Instead of skiing today, we decided to go snowshoeing! As you will see from the photos below, the views aren’t great, because it’s rather overcast and snowing heavily.

We set out along the north shore of Lake Louise.

Here we are passing by the little trickle of water coming down from Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes above.

We continued walking down toward the end of the lake.

When we reached the back of the lake, we watched some ice climbers on the cliffs above.

After a bit of a rest, we pushed on toward the Plain of Six Glaciers trail.

Here is Nadine standing below the cliffs above the back of the lake.

We’ve passed this spot many times in the summer, but this is our first time here in the winter.

We continued up the valley, mindful of our surroundings. There are risks of avalanche further along this trail, so we won’t be going too much further.

Here we are crossing a snowbridge over some water feeding Lake Louise.

We paused to take in the beauty of the area, with the sounds of trickling water in the background, as seen in the video below.

Notice the green plants growing in the moving water, even in the winter.

Continuing up the valley…

We pushed on a bit further, but this is about as far as we felt comfortable going, so we’re turning around now.

It’s roughly 3 km back to the Chateau, and the snow seems to be getting heavier and heavier, so we didn’t stop for too many photos on the return. It’s still beautiful out here in the heavy snow, but photography is really hard!

By the time we made it back to the hotel, it was a bit after 5PM, and we were getting hungry. Since we felt we got a fair amount of exercise in today, we felt we deserved a nice dinner. After getting cleaned up, we headed down to the Lakeview Lounge. We really like the lounge, with it’s big bright windows to the grounds in front of the lake, and a center of activity off the main hallway in the hotel. The food is also excellent.

After two consecutive days of skiing, we were going to give our legs a break today. After an early breakfast, we got suited up for a morning of dog sledding. We had booked with Kingmik Dog Sled Tours, who start their trips just down the road from the Chateau Lake Louise.

We booked the Great Divide tour, which basically follows the Great Divide Trail to the Kicking Horse Pass and into British Columbia and Yoho National Park. This trail, once the old Trans-Canada Highway, now serves as a hiking trail in the summer, and in the winter, is set for dog sled pulling and double-trackset cross-country ski tracks.

Arriving at the parking lot at the Great Divide trailhead, we were introduced to our driver and the team of dogs. Nadine and I sat in the sled, while the driver stood behind us. The dogs were all very loud and anxious to get running. Once underway, they seemed to much happier and calmer. Unfortunately, it’s quite overcast today, so the views are a bit dull.

Below is a video, running along the Great Divide trail, shortly after starting our tour.

After crossing into British Columbia, we made a big loop and headed back toward Banff National Park. Here we are passing under the old Great Divide Arch.

After passing through the arch, the driver stopped the team to make a few adjustments, changing the position of a couple of the dogs. Here are Nadine and I with the lead dogs.

On the way back, Nadine and I each got a chance to ride behind (along with the guide) driving the sled.

As we approached Lake Louise, we turned onto a trail through the woods. If the weather had been clear, it would have been stunning with Fairview Mountain in the background, which was barely visible through the cloud.

In the video below, we emerge from the forest into a large clearing (with Fairview Mountain hidden in cloud behind) where you can see another dog team running to our right.

Back at the trailhead, we had a chance to talk with the guide for a while, and learn about what brought him to this profession. In the video below, he let us help him feed the dogs after their run.

Once finished with our sledding activity, we returned to the hotel to get cleaned up. We had reservations to have Afternoon Tea at the Fairview today.

We enjoyed our lunch and had a relaxing afternoon around the hotel. When it came time for dinner, we went down to the Alpine Social again, for a nice casual meal.

After breakfast, we again got suited up for another day on the slopes. Today, however, would have a bit of sunshine! Below is the view we had while we waited to board the shuttle bus to the ski hill.

We made it to the hill, and got in line as we waited for the lifts to open. Once up the first lift, we were greeted by these views at the top of the Glacier Express chair.

We immediately proceeded to the Top of The World chair, to head further up the mountain. Below is the same view across the valley, but from a bit further up.

Just off the chair, you can see the summit of Mount Whitehorn, just a little bit further. To get there, we would have to ski down a bit, to reach the Summit Platter lift, to drag us up to the very top.

We skied around a short traverse and then down toward the final lift.

And here we are at the top!

From here, we can ski down into the back bowls, or back down toward the main lodge on the front side.

Down below is the top of the Top of the World Chair.

We continued our run to the bottom. Here we are approaching the base of the mountain.

After a bit of skiing on the front side, we headed back up and down the bowls on the other side, and around toward the Larch area.

After spending some time skiing on the back, we headed back up the Ptarmigan chair and down the front side.

Because this was Valentine’s Day, I had reservations to take Nadine to her favourite restaurant at the Chateau, the Walliser Stube! Famous for its fondue and other Swiss dishes, the Walliser Stube has an excellent menu. It is located next to the Fairview, with windows overlooking the lake, with beautiful dark wood panelling that looks like an old library. We enjoyed a great meal and then returned to the room for the night.