Chapter 1
The Jasper area and Whistler Mt.

Day 1:

The story begins with our arrival in the village of Jasper late on Saturday afternoon after about a 4-hour drive along the Icefields Parkway from Calgary. (The tour books say 6-hour drive, but we “hurried”.) Jasper is a small village, nestled in a valley, surrounded by majestic mountains all around it. The town backs up against Pyramid Mountain. Also looming in the background is Whistler Mountain off to the side. We found Jasper to be a nice small town without all the yuppie tourist trappings found in the upper-scale towns of Banff and Lake Louise. We stayed in a nice B&B called “Angels on Aspen”.It was located in the downstairs/basement of a private home in the suburban part of Jasper.We were within easy walking distance of anywhere in “down-town” Jasper.

Day 2:

We spent Sunday, our first full day in Jasper, walking about the town, shopping for last minute supplies, visiting nearby Pyramid and Patricia Lakes (where we learned that top secret government experiments were performed during WWII on how to construct large ships made of ice, complete with refrigeration systems to keep the ice hulls frozen), making final arrangements for our backpacking shuttle service needed on Monday for our first backpack and visiting the main tourist attraction, the Jasper Tramway. The tramway takes you up to the top of Whistler Mountain. We figured we should get some great views of Jasper and the surrounding valleys and mountains from the top. We were only about 30 feet from the upper tram building on the mountain when a low flying cloud moved in and enshrouded the mountaintop in a thick veil of fog. Then, to add insult to injury, it started snowing, sleeting and hailing. We took cover in the gift shop/restaurant. After about 15 minutes it let up a bit and we were able to continue our trek to the peak of Whistler Mountain by following the ½ mile hiking trail. When we finally reached the official peak of Whistler Mt., the fantastic views we were so anxiously awaiting were all shrouded in fog, mist, clouds and swirling snow. Every now and then the clouds would temporarily part in a certain direction and we would be treated to a quick peak in that direction. Mother Nature kept us busy scurrying around the peak watching and waiting to see where the view would open up next. We finally got tired of the “game” and hiked back to the tramway building for our return ride back down the mountain.