Walking on a Glacier

Posted on by Thor

On a third trip to the Columbia Glacier, Terry and I decided to go to the lodge at the base of the Glacier to sign up for a Glacier Adventure. Brewster, the company that runs these glacier adventures has been taking tourists onto the ice since before the area was made into a National Park. Inside the lodge was chaos as busloads of tourists purchased tickets for several adventure packages. Several miles up the road, a large glass overhang was built on the edge of an overlook which gave tourists a panoramic view while seeming to be standing on air above a steep drop. Terry and I didn’t see the point of that view when there are amazing views and vistas anywhere you look.

The $55 Glacier Adventure involved a bus ride from the lodge across the highway to another parking lot at the base of the Ice. Here, everyone switched over to the huge Ice Rover which had immense tires worthy of a monster truck. Actually the tire were much larger than any monster trucks tires. This rover moved very slowly going uphill or downhill. The drive to get onto the ice field was perhaps half an hour. We drove to a spot on the ice that had been mechanically leveled. There we were allowed to get out and take photos for about 5 minutes. You heard me right, we were given just 5 minutes to take a few photos and then pile back on the bus.

The leveled ice filed clearing was perhaps 50 yards square. The edges of the field had the piles of blue shaved ice in 5 foot high piles. Walking on the ice field unsupervised is advisable since there are deep hidden caves and chasms that can kill an inexperienced hiker. Terry said she spotted several hikers wandering across the ice field as we were being driven back to the lodge. Guided hikes could be arranged with guides. Terry had hiked to the base of the glacier twice, so I’m sure she would have liked to climb up and wander across the expansive ice field. We both agreed that the Brewster adventure tour wasn’t worth the money but it did get us up on the ice field for a quick glance around.

The Columbia Icefields Overwhelm in the Jasper National Park

Posted on by Thor

Terry and I stopped at the expansive Columbia Ice fields twice to take in the view. The first time it was rather cold and overcast. Terry decided she wanted to hike to the base of the glacier. I was content to stay near the parking lot and paint the view. As I sketched, the mountains became shrouded in clouds. When the sun disappeared, the temperature plummeted. When it started to rain, I ran to a lean to that was a shelter for some maps of the area. The rain made it hard to complete the watercolor, so I put my supplies away and put on my rain gear. Then I waited in the shelter trying to avoid the cold winds.

Terry seemed to be gone forever. I started to worry that she might have wandered off the trail and gotten lost. There was no cell phone reception, so I couldn’t call or text. It turns out that it is a much longer hike to the foot of the glacier than Terry expected. When she did get there, she asked a family with a car if they could drive her back to our car. She played the Disney animator card to get the family excited to meet the artist. It worked and the tourists asked me all about the films I had worked on and then they asked for an autograph.  I was just thankful that Terry was alright. The weather changes quickly at these high altitudes and Terry wasn’t really ready for the sudden ice cold rains.

On our second visit we parked at the lot much closer to the receding edge of the glacier. Once again, Terry went off to hike while I did a second sketch of the ice field. Markers on the drive out show how the glacier has receded since the turn of the century.

A Hike Up to Johnston Canyon

Posted on by Thor

Terry and I flew to Alberta Canada for a week away in the Rocky mountains. On the flight across America I looked out the plane window and watched the grid of the country slip by. It was clear that we were flying North West because the grid was always at an angle. We landed in Calgary and rented a car for our trip up into the Rockies. The airport hotel we stayed in the first night was located right next to a junkyard. It would have made a scenic sketch, but I never had the time to catch the clutter.

When we drove north west out of Calgary the landscape was surprisingly flat with suburban monotony. When we got to Baniff the mountains finally jutted upward. Our first stop was Johnston Canyon.

In 1910, Johnston Canyon was named after a prospector who discovered gold in the creek. The work that went into building the trails up to the waterfalls is quite impressive. Walkways were built right into the canyon walls. The bridge in the sketch crosses over the canyon and then enters a cave that opens up right at the base of the waterfall letting people experience the full force of the water and it’s spray.

Terry decided to walk further up the trail to the top falls and I took the time to get this quick sketch done. Terry tends to get vertigo when on bridges, so it was surprising that she ventured further up on these walkways. It is a testament to the engineers who made the trail vertigo proof. When she got to the top, she took a photo to prove she had made it to the top.

Walter Phillips, a renowned artist and namesake of the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Alberta, said, “Water is the most
expressive element in nature. It responds to every mood, from
tranquility to turbulence.”He was born in England, and  travelled the world before settling down in
Canada, specifically Banff, where he fell in love with Johnston Canyon. He spent much of his career sketching and painting the canyon’s beauty. I can understand how it could captivate an artist.