Short trips from Calgary

Here is a list of some of the interesting visits we made around Calgary:

Banff town is in a valley of the Banff National Park. It is at the right distance from any place (Calgary/Golden/Jasper) and a good stop over for some delicious food or drink. For all the foodies, this is a go-to place as the town is filled with all kinds of restaurants, bars and cafés due to the high volume of visitors all round the year. People like us would love to just drive to this place as both the drive and the meal would be worth the visit. Being a tourist place, there is something for shopoholics too. Also, in winter, Banff is close to many popular ski lodges.

Lakes of Banff National Park: If heaven is a place on earth, it probably would be in the Canadian Rockies and Banff is in the heart of it all. This bewitching place is a must visit for nature lovers. This park is home to a host of flora, fauna and lakes. Be it the massive Lake Minniwanka, serene Lake Louise, pristine Bow Lake or the blue-green Moraine Lake, each comes with its own charm and grandeur.

Columbia Icefields Experience: One doesn’t need to fly or sail to Alaska to experience Glaciers. Situated on the ice fields parkway of Jasper National Park, Athabasca Glacier presents a unique opportunity to visit a glacier on specially designed vehicles. The trip from the base to the glacier also allows one to experience the glacier on foot once you reach the summit. Though the glacier is slowly receding over the past decades, the colossal Athabasca Glacier is still quite a spectacle.

Note: A Glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. It forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Glaciers move constantly. So every few years, they have to make a different approach road to the Glacier. Receding glacier is different from a moving glacier. (Source: Wiki)

Edmonton: This is the capital of Alberta province. The North Saskatchewan River flows right through the city, giving a panoramic view of downtown Edmonton. Though not many people like visiting Edmonton, we’ve always found it to be a pleasant place. We visited the Royal Alberta Museum and Muttart Observatory apart from checking out the Legislature and Old Strathcona area (including the very popular Whyte Avenue known for its resturants). There is a good arty feel about downtown as well. Edmonton houses 1 of the largest shopping malls in the world (largest in N.America) – the West Edmonton Mall. This mall hosts more than 800 shops, a hotel, an amusement park, a water park and other attractions – all indoors. We also managed to go for a late night standup comedy show as well. (Refer an older post on Edmonton here). 

Drumheller: Also known as the dinosaur valley, Drumheller has the largest deposits of dinosaur fossils in the world. The Royal Tyrell Museum here is considered as an authority on the subject and is often invited to other parts of the world during excavations, symposiums, etc. Allow for at least 2 hours at the Museum (we took 3), which has an excellent collection and is very well maintained. Apart from dinosaurs, Drumheller is also known for its unique terrain – the badlands and hoodoos.

Badlands is a type of arid terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. Badlands often have a spectacular colour display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red scoria. (Source: Wiki)

A Hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. (Source: Wiki)

Saskatoon Farm, Okotoks: A 45 minute drive from downtown Calgary, this place is a 1 stop shop for organic needs. The farm is mainly known for growing Saskatoon berries and hence you get ample of jams, sauces, pies, ice creams - all made from Saskatoon berries. The farm has a huge nursery selling seasonal & perennial flowers, plants and trees. They have an interesting shop sells bits and odds including garden accessories, paintings and furniture. They also sell farm products and their Saskatoon berry food items. Apart from all the above, they have a lovely restaurant on site. We had a scrumptious brunch here before we toured the farm.

Head-smashed-in-buffalo jump: A UNESCO world heritage centre which showcases customs followed by native Indians for 1000s of years. Due to their vast knowledge of topography and of bisons in general, they killed these bison by chasing them over cliffs and subsequently carving up the carcasses in the camp below. They would use the carcasses to make food, clothing, jewelry, items for trade. Though the cliff itself isn’t a great sight, the interpretive centre is definitely worthy of a visit.

Waterton Lakes National Park: Also called as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, is to the South of Calgary and borders US. Infact the huge Waterton Lake is mostly in Canada (Alberta) and partly in the US (Montana). If you take a cruise around the lake, it is probably one the easiest borders to cross without paperwork (just kidding). This park is popular for wildlife including hosting a Bison Paddock. A variety of camping sites and hiking trails are available including Crypt Lake hike which is one of the most popular hikes in Canada!

