Climbing mountain around the Icefields

The road between Lake Louise and Jasper is one of the most scenic road in Canada, surrounded by mountains and glacier, all along the road there is incredible view point. and if you take the time to climb some of the mountain around you can reach more amazing view.

About half way between Lake Louise and Jasper you can find the Icefield center, the base for some tourist attraction like the glacier skywalk and Ice explorer, as this is run by the same company as the gondola, I get a chance to do these attraction for free.
The Ice explorer is some huge buses the bring on on the middle of the glacier, on a small area that have been secured. I think for someone that have never seen a glacier before the experience can be really nice, but for anyone that just a bit of experience with glacier it will just feel like goin walking on a carpark few days after a big snow fall.
The skywalk is a really new attraction, it is basicly just a big viewpoint on the side of the road, with a glace floor to make you feel a bit more the high of it. it feel to me that it is just one of the many amazing viewpoint that are all along the road that have been closed, just to force tourist to pay for a viewpoint that use to be free, and they put a bit of attraction with this huge glace floor and lot’s of information about glacier and wildlife to justify to make people pay for something that supposed to be free.
these attraction are still interesting, but i wouldn't pay for it.

few weeks after doing these attraction i came back in these area just to climb some of the mountain around. the first one i did is Wilcox peak (2884m), it is fairly easy and not to long to reach the summit but the view from the top is really amazing. You can clearly see the ice explorer and the skywalk, that looks a bit ridiculous from up there (have a look on the photosynth) as it is often described in scrambling guide, it is the “best view for energy spent” in the Canadian Rockies.

 The next day I decided to do another mountain, Nigel Peak (3211m). It is just next to Wilcox peaks, it is a bit higher and much more difficult climb. the view from up there is also amazing, but that day there was a bit of smoke all around so the view wasn't as clear as the day before on Wilcox peak.

Climbing mountain around Jasper

A bit more north of Banff there is Jasper national park, and the small town of Jasper in the middle of it. I decided to go visit around during my days off. The town itself is very small and more quiet than Banff. it is a really nice little town.
I decided to take a full day to climb on top of pyramid mountain (2766 m), one of the mountain surrounding Jasper. it have been a really good day, the beginning of the trail is very long so I did the first half mountain biking. that make the day much more interesting. The climb itself isn't very difficult, but the view from the summit was also incredible.

Climbing mountain around lake louise

Lake Louise is about 1h away from Banff it’s a very small town with basically just one big hotel on the side of the lake and a big ski resort  with almost nothing else.
there is two very beautiful lake around, Lake Louise and Moraine lake, both are really beautiful and change color along the year because of the sediment coming from all the glacier water that feed these lakes.


Of course it is also surrounded by mountains, the most famous in the area is Mount Temple (3544m) the scramble to get on top of this one is a bit more challenging that Cascade or Rundle that I climbed before around Banff which made this hike really amazing and the view from up here is also perfect, it was a bit sad that it was a bit foggy the day i got there because of some fire further away in BC, so the view wasn't very clear.

Later in the season I went to climb another mountain just a bit further away than Lake Louise : Bow peak (2868m)  the scramble to get up there was really nice, including a river crossing. and the view from up here was really amazing, one of the best view i got this summer, also because it was a very clear day.
have a look at the photosynth, I did this one with a very very high resolution so you can really enjoy the view!

Climbing mountains around Banff

The most famous mountain around Banff is Mount Cascade (2998m) , it offer an incredible view over all the Bow valley. and it is relatively easy to climb. that is the first one I did. and I end up going up here two times over the summer as it is easy to access from Banff.

Another very popular mountain is Mount Rundle (2948m). it is just next to cascade, both are easily accessible directly from Banff.  Rundle is a bit shorter but steeper and a little bit more dangerous according to me.  the view from the summit is really similar as the view from cascade. the summit is just on the edge of a very impressive cliff that make the summit quit interesting (if you are not afraid of heights)

I also climbed another mountain very close to Banff, Mount Bourgeau (2931m) I have been quite disappointed by this one. the climb was really easy, and the view on top wasn't as good as the other climb i did during the summer. also I did this one late, in October so it was really cold, which was one of the reason i didn't really like this hike.

At work again!!

About five day after I arrived in Banff I started working at the Banff gondola.
it is a lift to get tourists on top of sulfur mountain, one of the mountain surrounding Banff.
the lift run all year long but only for sightseeing, there is now ski slopes from there.

I started working as lift Operator, and I ask to do also some cleaning around the upper terminal to have a bit more variety in my job.

I really like my job and my workmates.  and working with such an amazing view all the time is just awesome.

And when the weather condition play around the view can be even better.

Living in Banff

I haven't post anything in way too long time, so it’s time for some update !!
At the end of June I arrived in Banff and I found a job very fast, so i decided to stay there and enjoy the summer!!

Banff is small town inside Banff national park it is really nice place to live really in the middle of the nature. I had many time an Elk or a Dear just in front of my apartment, or some Bear walking around my workplace. it is surrounded by mountains so obviously I love it here!!

the town of Banff and the national park was all developed because of a hot spring found on sulfur mountain by the people building the train track across Canada to reach Vancouver. the builder discover the hot springs and it quickly became popular and there for Canada decided to create a national park and build the town of Banff here.

I spent about 6 month here spending my time between work and hiking all around the national park. which was really awesome!

"The eternal traveler syndrome"

It’s been long time since I didn't give you any news, I'll post updates soon!!

But today I just want to share a video I found on internet.

