The weather has been warmer than usual with day after day of blue skies and sunshine.  Rather than taking photos I’ve been concentrating on trying to improve my incompetent skiing, smooth wide turns on mild slopes but still aggressively sharp turns to burn off speed on steeper runs.   

On Tuesday I was prematurely congratulating myself on neatly avoiding a fallen skier in the ‘unload’ area at the top of a chair-lift when I was struck from behind by half a tonne of rampant quad chair, the stop button in control of a ‘lifty’ with his mind elsewhere.  Shaken but not stirred.

But I did take photos on Sunday when I ambled upstream from Banff when whiling away the time between church in the morning and my daughter and husband arriving from Kicking Horse for the week.

Along the gentle creek-side walk the difference from last year was dramatic.  Then the small creek, a tributary of the Bow River, was frozen solid and I walked across it at a couple of points to explore the other side or get a better angle for a photo.  Now it was flowing water, no chance of crossing it until I reached the bridge carrying the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Flawless blue sky, snow and trees reflecting in mirror image in placid, clear water, I found it difficult to make forward progress until I received a text message to say that my daughter and the group of friends from Calgary who had been to Kicking Horse were now ensconced in a pizza house in Banff.  So I scurried back.  With numerous photo-interruptions en route.

Leaving the main river behind, continuing up the small creek and looking back to Mount Rundle

Early-winter Ice breaking up

Reflective, placid water in the creek as the early winter ice melts

Zooming in on snow-covered ice which collapsed in the thaw as water levels dropped

Thin ice reforming, water still reflective

Looking upstream to the iron rail bridge across the creek

Crossing the tracks

Still, clear water under the trees, Mount Norquay reflected

Sun filtering through , ice sheet reflected

no comment!

On the way back, I barely crossed the line before a freight train, limited by law to two kilometres in length went past

Since Sunday it has become increasingly cold.  Checking out the weather forecast for the week ahead it looks to get colder still, with temperatures closer to the seasonal norm for the east of the Canadian Rockies, highs of minus 10^oC with overnight and early morning lows of minus 25^oC.  It snowed a little today (Wednesday) with more forecast for tomorrow.  It will be interesting on Sunday to return to the reflective creek and see how much of the flowing water has been frozen over.  Not that I will venture to cross it!