The 15th annual Ice Magic Festival was held last week in Lake Louise and area, with ice carvers from all over the world competing with local talent to create some amazing ice-art. While I did not attend any of the major venues, there are examples all around town and the local area.
More photos and details at the link to the news story above.

My camera was not quite quick enough to get a good shot of this lynx who scooted across the road in front of me recently. Much better photos of lynx can be found in my post from November 6 of last year.But it was not hard to get a shot of this bull elk who only looked up when he had to walk around my vehicle, blocking his progress down the tracks as he searched for food.

Two others were not so lucky, and got hit by trains. Carcasses had to be removed to prevent wolves from being attracted to the rails and perhaps suffering the same fate. Trains move slowly here, so it is surprising that animals get struck. I suspect they are so used to the noise and motion that they do not realize there is a hazard. Maybe a wolf strapped to the front of all trains would do the trick? :)




I got busy this weekend and pulled the batteries out of the 5th wheel. After checking the fluid levels and cleaning all the connections I strapped them into the wheel well area of the truck box, so they can be part of the slide-in's power system. It was almost dark when it was time to load the camper. I decided to go ahead and load under the lights. And I'm glad I did, because the next day was cold and windy with blowing snow and not at all conducive to camper loading.So, the camper is on and pretty much ready to roll next week. But for now I will have to be satisfied with a few days of powder skiing - that is, if we can find any powder?

Estimated departure date: Feb 12th!!