Lake Maligne: careful of the ice

AN ELK, red squirrels and a coyote are some of the animals to greet Brian Crisp on a wilderness adventure in chilly Canada.

Jasper Canada Escape

THERE'S a feeling of terror when you hear the ice shudder beneath your weight. You can see a thin line, much like a crack in the windscreen, that just keeps getting longer and longer.

Wider and wider.

Below me is about a metre of water.

I know there's no chance of drowning in it, but at best the water is 4C, so the crown jewels are in a precarious position.

Moments earlier, our guide Chris had assured us that we were on solid ground, or should I say, solid ice.

Perhaps solid for people like him he'd be about 70kg wringing wet.

But for someone who tips the scales past the 100kg mark, perhaps not.

I freeze, pretending I'm playing that game statues from my childhood, and hope that the ice stays frozen and the cracks don't get any longer, or deeper.

Canadians are the masters of understatement.

"I think it's time to go back," Chris says. "Probably not as solid as I thought, eh."

We safely retreat, using his footprints as our guide.

Our group of five is halfway through the ice walk of Maligne Canyon, about a 15-minute drive outside Jasper, in Alberta, Canada.

It has been a strange start to winter and, even though it is just days before Christmas, so far not much of the canyon stream has frozen.

"By this time of year we should have had many nights at -20C," Chris says.

"This year, we have only had one. There's plenty of snow about, but not much ice."

It is a three-hour trip from the time we leave and return to our base at the Jasper Park Lodge.

More than two hours of that time is spent trekking the canyon, looking at frozen waterfalls, snapping photos and taking a peek inside some caves.

With cleats strapped to our waterproof boots to help maintain grip as we go up and down the natural canyon, the group makes its way to the very bottom of the canyon.

On a scale of 1 to 5, the walk probably rates a 2 in terms of difficulty the hardest part is the last leg that climbs back up the canyon.

You can do it yourself, and many people do, but having a guide meant we were at least as safe as possible as we pushed things to the limit.

Back at Jasper Park Lodge we parked ourselves near the open fireplace to thaw out and there's no better way to do that than with an alcohol-infused hot chocolate.

The Lodge is a throwback to another time. 

Animal heads look down, almost accusingly, at you from the walls. The lounge chairs tend to swallow you as fall into them. People sit for hours, rarely lifting their heads from books, to take in the views of Mt Edith Cavell, Lac Beauvert or Whistler's Mountain.

The lodge started as an eight-bungalow wilderness retreat at the turn of the 20th century. Today, it boasts 446 rooms on 365ha of pristine Canadian Rocky Mountains country.

It is busier in summer, but you can't help but be caught up in its Christmas winter charm.

Our timber cottage, a five-minute walk from the main lodge down icy roads and pathways, had an open fireplace and lake views, but the best thing was that it had a Christmas tree waiting for us to decorate.

The hotel had left us a bag of decorations so we smothered our tree in red, green and gold ornaments and placed our gifts underneath.

The last time I stayed here was about six years ago.

We shared the place with the Queen on that occasion. So you get a good sense of the type of visitors that this place attracts.

The walk around the lake here is spectacular, and not just because you get to watch the busy red squirrels going about their business. Walk too close to their nest and they spring into full voice in protest.

The lodge is about a five-minute drive from Jasper. We had a car so it was easy. There was no hotel shuttle last winter, so anyone staying here, who didn't have a car, had to catch taxis to and from the town.

The drive in does tend, however, to take a lot longer than five minutes because of the local wildlife. On one trip we saw elk and a coyote.

Locals tend to drive past, but Australians just can't help but stop and stare.

Jasper is a town of about 5000 people. There are two main streets, four liquor stores and a railway station. While there are the obligatory fast-food stores, there are also some good dining options.

Places such as Evil Dave's, Fiddle River Restaurant and the Jasper Brewing Company offer really tasty treats, at reasonable prices.In winter, Jasper is a ski town so most of the shops are devoted to supplying warm waterproof clothes, skis and snowboards.

The closest mountain is Marmot Basin (skimarmot.com) which has 1000 vertical metres of skiing and snowboarding over about 680ha of terrain. It is a 20-minute drive from Jasper.

It is not crowded like Whistler. The feeling is far more mellow and chilled-out.

But with the longest high-speed quad chair in the Canadian Rockies you end up piling up the kilometres on the skis. 

The writer was a guest of Travel Alberta (travelalberta.com) and the Canadian Tourism Commission (canada.travel). 

Go2 

CANADA

- Getting there

Qantas flies from Sydney to Los Angeles, with daily connections to Vancouver with Alaska Airlines. See qantas.com 

- Doing there

Adventure World has winter earlybird packages to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, staying at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge with a three-hour guided Maligne Canyon Ice Walk included from $A299 a person, twin share, for three nights. This special is for all bookings up to August 31 this year, for travel between December 1 and 20. Conditions apply for bookings, call Adventure World on 1300 295 161 or see adventureworld.com.au

For general information on travelling to Jasper National Park, see jasper.travel and for additional information on the Rocky Mountain province of Alberta, see travelalberta.com 

- Staying there

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. To book, go to fairmont.com/jasper

- Doing there

Ice Walk. Tours start at $55. Overland Trekking & Tours. overlandertrekking.com 

Find out more at jasper.travel

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