MountainSketch

105-3156 – Snow coach, Columbia Icefields

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On this day we took a long drive up to Jasper National Park (seeing three bears – but not Goldilocks – and a deer on the roadside on the way up) to go on the Ice-field Experience where we got to walk on the Athabasca glacier, driven there in huge snow coaches. This vintage yellow snow coach was sketched at lunch and was one of the first used to take tourists onto the glacier. We then went on the Skywalk (a glass floored observation platform) and visited Sunwapta and Athabasca falls.

Wed-11-Jun-2025

105-3155 – Lake Louise

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

I did this sketch after our walk back down from Lake Agnes, I had stiff legs and sat in an awkward position which I don’t think helped me sketch well. And then I thought maybe I have sketched too many lakes in one day? As I was sketching this, the light changed the colour of the water, going from bright turquoise/cobalt green when the sun was shining, to dark viridian/blue green when the sun went in.

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3154 – Lake Agnes

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

After Moraine Lake we drove to Lake Louise and luckily found a parking space. We then walked from Lake Louise up to Lake Agnes, going past Mirror Lake. There were all types of walkers on the trail – some with very serious looking hiking gear, and some out for a stroll and completely unprepared! That day I did 22,000 steps – the hike had easy gentle slopes but it was a long one.

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3153 – Moraine Lake

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

This day we made an early start to get to the Lake Louise Ski Resort where took the shuttle to Moraine lake (they don’t allow private cars any more because it gets so crowded – and yes it was heaving with people). There we climbed up the “rock pile” first, then walked around the lake. I stopped part way going round the lake to sketch this and take in the fantastic view more thoroughly. After this we had (our own packed) lunch in the ski resort…though we did buy a coffee so they wouldn’t throw us out!

Tue-10-Jun-2025

105-3151 – Bow lake

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

The next few posts are going to include sketches of lakes and mountains as for the next part of our holiday in Alberta, we did lots of hikes and walks mostly centred around the beautiful lakes in Banff National Park. If you don’t like sketches of lakes…look away! On our first day in the area we made an early start, loading up the car with tonnes of food for our stay in Canmore. We began with a stop at Bow Lake, where I did this brief sketch…a person passing noted that the trick to sketching in the wind is the clips I use to hold the pages down! We then went on to Peyto Lake, which is a stunning green colour and then drove on to Johnston Canyon for our packed lunch and a hike.

Mon-9-Jun-2025