Captured4Ever A Camera is for Life, Not just Christmas

Well what can I say except WOW. Its not fair that one country has some of the best views in the world when it comes to mountain ranges. That said I am coming from one of the flattest parts of the UK, where a hill of 50m is high.

I will post some of my favourits pictures over the coming weeks but in the meantime I have included a few to start it off below. More of the pictures are hosted on flickr here.

As for my trip, I landed in Calgary and picked up my little hire car I had ordered. (In, joke as they run out of small cars and I got the biggest they had). Got in and turned the wrong way out of the Airport which wasnt a good start but to my defence, they had major road works going on at the time and I just found myself in the wrong lane. From then on it was a 1 1/2 hours drive over a flat landscape wondering where these mythical Rockies I had heard of were.

The first night I stayed in Banff Springs and got ready for the next days long drive up to jasper, during which I stopped as much as I could on the way. It has to be said that I had the most clear skies for my first 4 days of the holiday, so on the drive to Jasper I made the most of it and stopped at, Cascade ponds, Waterfowl lake, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, Tangle Creek, Sunwapta Falls, Athabaska Falls along with various roadside stops to take in the landscape. All in all it must have took me twice as long as it would have without making any stops.

Once at Japser I actually stayed in a new look log cabin just outside of Jasper, Becker Chalets for 3 days which I have to say was just perfect. Just far enough from Jasper and yet quiet and surrounded on two sides by the river. On one mornign I had a wake up call of a herd of the local wild animals eating outside. Quite a site as they walked thru the camp site.

During my time at Becker Chalets I managed to get quite a lot done, visiting most of the local lakes and taking in a few walks. Lake Patricia, Horseshoe Lake, Pyramid Lake and Maligne Lake to name a few.

While also taking the Tram to the top of Jasper Mountain and then the long walk the rest of the way, in all close to 2400m high which was breath taking, partly due to the altitude. The views were stunning, I managed to make it on one of the few days when Mount Robson was visible in the distance and not covered by cloud or mist, all 4,000m of it. The 2nd highest mountain in BC
Jasper, as a town, had all I wanted and was quite a bit larger than Banff. Much more to do if you wanted to do a day of visiting the town, lots of gift shops to pick up those much needed holiday reminders. Train station for those that wanted to take the train to another part of Canada….
On my last day In Jasper the weather turned slightly and I started to get clouds in the sky, which I must say was very pleased to see. You can only take so much of perfect blue skies. I wanted clouds and you will see why in the coming posts and the pictures I managed to get.

Then it was the drive back down to Lake Louise for my last 3 days. As the weather had changed I could stop at a lot of the same places I stopped at on the drive up and get completly different experiences, different sun position, cloud filled skies. Well worth stopping twice.

At the resort of lake louise I stopped at Deer Lodge, which turned out to be about 200m from the lake. Again this was a magical place to visit and I made a few trips the Lake Louise itself and Moraine Lake which are the two best known lakes in that area. Lake Louise is made for people to stay and relax, horse rides, mountain biking and well marked walks are all available as well as the ability to hire canoes to take on the lake.

After this it was time to head back to the airport and back to the UK. I will visit Canada again and try and take in the sea to Sky highway among other Canadian national parks I missed on this short trip.

Above is just a small selection of the pictures taken on the drive to Jasper.

Well that is a short guide to my holiday and now comes the good bit, I get to post some of the magical views from the holiday. Keep a look out for more details and my favourite pictures from the trip the future posts.

If you cant wait the more of the pictures are hosted on flickr here.

Well this is a bit of a catch up from 2007, In July I ended up in the wonderful French Alps for a bit of a get away holiday. A small group of friends had already been there a week on a mountain biking holiday when I arrived.

More photos can be found here.

We stayed at a place called Morzine which is just an hour from Geneva, so easy to get to by plane which was lucky for me as at the time driving wasnt possible.

As with most of the alps during the winter it’s a Ski resort but during summer months it has turned into a haven for downhill mountain bikers, who use the ski runs and ski lift’s meaning its more of a year round resort now. Even with these crazy loons going down the mountains at silly speeds (with no soft snow to cushion falls) the landscape as can be seen below is beautiful. This picture was taken at the top of one of the two mains lift’s out of Morzine.

A basic 5 picture stitched panoramic as you find it hard to express the size of the Alps without taking wide angle pictures to help.

Below is yet another of the views from the top of the mountains. Once at the top of a lift you can usually walk along the ridge line to find another lift leading down into another valley. In theory you can do this all day.

Dont let the clouds fool you, at this height the sun is warm and burns easily. Cool breeze because of the height yet warm sun, being new to this I took too much the first day that I didnt need.

Two of those mad fools I mentioned. Stu and Steve. Half way down a mountain waiting for the slower ones to catch up.

Now onto the last day which was one of surprise.

Myself and Stu went to try and catch a glimpse of Mont Blanc which meant jumping in the car and bombing up those typical twisty mountain roads. Not knowing exactly where we were going, what we found was a small mountain lake that was mirror still, which provided us with a view of Mont Blanc in the background. Stu being Stu, he had to have a picture of his car and I have to say it looked good with the two of them reflecting in the last bit of sun.

Was that the end of the holiday, noooo. What we had forgot was that it was Bastille day in France. By the time we got back to the challet it was dark, food was ready (which was mmmm) beer ready and then……. From the valley we were staying in came explosions and light.

Firewoks lighting up the sky… But to see them you will need to view the holiday pictures on flickr.