ROCKIES ROAD TRIP 7
Five minutes away , right on Wolf Street in the heart of town , very close to Banff ’ s best bars and restaurants and distilleries , I meet visual artist Jason Carter at the Carter-Ryan Gallery . A member of the Little Red River Cree Nation , he tells the stories behind his soapstone sculptures and vibrant , bright landscape paintings . The latter include playful takes , like moose or bear in a bright canoe , floating in a lovely lake below big mountains . He explains that his artistic inspirations range from Norval Morrisseau to Andy Warhol . “ Everything is informed by my life ,” he says . “ This is my own interpretation of the land . My way of taking the land back .”
With my guide Urie smiling and full of stories behind the wheel , we proceed along the jagged spine of the Rockies : Highway 93 North , also known as the Icefields Parkway . Connecting Lake Louise and Jasper , this 232-kilometre stretch has been consistently ranked as one of the best scenic drives in the world .
It ’ s clear why : Every new turn is a revelation . Plunging valleys and white-dusted ridgelines . Hanging snowfields and glacier-fed lakes so aquamarine , they stretch the imagination , and appear , perhaps , painted by someone familiar with the surreal . Salvador Dali , perhaps . Or maybe Jason Carter .
Roughly midway , we make an important stop . The Colombia Icefield is the largest ice field in the Rockies . Covering more than 300 square kilometres , it straddles the Continental Divide , two provinces ( Alberta and British Columbia ), and a couple of national parks ( Banff and Jasper ). It is a triple watershed , with water flowing from here to the Pacific , Atlantic and Arctic Oceans .
But it ’ s actually much more than that . Most of the many thousands of visitors arrive on these frozen grounds by Ice Explorer . These are essentially big buses outfitted with massive , all-terrain tires and other rough-road technology . Arriving on the ice , guests disembark , walk around , take a few photos , then head back to the warm and toasty lodge .
Snow-capped
RISING INTO summits
THE CLOUDS
HIKING WITH GUIDE JOE URIE