pretty wild day for me.... :: Archived

[JG300-Hoppa]

Hey ya'll,,,,,,I had me a rather exciting day today and figured I would share my adventure with you who may have nothing better to do over the next couple minutes..

My little brother came into town today with his girlfriend and seeing as she is from ontario and never seen the Alberta rockies we would take her for the 3 hour drive to the columbia icefields just west of us for that good ol' mountain experience. I myself have driven past this spot about 30 times in my life but was always on my way back from work up north and growing up in the rockies you take the scenery for granted and really dont pay it much heed,,,and you especially distance yourself from the tourist zones for the most part so as not to look like one yourself.

Today I became a tourist in my own backyard and loved every minute of it, I went for the full tourist experience including the little tour onto the icefield in the mega monster truck buses they use and dont regret it at all, what a blast!!!!!!! and to top it all off we even got to see a major mountain rescue in progress,,,very very cool..........my brother has most of the good pics on his camera as I forgot mine for the bus tour thing so I will post one or two later when he sends them to me but before we left I snapped a couple with my own so I will share them with you. I highly recommend visiting the link I will add to get some better ideas for yourself about the columbia icefield and just how vast and beautiful it is there....anyways,,,,,a couple little pics for now...



pictures just dont say much for true size of the area but me with the athabasca glacier in back.....athabasca glacier is just a glacier tail off the actual icefield,,,better idea if goto link I send





this shows Mt. Athabasca,,,a great mountain for climbers and the rescue we watched happen was some climbers who got nailed by this massive avalanche circled,,,,I dont know the news yet of survivors or anything but to see the rescue effort with your own eyes was something





this was the staging area and was a bustling little area during the whole ordeal,,,,was all over by the time I got this pic,,,the choppers were up and down the mountain with everything from stretchers, people, dogs, equipment hanging below them,,,,,you could see exactly where they were going and you could even see the group on the mountain,,,the flight up was probably 4 minutes,,,,,so it wasnt far away at all






just had to snap this one off,,,,gotta love a helo right above your head,,,





www.columbiaicefield.com/

www.explorejasper.com/...efield.htm

www.brewster.ca/Columb...efield.asp

when I get some better photos I will submit them in this thread,,,my bro got some gooduns for sure....

[Shadow_Bshwackr]

Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery nice Hoppa! Funny you should say you never really took the opportunity to look in your own 'backyard' for the wonder of nature as my wife and I were talking about that very thing this week as we came over a hill and both noticed (at the same time) a really pretty view around our area...lol.

Thanks for the pics and we'll be looking forward to more of those..:wink:

[JG300-Stoopy]

Stunningly beautiful area!

[Sposta]

Now that's what i call the 'High Country'
Thanks for allowing us a peek in your own backyard, Hoppa!
Great pickies

[RAF92_BattleHawk]

that is SO COOL!!!!!!!!........i got to go ther with my mom and brother......very beautiful place indeed........all but two of those Giant busses are there.......(the other two are in the arctic somewhere with the us army).........my dad was sorry he missed that....it was what he was really looking foward to on our cross canada drive.......but with work bomming and the rest of his slackers ..... i mean employees on vacation, sombodys gotta work right ?......anyways....very nice hoppa!!!

[JG300-1Bullet]

YOu lucky son of a gun!! Beautiful area of Texas er I mean Canada

[JG300-Hoppa]

thanks for the replies guys.....and yes......this is a pretty spectacular place indeed......I would say for the travelling soul this should be a must on the destination list.......as I say,,,,I have seen this area many many times and never really truly noticed it until the other day......my next trip there I am going to splurge and spend the 140 bucks for the chopper ride so I can get a better view of whats up beyond the athabasca ice fall,,,,,,,but rest assured hundreds of square miles of ice a thousand feet deep and mountain peaks is sure to be a sight.....and yes bullet.....this part of texas sure is awesome eh!!!!!,,,,but getting a blizzard sweep down on you in July can really suck,,so its a good thing the gift shop has a good supply of jackets for sale......,,,at least they only last a few minutes at a time....
if anyone in com-central ever decides to pay a visit to western canada for any reason.......take a day off your route to see this place,,,,and let me know,,,,,I'll meet you there for a beer and a chopper ride!!!!!!,,,,if any of my buds in JG300 were to make it,,,,Ill foot for the chopper bill...... .....