More glaciers
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Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefield, at the Icefield Center museum where we stayed above the museum
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View from our window in the Icefield Center Glacier View Hotel shows Mt. Andromeda
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Look closely in the center and you will see a icefield vehicle taking visitors out on the Athabasca glacier
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The glacier at dusk. In the 1840s, the glacier reached all the way down to where we stood taking this photo
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The glacier at dawn. In the past, it was as wide the the opening between the mountains and down over the road that now runs by it.
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The Icefield Center
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One of the Ice Explorers - custom made half-million dollar six-wheel drive busses
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View from the glacier of Mts. Athabasca and Andromeda
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Looking up at the Columbia Icefield from the Athabasca Glacier
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As you look in the crevasses, you see the deep blue of glacier ice
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Standing on 1000 feet of ice in the freezing morning air
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ANd the requisite photo in front of an Ice Explorer
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Here you can see the staging area for the Ice Explorers and the mountains on the East side of the glacier.
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The Ice Explorer climbs a steep grade leaving the glacier.
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You notice the grade when you pass another bus
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Support your local glacier
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Now let's put this in perspective. The arrow points to the Icefield Center where we stayed. The field of view from Google covers 20 miles across the frame!
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More mountains
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Some of the rest stops on the icefield parkway were impassable with rented RVs driven by tourists. We watched one take the side off another here while manuevering in a tight space.
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Lake Louise with the classic milky water you see around the glaciers - full of very fine dust.
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The Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise
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This hotel and the one we stayed at in Banff were popular for weddings
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The Banff Springs Hotel we stayed in was built in the late 1800s by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to lure visitors to the Rockies.
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The hotel is big and grand!
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The great hall of theh Banff Springs Hotel
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The big hall was used for several weddings while we stayed there.
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Interesting display of parts of a suit of armor
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Sunrise through the windows in the great hall
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