Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
July
8, 2007.
We are staying in the Tunnel
Mountain National Park Campground in Banff, Alberta. Tunnel Mountain Campground
offers no hookups, electricity only and full hookups. We are in one of the $29.70
electricity only sites. I do not know what FHU or no hookups cost but they are
all in the same area. All sites are paved.
Lake
Louise Alberta, Canada & Fairmont Cheteau
We
are visiting Lake Louise an easy hours drive north of Banff. The area is so wonderfully
beautiful is is hard to know where to start.
Just
imagine arriving here in the 1880s...the smell of pine forest, the sound of avalanches
from the mountains above, and the wonder of vast unexplored country ahead. Today,
the ice-capped peaks, hidden valleys and turquoise lakes are as spectacular as
they ever were, and are much easier to get to.
Early visitors came to Lake
Louise by rail or on horseback, until the road from Banff opened in the
1920s. Travelers in winter explored on snowshoes and in the 1930s the skiers arrived.
The Lake Louise area has become a mecca for climbers, walkers and tourist, summer
and winter.
Road to Lake Louise & Fairmont Chateau
After
turning off the Trans Canada Highway and entering Lake Louise proper it is a short
drive back to the lake along this mundane drive--------mundane was tongue in cheek
of course.
Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise Alberta, Canada
We know we are almost there when we see the
"Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise" sign.
Lake
Louise behind Fairmont Chateau
I
am sorry about the lighting but we have to use what we have and the sky is full
of storm clouds on this day. The picture would be so much better in the early
morning with the sun shining directly on that glacier.
Ice-age glaciers
sculpted this famous Rocky Mountain landscape.
The glaciers began their
work about two million years ago. They carved these mountains and gouged this
valley into a deep basin. The Victoria Glacier once filled this entire valley.
About
10,000 years ago, the glaciers melted back and left behind a pile of rocky debris
that dammed Lake Louise. We are standing on the remains of that dam.
In
recent years, a warmer climate has accelerated glacial melt and recession. If
this trend continues, one day these glaciers will be gone.
Mounts Victoria
and Lefroy form part of the Continental Divide-the backbone of North America.
These glaciated mountains supply precious water to communities across the continent.
The
story of Lake Louise
began 10,000 years ago but it was Tom Wilson, a horse-packer for the Canadian
pacific Railway survey who heard the roar of a distant avalanche in August of
1882. Edwin Hunter, a Stoney Indian, told him it came from the "snow mountain
above the lake of little fishes".
The next day, Edwin led Tom to this
lake. Tom was the first non-Native person to see it. Impressed by its color, he
called it Emerald Lake.
In 1884, the lake became known as Lake Louise, in
honor of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.
And now you know this little story about Lake Louise.
Glacier &
Lake Louise as seen from back side of Fairmont Chateau
The
upper glacier is a LONG way from where we are at the Fairmont Chalet. The glacier
is twice the height of Chateau Lake Louise. When ice breaks off the front of the
glacier and crashes to the valley below ------- Boom!!! The sound takes 20 seconds
to reach the Chateau.
The water is a beautiful turquoise
blue but the color isn't captured in this picture.
Fairmont
Chalet Lake Louise
Beautiful hanging baskets adorned
every hanging place around the famed Fairmont
Chalet Lake Louise.
Lobby
entrance to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
This
is the Lobby entrance to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise
Entertainment
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
As
you might expect, world class entertainment was constantly performing in the open
areas of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
When
you step out the door of the Fairmont
Chateau at Lake Louise, you are in one of the world's most spectacular
natural places. Banff
National Park is part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage
Site - a landscape recognized to have world significance and value for all of
humanity.
Clark's
nutcracker in trees at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
There
were numerous Clark's Nutcrackers in the conifer trees around the Fairmont Hotel.
Clark's Nutcrackers store whitebark pine seeds in the ground as a source of winter
food. By dispersing these seeds, nutcrackers help regenerate this threatened tree,
found at higher elevations.
Lake
Louise & Fairmont Chateau
Lighting
is better in this picture and you can better see the color of Lake Louise but
this picture still does not do justice to the lake.
Of course that is the
Fairmont Chateau. Look closely at the building and realize that the upper glacier
on the other end of the lake is twice as tall as this building. When a block of
ice that big breaks off and falls to the bottom it must make a loud BOOM!!!!
Fairmont
Chateau & Lake Louise
Hundreds
of people, like us, visit Lake Louise without staying in the Fairmont Chateau.
You can see some of these people gathered on the beach all enjoying the cool air
and beautiful view.
Lake
Louise entertainment on dock behind Fairmont Chateau
This
fellow was performing on the boardwalk.
It
is time for another geology lesson. Remember the difference between Front Range
and Main Range mountains?
The Front Range mountains, like Castle Mountain
are generally made up of softer rock and are several million years younger than
the Main Range mountains to the west.
Front Ranges can be identified by:
Sloping rock layers, tilted table-top slopes with jagged ridges, lower elevation
peaks and mostly grey colors.
Main Ranges can be identified by:
Horizontal rock layers, Blocky, castle-like shapes with bands of cliffs, more
browns and reddish colors, higher elevation peaks.
Mountains surrounding Fairmont Chateau at
Lake Louise
Here
at Lake Louise the mountains are easily identified as part of the Main Range of
mountains because of their horizontal rock layers and especially their elevation.
This particular mountain is so high that it has a huge glacier even in mid-July.
Lake Louise Village a few miles from Fairmont Chateau
We
took this last picture of the mountains around Lake Louise at the Village located
near the Trans Canadian highway.
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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