A lot of people make video or blog post about traveling, and most of it feels like people started traveling two month ago and think they know everything about travel. All these video and blogs have many interesting fact, but also some that are disconnected from the reality of a very long trip. And most of them miss the very essence of traveling. but there is always some articles and some video that catch it very well and this video is one of them, it catch the deepest meaning of travel and present it in a very good way. 

It represent very well the way I feel since I came back in Montreal and explain why I left again.

The video is in Spanish with English subtitle, for those who speak only French, here is a translation of the text in French

On the long journey across Canada

My journey to Alberta started on Tuesday around midday. I first took metro then a bus, it took me almost two hours to get to the far end on west side of Montreal Island.
Then again 30 min walk to cross the bridge and find a spot to start hitchhiking.

on the bridge to cross the Saint-Laurent river and get out of Montreal

From there I have been very lucky. After about 10min a car stop, with a young couple from Sherbrook that was on their way to BC, for a similar adventure as me.

Antoine and Magali, they started their trip much faster than me, as they decided to leave just Monday evening. They quickly pack up the car, take care of everything at their places and left Tuesday morning. Magali pass by her job in the morning only to say she quit. And during the trip they both had to call their parents and friends to tell them they are leaving.  That was pretty funny.

As we all heading in the same direction we made the entire trip to Calgary together and that was really awesome.  We always found great spot to put our tents for the night and cook ourselves really delicious meal.
With spent a lot of time in the car of course but we had some very nice break to swim in the lac or to spend the night on random place.

We get along very well with Antoine and Magali we are very like-minded, and have a good taste for adventure. It makes the trip really awesome, I couldn't ask for a better way to cross the country.

Finally they dropped mi in Calgary on Sunday and they move on to BC to do some fruit picking for the whole summer and save enough money to travel to Australia for a while.

For me it's time for a very small break, make some washing and get ready to explore the mountains!!

On a new start!!

So here we are, I decided to leave Montreal for some new adventures. This time, there is no trip around the world, no flight, no new country to discover. I decided to stay in Canada and go to the west to discover the mountains and see what the life around there is.

As I already said and it always makes more and more sense; the best way to travel is always by hitch hiking, you meet amazing people and you get to see much more things on the way. You keep all your freedom with a lot of adventure.
As I realize all along my first trip, planning only gives you boundaries, and don't really help once on the road.
The only thing I had in mind was to hitchhike to the mountains in Alberta and find a good spot to stay longer, find a job and enjoy the mountains and nature around.

From the time I decided to go and my actual departure it was quit fast, about a month. Just enough time to warn my job and my flatmates that I’m leaving, and to say goodbye to everyone. As I had nothing plan it was easy to prepare, I just spend the last week-end to get rid of all the stuff I had in Montreal. Without too much pressure, I was leaving only when I was ready. I was thinking of leaving on Monday, but I have been a bit lazy to prepare my stuff. So I end up leaving Montreal on Tuesday, Direction ... WEST!!

The comfort zone

As I already said before, if you want to travel, the hardest part is always to make the first step, once you step out, everything will go on and looks easy.
There is one thing that prevent most people on doing this first step. You probably already heard about it, the Comfort zone.
The Comfort zone apply to every single aspect of your life, but to keep it short, as my blog is all about travel, I’ll focus more on that part.

The comfort zone is that part of your life where everything seems to be under control, everything looks easy and you can make very long term plan without any doubt. this is a very good things, it provide you with all your basic needs, you can live like that forever. but it’s also what prevent your to move forward. and to reach higher expectations.
Stepping outside your comfort zone is always difficult. you need to left behind something you know and you like, for something you don’t know. it’s always scary, and it’s normal, the fear of the unknown. the fear and failing. people get attach to their comfort zone and usually can’t get rid of it. it act as a “golden prison” it provide you with all your basic needs, but prevent you from reaching all your dream and feeling really accomplished.
It’s a bit like being in bed in the morning when it’s a bit cold outside, you feel so good and warm in your bed that you don’t want to get out in the cold ever. Even if you know you have to, so you can start doing something of your day.

When you are at home you have your life in control, your job, your apartment, all your friends eventually boyfriend/girlfriend, and all your small habit, your routine that you know perfectly and it feel very good that you don’t have to worry about anything. You don’t really take any risk as everything stay about the same, you always know what will happen on the next day.

When you start thinking about stepping out of this comfort zone for going on a big trip over few month/years, you start realize, you have to leave your job, your house, get rid of millions things you bought and you don’t really need. you will leave behind all your friends maybe your boyfriend/girlfriend. you will have to leave everything that you know so well and that feel so easy and comfortable.

And in exchange of all this, you have absolutely no idea about what you will get. You go in a direction you don’t know anything about! you will have a lot of fears. “what if something goes wrong ?” “what if I can’t make it?” of course it feels terrifying, you leave all most everything for something you have absolutely no idea.
That is a huge step outside your comfort zone. that’s why it’s so hard to even think about it!! But the real question you should ask yourself is “what if I make it right?”
You have no idea about where you going. Of course many things will goes wrong and you will have some more difficult time. But that what will make you learn more, and teach you the life lessons you need. And you will also have many things going well and make you move forward. one things is sure you will learn a lot and have an amazing time overall.

To make that step out of your comfort zone you have to find enough motivation to fight that fear. Your adventure side need to overcome your emotional side that will make you want to stay warm in your comfort zone.
Once you really take the decision of leaving, that you accept to left behind a part of your life for a while. You accept the challenge in front of you, and everything else will be easier.

Since I got back to Montreal I get back in my old comfort zone, get back on a job that I know well, with good pay, with many friends around, got an apartment, I own a bed for the first time in 2 years !! And recently, as some of you may already know, I took a new step Outside of this comfort zone… more details soon !!