Lake Louise Ice Magic Festival

The Ice Magic Festival is a celebration of winter in a country that typically gets a good six months of it. Yes, we like to complain about our weather, but we also take pride in the cold and snow and have a lot of fun in winter as well. I have been to Winterlude, in Ottawa and enjoyed skating on the Rideau Canal and eating beaver tails (pastry), but the Ice Festival at Lake Louise is in my neck of the woods and I had never been! Thankfully, that changed last week when my husband and I and another couple headed to Lake Louise to view the creations. The theme this year at Chateau Lake Louise was Canada-True North, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation. Many of the carvings depicted iconic Canadian animals and First Nations images. They were all very beautiful, and a few did indeed hold a bit of winter magic. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

The hotel clears the ice for skating, but we chose to walk along the frozen edge of the lake, giving us a different perspective of the mountains. After viewing the sculptures, and eating a few nice snacks, our little group went shoe shoeing on trail 18 above the lake, which was sheltered from the wind, making it the perfect choice that day.

Finally, my friend and I were captivated by the little snow caps topping the fence posts. Although we have lots of fence posts at home, they are usually swept bare by the wind, so we loved the little Post Puffs on the drive home.

The view from the hotel…in summer, a beautiful emerald lake.

A majestic moose and his rider – titled The Guardian

Sleigh ride anyone?

The Canada Goose was one of my favourites

Skaters

Along the edge of the frozen lake

Gray Jay

Snow shoeing trail

The post puffs 🙂