At the end of my last post on the blog I wrote:  ”It is this extra dimension to winter in the Rockies which makes Banff unique, which makes me want to return”.  I didn’t realise then how soon.

I flew home less than a fortnight ago.  The week before I did so I was laid low by a bug which kept me indoors and inactive for two days and less than fully fit when I returned to the ski hill.  Disappointing.  One of those things.  I still had a great time until then.

The return home was to Grey Britain in all its gloomy wetness, temperatures in double figures.  Two glorious days of winter with cloudless skies and a plunge to minus 5, ice on the canal at the end of the garden, and then back to grey and rain again.  Storm Jonas, the whimpering end of the icy blast which hit the east coast of North America warmed by the Atlantic as it raced eastwards brought more floods and strong winds to Britain.

So next week I’m going back to Canada, Banff and proper winter.  I hadn’t intended to return until the end of the year but the opportunity was there.

A reminder of what it’s like.

Below the Cave and Basin, thermal springs stream out of the mountain all winter.  Temperatures generally below minus 15 and permanent shade with the sun behind Sulphur Mountain create a wonderland of thick hoar frost as the steam freezes on vegetation 

Close to open water the frost is thickest

While at the top of the Lake Louise gondola billions of tiny ice crystals in the air glitter in the sun

….. and fresh snow blankets the trees

At Sunshine snow plastered onto trees by wind stays for days in the low temperatures and cloud caps Goats Eye Mountain