We hit the road for Calgary on boxing day. The plan was to travel to Jasper, spend the night, then visit Maligne Canyon before continuing on to Calgary.

The morning of December 27 was beautiful in Jasper, after breakfast we went for a little walk in the downtown before heading up to Maligne Canyon. Once we got to the 5th bridge, which is the best spot to access the frozen canyon on the low end, the rapidly running water in the Maligne River told us that heading into the canyon on the river was unlikely, as we are not closely related to Jesus, walking on water was (is) not an option.

A new plan was required. It is only about a 20 minute drive up to Medicine Lake, a favourite spot of mine for winter photography if the light is right. Fortunately the light was amazing so we spent some quality time photographing the Medicine Lake area before moving on the upper end of the Maligne Canyon, which was after all the primary objective.

Late December is a little early to see ice climbers as the best time for that activity is late winter at the end of February and into March, no problem though, it still pretty spectacular.

A quick time check told us we were running out of daylight and needed to get moving towards Calgary. Jasper National Park was not letting us go without one last show however, and we needed a few more stops on Highway 16 to capture the last light of the day on the Rockies.

We did not make Calgary, it simply got too late to be safe, but the CanAlta Hotel in Rimbey was a hospitable, comfortable place to stay one last night on the road.

I’ve included a sample of shots we got in Jasper on December 27, I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Happy Holidays!
Dean.