Lake Louise: Being swedish, snowboarding and Le Chateau

We reached the little village of Lake Louise, over the border in Alberta though we didn’t see any sign notifying us that we had crossed the provincial border.  I found no memories at all came flooding back, of my previous visit in 1988, working at the Lake Louise Inn.

This time we continued 3 km up the hill towards the Lake itself, and the famous Chateau Lake Louise.  Our destination was immediately before the Chateau - a small hotel called Deer Lodge.

It was a beautiful, 1930s lodge, built originally for summer recreational activities in the region (hiking, etc) but was ‘winterised’ in the 1980s or thereabouts.  And winterised very well, too:  it was so hot in our room, we had to open the window - which then made it freezing.  On the second night we worked out that just leaving the windows open a tiny crack and snuggling under doonas was the way to go.  

The rooms were small and very basic indeed - just two single beds in our room, with a small desk and a wardrobe, and not much room to move.  We did have an ensuite as well.   There was only one TV in the whole place, and that was down in the basement games room, along with the computer and printer, pool table, and cards tables.  Upstairs was a guest lounge with roaring (gas) fire, complete with mooseheads mounted on the wall, a formal restaurant, and a casual bistro all with incredible views of Mount Fairview.    All was very casual indeed - we walked around all of these places in socks most of the time.  And sat in the lounge reading by the fire in the evenings, though both nights we fell asleep pretty early, having had huge days.

The highlight of the lodge though was the hot tub on the roof, in the shadow (well - if there had been sun) of Mount Fairview.  On our first afternoon there we used it, venturing out onto the roof into the absolutely, literally freezing cold, while it was snowing heavily.  Already in there were three french and spanish women, and two chinese women.  Angus commented that he thought the french and spanish ones might get drunk - he was not far wrong there, as they were stowing away the champagne.  He thought the Chinese ones were probably the more sensible ones, but I commented that their rapidly lightening 4-litre red wine cask might belie that assumption.  We had good chats with all of them, anyway - Angus telling the French ones that to rub cold snow on their bodies while they were in the hot tub would add 12 months to her life span and take 12 months off her appearance.   He did it himself, leaving the tub to get snow to rub on his body, steam rising from him like he was a freshly served steamed lobster dinner,  then coming back in - like the scandinavians do with saunas.  He thought this, along with snowboarding, was a highlight of the whole trip.

Another part that was really fun was driving up a mountain with ACDCs ' Long Way to the Top' blaring.  It just happened to be on a local radio station at the time.

And he did have another day snowboarding, completing Level 2.  He just loves it.  Lake Louise ski area is a much smaller resort in terms of amenity, than Whistler with its big, sophisticated village.  Lake Louise ski area really just has one large building, containing a cafe, ski school, ski rentals, and toilets etc.  But the surroundings are the thing here.  It is just exhilerating to whizz down a mountain, a thrill in itself, amongst these.

In the evenings, both nights, we walked the 5 minutes up the road to the Chateau Lake Louise, for dinner.  It was very grand indeed, but we found a saloon bar and a club lounge on respective nights so it didn't break the budget.   I had a brilliant salad at the Glacier Saloon.  We also bought a copy of an old 1930s Canadian Pacific poster, an art deco style drawing, which was of the view from the window we were at in the Club Lounge, overlooking the frozen lake.  (Angus pictured here walking on the lake).

I took even more photos here than I did of the Grand Canyon, I think.  Every time I turned a corner the view seemed more magnificent than the one I'd just photographed.

It seemed very fitting, or balanced, to be here near the end of our trip, after the Grand Canyon near the start.

Angus is feeling a strong need to come home, though he's clearly enjoying himself as well.  He's done amazingly well, with such a hectic schedule and little downtime making us both very tired.   I think he wants to get back to a routine, and a place he knows he belongs in.

We left Lake Louise for the long drive back to Vancouver (2 days drive) in perfect spring sunny weather.  It seemed a much quicker trip, too, than getting there was - on day one, anyway, where we made it to Kelowna.   As it wasn't snowing, we had quite different views from those on the way there, and the roads were much safer.    

As we roared down through the mountains U2s 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' came on.  That was quite a powerful one to hear then, as I pondered the approaching return home, hoping I'd remember the feeling of these mountains, and how they help give me such a good perspective.  But still not knowing quite what I'll be doing once I get back, which is both exciting and a little unsettling.