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IT was cold in Jasper last week, with the mercury dropping well below zero and the wind chill taking another dozen degrees off the temperature.
It was so cold the powers closes Marmot Basin for a couple of days, too chilly for skiing with the lack of moisture in the air making it hard to slide over the white stuff, and the landscape was buried in a deep layer of snow.
The little town of Jasper is set right in the middle of Jasper National Park, with is the largest green belt in the Canadian provence of Alberta, with a collection of lakes surrounding the town that provide year-round entertainment for the local outdoor types.
During the warmer months you can hike, kayak or swim - just keep an eye out for the bears, because there's a healthy population in the surrounding mountains - and when its cold and white, like it is now, you can rug up to explore the frozen ponds on a pair of snow shoes.
I went out for a gentle walk today with local Wes Bradford, a former ranger who worked in the Jasper National Park for 37 years before retiring to show tourists around the wilds of Alberta, and we did our touring at the Pyramid Bench behind town.
We wandered from Patricia Lake to Pyramid Lake, through forests of skeletal aspen trees and along tracks covered in more than 30cm of snow, and once we started walking I quickly forgot about the cold and became completely immersed in the peaceful environment.
Wes was a wildlife specialist during his working days - he told me he would disappear into the bush on snowshoes for days to check on the animals - and we stopped several times to look at the old scratches on tree trunks made by bears climbing in search of food.
Looking at the thin pieces of wood I found it hard to imagine a heavy bear could even get off the ground, let alone to the very top of one of these flimsy trees, but Wes assured me they were agile critters and could race to the top without too much trouble.
Note to self, never climb a tree to get away from a bear.
It was so cold the powers closes Marmot Basin for a couple of days, too chilly for skiing with the lack of moisture in the air making it hard to slide over the white stuff, and the landscape was buried in a deep layer of snow.
The little town of Jasper is set right in the middle of Jasper National Park, with is the largest green belt in the Canadian provence of Alberta, with a collection of lakes surrounding the town that provide year-round entertainment for the local outdoor types.
During the warmer months you can hike, kayak or swim - just keep an eye out for the bears, because there's a healthy population in the surrounding mountains - and when its cold and white, like it is now, you can rug up to explore the frozen ponds on a pair of snow shoes.
I went out for a gentle walk today with local Wes Bradford, a former ranger who worked in the Jasper National Park for 37 years before retiring to show tourists around the wilds of Alberta, and we did our touring at the Pyramid Bench behind town.
We wandered from Patricia Lake to Pyramid Lake, through forests of skeletal aspen trees and along tracks covered in more than 30cm of snow, and once we started walking I quickly forgot about the cold and became completely immersed in the peaceful environment.
Wes was a wildlife specialist during his working days - he told me he would disappear into the bush on snowshoes for days to check on the animals - and we stopped several times to look at the old scratches on tree trunks made by bears climbing in search of food.
Looking at the thin pieces of wood I found it hard to imagine a heavy bear could even get off the ground, let alone to the very top of one of these flimsy trees, but Wes assured me they were agile critters and could race to the top without too much trouble.
Note to self, never climb a tree to get away from a bear.