Saturday, March 11, 2006
Hello from Banff: Taking The Gondola Up
To Sulphur Mountain and a Last Walk Through The Village
Our skiing had come to an end
and I allocated the last full day in Banff
to explore some more local attractions while my husband headed into
Calgary to do some shopping.
We got going at about 11:30 am and Nigel dropped me off at the foot
of the Banff Gondola.
This historic attraction has been around since 1959 and the gondola
was just recently reconstructed and reopened in 1998 and features
a state-of-the-art gondola system engineered by a Swiss gondola
construction company.
On the parking lot of the gondola you can see a big bus with oversized
wheels called the "Ice Explorer". This is the type of
vehicle used to carry tourists onto the famous Columbia Icefields
located between Lake Louise and Jasper National Park.
The Ice Explorer is on display at the base station
The gondola takes you from 1583 m (5,194 feet) at the base station
to 2,281 m (7,486 feet) to the upper terminal on Sulphur Mountain
in just 8 minutes. On the way up I enjoyed the wonderful view of
the townsite of Banff, looking down at the Banff Springs Hotel.
A wonderful view over the townsite of Banff
At the top of Sulphur Mountain is a complex of visitor services
that includes a restaurant called the Regal View Garden. No doubt
this is a rather appropriate name since the panorama from Sulphur
Mountain is truly something to behold. The summit gondola station
also features a roof-top observation deck that is equipped with
a variety of arrows, indicating directions and distances to major
world cities.
The interpretive boardwalk to Sanson's Peak
The one kilometer interpretive boardwalk takes you over to Sanson’s
Peak which is the location of the 1903 Stone Observatory. Norman
Sanson observed the weather from Sanson’s Peak for every week
for 30 years and recorded his observations. Near the observatory
is the foundation of a designated National Historic Site: the Sulphur
Mountain Cosmic Ray Station that measured cosmic radiation during
the 1950s and 1960s. Along this boardwalk there are a variety of
informative panels informing you about local fauna and flora in
this unique habitat.
The Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station
The gondola brochure points out that you may actually encounter
local wildlife such as Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Golden Mantled
Squirrels, Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles. Although I didn’t
run into any major wildlife, I enjoyed the majestic view from the
mountain and the peacefulness that surrounds it.
Fabulous mountain vistas
I had a little snack in the cafeteria and sat right next to the
picture window and looked down onto the townsite of Banff. It wasn’t
a perfectly clear day and Cascade Mountain’s top was covered
in mist and cloud, but the view from Sulphur Mountain is one of
the most astounding panoramas anywhere.
A look back at the summit station of the gondola on Sulphur Mountain
After my wonderful mountain break, I took the gondola down –
although I was debating whether I should take a snowy forest pathway
all the way down the mountain which I kept seeing from the gondola.
From the base station I walked over to the Banff
Upper Hot Springs. The Canadian Rockies limestone mountains
have all sorts of fissures and hot springs feed geothermally heated
water right up through one of the cracks to the Banff Upper Hot
Springs.
Me all bundled up on the observation deck of the summit station
The springs were discovered in 1894 and contain steaming water
loaded with minerals. Even in the winter people sit in the open-air
pool and enjoy the medicinal waters of the Upper Hot Springs. The
fully restored bathhouse dates back to the 1930s and also provides
day spa facilities offering massage therapy, a steam room, aromatherapy
and other facilities. A restaurant and snack bar are also located
in the Bathhouse.
The Banff Upper Hot Springs have been in operation since 1886
For a minute I was tempted to try the Hot Springs myself, but I
didn’t have a bathing suit with me. Although the retail shop
in the Bathhouse sells bathing suits I decided that rather than
relaxing in the hot water I’d get a bit more exercise and
I started my walk towards town.
Outside bathing in the hot springs in the middle of winter
Instead of taking the main road back to town I took a forest path
that connects the Banff Upper Hot Springs with the Fairmont Banff
Springs Hotel. It was a beautiful peaceful walk through the trees
and it would have been perfect if I hadn’t been wearing the
world’s most slippery boots. I had to watch every step on
the sloping forest terrain to make sure I didn’t wipe out,
and I finally arrived at the bottom of the hill, relieved to be
back on a paved parking lot right next to the Banff Springs Hotel.
Coming out of the forest onto safe terrain
I strolled by this famous Banff landmark into town and crossed
the road to explore the grounds of Canada
Place, the home of the Banff Park administration since 1936.
During the summer Canada Place offers free admission to an exhibit
that celebrates Canada’s land, culture and achievements.
Canada Place
During the winter the facility is closed, but the view from the
surrounding Cascade Gardens towards Cascade Mountain is stunning
on a clear day. I wasn’t so lucky, for our entire week in
Banff we never got to see famous Cascade Mountain completely clear
and free of clouds. But never mind, the glimpses that we did catch
gave us a feeling for this amazingly photogenic natural feature
that is always pictured on Banff postcards.
View towards Cascade Mountain from Canada Place
From Canada Place I crossed the bridge over the Bow River and I
visited another important landmark: the Banff
Park Museum. It is one of Canada’s oldest and grandest
natural history museum, housed in a historic “railway pagoda”,
built in 1903, the largest and most elaborate example of early park
design, using decorative cross-log construction.
The "railway pagoda" of the Banff Park Museum
Specimens inside the museum include mountain goats, deer, cougars,
bisons, bears, a large variety of birds and mammals and some of
these specimens date back to the 1860s. Norman Sanson, the weatherman
on Sanson’s Peak, was the curator of this museum for over
30 years, and personally collected thousands of specimens for this
museum.
Historic specimens in the Banff Park Museum
The museum also holds a library where you can browse through a
variety of books and magazines. After I had informed myself about
Western Canada’s wildlife I strolled down Banff’s main
street, aptly named Banff Avenue, I strengthened myself with a quick
late lunch in the food court at the Cascade Plaza Shops, one of
Banff’s main shopping plazas. After lunch I headed back out
on the street and a very chilly mountain wind had started blowing.
This was my last walk through Banff on this vacation and I was mentally
saying goodbye to this picturesque mountain town.
The Presbyterian Church on Banff Avenue
The famous Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Related Articles:
An overview of our discovery of the
Canadian Rockies
Arrival in Calgary and our
whirlwind tour of the city
Discovering Canada Olympic Park,
one of Calgary's most visited attractions
Our fabulous dinner at Il Giardino's
and a connection with one of Calgary's most successful entrepreneurs
- an Italian-Canadian immigrant success story
Comfort, luxury and our celebrity
breakfast at the Historic Twin Gables B&B
Calgary's Kensington area and a
meeting with a local entrepeneur who went from Vietnamese boat person
to successful restauranteur
Arrival in Banff & exploring
a local landmark: the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Our first skiing experience: perfectly
groomed trails at Norquay
High altitude skiing on the
Continental Divide: Sunshine Village
Exploring Canadian history: the
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Skiing in the largest ski resort in
the Canadian Rockies at Lake Louise
A real adventure: dogsledding in
the Canadian Rockies
A gondola trip to the top of
Sulphur Mountain and discoveries of Banff
Our final walk through downtown
Calgary - discoveries of downtown
An interview with Tourism Calgary:
what to see and do in Calgary
An interview with
Tourism Banff Lake Louise
Useful Websites:
Tourism
Calgary
Tourism
Banff Lake Louise
Canada
Olympic Park
Ski the Big 3:
Banff, Lake Louise and Sunshine
Banff
National Park of Canada
Useful books about Calgary and the Canadian Rockies:
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