On the way to Waterton or Head-smashed-in-Buffalo Jump (or Southern Alberta) and you have the time, it is worth dropping by the Aviation Museum in Nanton. This museum has a decent collection of war planes including Lancesters. The other place worthy of a mention is Cardston which is home to the Remington Carriage Museum. It is the largest horse drawn carriage museum in North America and gives a wonderful insight into travel before cars.

Apart from the above mentioned sights, there are a host of other national and provincial parks worth visiting. Apart from their sheer beauty, nature and outdoor lovers have plenty of activities they can choose from in these parks. Experiencing and exploring this part of Canada can easily take weekends off your calendar very easily.

Places of visit on map:

View Folks visit Calgary in a larger map

Skiing - a new experience

My brother and I always had this ‘healthy’ competition on trying new things – be it food, adventure sports or even music. If I tried hiking, he tried backpacking. If I tried bungee jumping, he tried rafting. If I tried parasailing, he tried skiing – and that’s where it hurt  Now, being in mostly in India, trying skiing was a distant dream… till I started living in Calgary, AB, Canada. (Note: for most Indians, skiing is not just a sport – it’s an adventure sport).

Naturally I was fixated with the idea of going skiing ever since I landed in Calgary. Our good friend AU was the right person to talk with. He loves skiing so much that he sells the concept well to newbies (not that I needed any selling of the concept) and everyone will immediately want to go try skiing.

So over a good evening of dinner and drinks at the ever popular 1410, we were all set to drive to Lake Louise Ski Resort the next morning (18/Jan/2010). The resort is in the mountains overlooking the lake (duh!) in Banff National Park. Throughout our drive of around 2 hrs, AU gave an overview and tips for our first experience. It was decided that we would go for the day-long beginners ski lessons.

We bought tickets accordingly and headed towards the equipment area. We had to rent the ski, poles, helmet and ski-boots. The ski-boots are easily the most uncomfortable footwear ever created by man. It’s a fibre-glass mould and for obvious reasons – stiff. So the walking style of the person completely changes. One suddenly starts walking like a cowboy – heel first. I was instantly in pain. AU assured that it’s just a matter of time and that I’d get used to it.

AU left us at our class and headed to the steeper runs to ski on fresh snow. Our instructor, Donna, was British (from good old Devon) and we were a batch of six. Getting on the skis was the next difficult thing of the day. Keeping steady on the skis is not easy for beginners. Our morning session went off well and most of us were confident of standing straight with our skis on by the end of the session. The ski boots continued to kill most of us though and we were totally exhausted by lunch time. Sitting down at the table was the single joyous moment of the day for me as I thought my feet were totally crushed due to the ski-boots. Skiing is hard-work – totally exhausting.

For the afternoon session, we advanced to use the bunny slopes. This was loads of fun. By now, we knew how to ski down the slope – but only a few knew how to stop at the bottom of the slope. It was good fun falling down but not so much fun trying to get up with the skis on though. By the end of the session though all of were officially toast, we knew how to turn while coming down the slope as well but I still wasn’t very comfortable with the boots though. We were happy with our progress till we were told that most beginners actually go to the next level (T-bar zone) by end of the day and we hadn’t!!! Oh well…

I skied a few more times during the rest of the season. We tried other ski resorts like Kimberley and Sunshine. We stayed overnight at Kimberley. Situated in BC, it’s around a 5 hour drive. The best part of the place we stayed was that if you already had equipment, then you could easily ski out of your cabin, straight down the T-bar slope and down to the ski-lift area. We couldn’t use this feature as we didn’t have the equipment and more importantly, I didn’t have the confidence at that time.

Sunshine is a perfect place for beginners. The runs are shorter but yet challenging for the newbies. It is also very crowded as people come from all over the world to ski at this famous place.

I can now manage to ski the green slopes with some ease. I have taken a liking to downhill skill – the views as well as the thrill of going downhill are totally worth it. Boots are becoming less of an issue each time I ski as well. I am not sure of the length of our stay in Calgary, but I will surely hit the slopes if I am around here in winter.

