8 ROCKIES ROAD TRIP
I ’ ve taken this trip before , a couple of times , but it ’ s not on the itinerary today . That ’ s because , this afternoon , we ’ re hiking up the frozen face of the ice field . Any notions that this would be a leisurely little afternoon gambol are disabused the moment I arrive at the toe of the glacier .
I ’ m an indoors kind of guy . I enjoy long afternoons watching football on television . But in quick order , I ’ m outfitted with unmistakably outdoorsy gear . Hiking poles , plural . And crampons . You know , like the ones Edmund Hillary wore , when he ascended Mount Everest .
The ice fields aren ’ t quite as difficult as Everest — on this sunny Alberta afternoon , I did not require any supplemental oxygen . But I do huff and puff as we ascend . “ There ’ s no real trick to walking on the ice — just put one foot in front of the other ,” says my guide , Tim Patterson , a member of the nearby Lower Nicola Indian Band .
He points out geographical and geological features as we make our way up the frozen landscape — domes and moraines and liquid mill wells . Patterson notes that this land was a place of migration , as well as hunting and harvesting , for a number of Indigenous groups , including the Cree , the Blackfoot and the Stoney Nakota . “ Just as geological layers built these mountains , we have cultural layers ,” he observes , explaining that many stories about this area have been passed down through the generations , in both families and communities .
ABOVE : EXPLORING WITH THE JASPER TOUR COMPANY ; BELOW : GLACIER WALKS WITH ZUCMAN GUIDING