The Way to Start 2021

There's this guy that if he was not nice and friendly, I would eventually give him a good lesson. He started insisting about going for a hike before Christmas. We eventually decided on the New Year's Day and once while we were talking this Hispanic fella heard and showed his interest. After a week, we finally decided to go as a group of 3, I, him and his brother and no more. That was after one guy said he would join and the next day he excused himself! For me that is it. He would never be in any hike with me and the guy whom I'm calling The Woman(!) here, stopped talking about it after his brother also denied joining! So you see what type of assholes I'm dealing with here! 

At the end it was me and the Hispanic fella and he was the man of his word. We met at the predetermined spot at about 05:30 on New Year's Day and despite the fact that he was late, I hopped in his pick up truck and we headed west. I consider that as a demerit for him but he gets a positive mark(!) at the same time because without his car, we had to rent a vehicle because I would not under any circumstance drive my car on a primary highway in winter unless I have to, despite the fact that I have new Michelin Ice X winter tires! 

I used my telephoto lens to get a shot of these crazy guys who were ice climbing. We stopped to take a few photos from the frozen falls and my Hispanic buddy heard them and spotted them!

The road was not bad until Lake Louise that we stopped for a coffee but it was surprisingly busy. We went to this café, that I has been to before, called Laggan's. It's in Lake Louise Village where you turn to a big parking lot with all the businesses around. We were there at about 08:20 and that's why they were open. These guys have good bakery items, sandwiches and beverages. My original estimate was to be at trailhead, in Jasper National Park at about 09:00 and it was 08:30 and we were in Lake Louise! 

Peanut Butter Brownie, on the left, is good and the price is okay too, as long as you don't buy every day!

We then headed to Highway # 93 north and entered Jasper National Park of Canada and that was when we lost the signals on our phone(!), not that it was an issue, especially because I was following our trip on my GPX Viewer on my phone. We eventually reached our destination, Willcox Pass trailhead around 10:15, almost an hour and 15 minutes later than the scheduled time. We geared up and headed up but only after 1 hour we faced strong wind and deep snow. We wanted to continue despite that but a group, which we had seen their vehicle earlier, told us that we could probably go 100 m. more and that would be it. We only decided to go back when we actually tried and realized that the snow is really deep. It was a bit disappointing but we didn't have any other choice and we headed back. 

We stopped a few times for photography which were all good experiences and by the time I was home it was around 18:00. Highway # 1 on the way back was even busier than the morning but not in a way that had to stop and go.

(Photo, top: Icefield Parkway is considered one of the most scenic rides in the world and it is true)