Some basics:
Powder: Snow. Also called Pow-Pow; Skiing on fresh snow (which is new and fluffy), is far more enjoyable then old snow, which is icy.
Bunny slope: Beginner starts at the bunny slope. Beginners always start at the bunny slopes using a magic carpet ski lift to go to the top of the very short slope.
Magic carpet: It’s a conveyor type of ski-lift on which the skier stands with his/her skis on and then skis off the conveyor belt when he/she reaches the end of the lift, on top of the slope.
T-bar: This is because the ski lift consists of a bar suspended like an inverted T against which skiers lean while being towed to the top of the slope. If the skier leans too much on the bar, the skier will easily get dragged along or fall out. Usually a beginner tries the magic carpet first and then the T-bar
Chair lift: A chair lift is an automated aerial chair device used to carry skiers up a mountain slope. One needs to ski off the chair as, the chair doesn’t stop for the skier to get off.
Run: A run is a groomed and marked path.
Greens: the easiest ski runs are marked by green circles. They are relatively flat & smooth and are mostly machine groomed.
Blues: A blue square marks medium difficulty. Runs would be steeper than greens.
Blacks: A black diamond run is steeper than a blue square. It would be narrower with unmarked obstacles as well.
Double Blacks: A double black diamond is mainly for experts. These trails are extremely steep.
Alpine skiing: Started in the Alps, is just another term for downhill skiing.
Freestyle skiing: Combination of acrobatics & skiing. E.g., ski jumps, moguls.
Moguls: Skiing as fast as possible through mounds of snow, both natural and skier made.

Having gone to 3 ski resorts, I learnt that there is no standard for runs. Every ski resort determines them relative to their own terrain difficulty. So, for instance, a blue run at one Ski Mountain, may be a black-diamond run at another mountain.

More information on skiing:
http://skiing.about.com/ or http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/  

First visit to the Rockies

Our new friends Mujir and Avanti were really keen to go out of town since they just got a car. We instantly jumped at the idea. Always ready to go somewhere, see a new place or do something different. So we met on Friday over some really sad Chinese dinner to plan it out. We decided to go for the GlobalFest’09 on Saturday and to Lake Moraine/Louise on Sunday.

We planned to leave early so that we could cover both the lakes and also get back into town to get ready for yet another work week. We finally left at 7:00AM. Our first impression of the Rockies was that they were really rocky. It reminded me of one of my most favorite trips - to Uttaranchal. The towering Himalayas seemed just as or rockier. There were hardly any snow capped mountains on this fine summer day, making it look more barren than ever I suppose.

Our first halt was Lake Moraine. The cold hit us as we got of the cozy car. I was shivering to the bone despite having a pull-over and a bandana. So we decided to start with a packed breakfast from home and HOT coffee from the café there. Soon Avanti and I got busy making sandwiches and little did we notice a squirrel quietly sneaking behind us to steal one of the sandwiches. Only when some of the other visitors squealed did we realize. We hastily tucked in our breakfast as the squirrel didn’t seem scared to take more. We then decided to take the walking trail around the lake. As we walked by, the weather seemed to get better and that’s when we realized the turquoise blue color of the lake. It was stunning. Apparently the rocks beneath the lake give the color effects. We soon heard a cascade/water falls nearby. We walked to the end of the trail to realize that the sound was of the white water river which fed the lake. The source was a glacier nearby. We walked on the wild side for a bit and for some photos before retracing our steps to the car.

Our second halt was Lake Louise. This was more “touristy” than Lake Moraine. There were thousands of visitors around. The lake was bigger than the one before. It was blue too – but a deep blue. The lake was surrounded by coniferous forests on 2 sides, glaciers on the 3rd side and we stood on the 4th. It was a spectacular view. We decided to return to this place every season as we are sure each season will bring in a different charm to the place. Hunger and huge crowds made us leave the place soon.

Our final destination was Banff Village. We basically went there just to eat. We found a quite French restaurant where we devoured our Fish n Chips, Veg Pizza (made on a bed of potato, not bread) and sandwiches gleefully. We did realize that Banff is a very picturesque place with lots of eateries and stores showing how important tourism is for the village economy. But we didn’t go around the village much as we had to head back home.

We reached back by 18:00, a day well spent in the Rockies. Hopefully the next time we visit, it would be for camping.

Here is a link to our photo album: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/akshatakaranth/LakeMoraineAndLakeLouise#