa or snacks to be had.

Seema, Guillaume, Anna, Maike and a bold bird.

Guillaume brought some dried fruit and nuts which he generously shared and a couple of bold birds were hanging around for scraps and posing for photos. We saw two birds at the top of our climb, and I wondered if they followed us up, wanting to keep the trail mix in sight.

Taking a break with Elida and Maike to enjoy the view. 

After the hike we had snacks and warm drinks at Chateau Lake Louise, the hotel that overlooks the lake. It was lovely and refreshing to spend time outdoors. Looking forward to getting back in the studio for more quails and wallpaper tomorrow!