Banff to Jasper
After having our hot rolls, our daily ritual, we hit the road. After taking the scenic Bow River parkway up to Lake Louise we then got onto the Ice fields Parkway which is one of the most spectacular drives in the Rockies. The concentration of high, dramatic mountains with snowy peaks it just breathtaking. Our first stop was the Crows Foot Glacier, which is like a crows foot except it lost a toe.

Then onto the Weeping Wall, where little steams of water run all down the front of the mountain and next stop was definitely the highlight of the trip so far, the Columbia Icefields. We arrived at the Ice Fields centre which is situated in front of the Anthabasca glacier and surrounded by snowy mountains, you just cant stop taking snaps.

We are doing a trip onto the glacier in a snowmobile, so exciting!!! From the Ice Fields centre we caught a bus up to where the snow mobiles leave from from there we transfered to a snow mobile of which there are only 23 in the world and the tyres alone cost $5000 each, they were huge!

The tour guide supplies all the information about the glacier, the terrain is really interesting as from a distance it looks smooth and flat but its actually really uneven and bumpy. There are lots of crevasses and fissures, some guys were actually going down into them. Also you could do a glacier walk which is about 4hours with a guide, but i took the ice mobile!
Once at the foot of the glacier you get out and walk around on the ice and you can even drink the glacier water. Then back down to the Ice Fields centre - i have never done anything like this before and it was really great fun and highly recommended.

Next stop Jasper, we are now slowly descending and the air is getting slightly warmer and the mountains have less snow. Jasper town is a lot smaller than Banff and less commercial and apparently there is more wildlife, so here's hoping. So far we have seen lots of squirrels, crows, various other birds, a deer, some mountain goats.

More pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/RockiesDay7#