TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
A beautiful morning starting out at the shoreline of Lake Louise:
Daria and Stefan a couple weeks before he turned 1 year old:
This stunning peak which rises up above Lake Louise is Fairview Mountain:
To the right of Fairview Mountain, Haddo Peak and Mount Aberdeen were also visible (two peaks on the left side of picture):
Gary "The Cat" joined us on this hike and helped carry Stefan around the lake:
A nicely maintained pathway wraps around the northern side of Lake Louise:
The face of Mount Lefroy is visible from the lake along with Upper Lefroy Glacier. This picture was taken using a powerful zoom:
Continuing to work our way around the northwestern side of Lake Louise:
This is the western end of Lake Louise, where a series of glacial channels flow into the lake:
Turning away from the lake, the trail now follows the main glacial stream uphill:
There is lots of greenery through this section of the trail:
Mount Aberdeen peak can be seen to the right with Aberdeen Glacier on the left. Aberdeen Glacier is Glacier #1 of the Six Glaciers:
The trail continues to parallel the creek but is now up on the hillside:
This is Upper Lefroy Glacier, which is Glacier #2 of the Six Glaciers:
A huge waterfall can be seen cascading down the side of Mount Lefroy:
From this spot, I was able to get a close-up of Aberdeen Glacier:
As you can see, we had gained some elevation and distance away from Lake Louise:
This view shows the far eastern end of The Plain below Mount Aberdeen:
Zooming in on the edge of The Plain, which is actually a glacier covered by rock and silt:
A view of turquoise blue Lake Louise showing the entire 1.2 mile width:
Gary seen with the rock shelf portion of the trail behind him and a stunning view of Mount Lefroy:
The trail full of hikers passes through this area of boulders and gravel:
At this point, the lake is really far away but almost always visible:
At the bottom of Mount Lefroy is Lower Lefroy Glacier, which is Glacier #3 of the Six Glaciers. As you can see, the glacier is almost fully covered by gravel and silt:
The trail once again passes through a section of forest:
The Lake Louise area chipmunks come out in full force near the tea house:
Gary in front of the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse. Tourists can get drinks and snacks here:
As the trail continues past the tea house, it crosses this side valley filled with boulders. Above the boulder field is Popes Peak and Popes Glacier (Glacier #4 of the Six Glaciers):
The trail continues on for one more mile toward the Abbot Pass Viewpoint:
The Mitre is the rocky peak on the left side of the picture behind and lower than Mount Lefroy:
Passing lots of glacial waterfalls flowing down from Upper Victoria Glacier in the next two pictures:
A panoramic from high up the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail looking back toward Lake Louise (click to enlarge):
Hikers following the trail along a small gravel ridge as it nears the end:
Looking down on the far western end of The Plain and Lower Victoria Glacier (Glacier #5 of the Six Glaciers):
Lower Victoria Glacier has deep crevasses across sections of it:
A waterfall flowing down the sheer face of Mount Victoria:
At the end of the trail, most hikers made a side trip up to the base of this waterfall:
This is the Abbot Pass Viewpoint, which is the end of the official trail. The high peak on the left is the summit of Mount Lefroy:
Close-up of The Death Trap from the viewpoint, named because of the extreme danger to ice climbers who attempt to reach the pass using this route:
The Plain comes to an end here at the base of Mount Victoria:
A picture of Steve at the end of The Plain with Lower Victoria Glacier in the background:
Looking up at some hikers visiting the waterfall. At this point, we turned around and headed back down:
View of Lake Louise from the end of the Abbot Pass Viewpoint and Plain of Six Glaciers Trail:
Two pictures of Upper Victoria Glacier (Glacier #6 of the Six Glaciers):
A picture of the Abbot Pass Hut as seen at the top of The Death Trap:
Steve heading back down the trail, but our hike was not over yet:
To the left of the boulder valley we had crossed earlier, we spotted the secret spur trail which leads to Upper Victoria Glacier:
The trail is disguised so well in the forest that we hadn't spotted it earlier, but we were able to find it after looking around carefully:
The trail is very overgrown in places as can be seen here in this picture of Gary:
Soon we had an even better view than before of The Mitre, Mount Lefroy, and The Plain:
Looking down on The Death Trap from the spur trail:
The trail was very steep for quite some time and also narrow:
We were now gaining quite a bit of elevation over Lake Louise:
We had excellent views of Upper Victoria Glacier and the majestic summit of Mount Victoria at 11,365 feet:
We had our best view yet of Popes Peak and Popes Glacier from this beautiful spot:
It was nice to enjoy some peace and quiet along this trail with no other hikers the entire way up:
Full view of The Death Trap:
After climbing out of the forest, the trail then crosses over a long section of boulders and loose rocks:
Behind Gary in the center is Mount Aberdeen. The summit just to the left of it is Haddo Peak:
Crossing through patches of deep snow on our way to the foot of the glacier:
Most of the time, we followed along this ridge of gravel:
The edge of Upper Victoria Glacier below Mount Victoria was very close now:
Looking back at Popes Peak and the gravel ridge we hiked along:
Gary making his way up the gravel ridge:
Hiking on such a beautiful day, we had a great introduction to the Canadian Rockies:
From our final high point near Upper Victoria Glacier, this was the view of Lake Louise:
This was our view of The Mitre (background peak on the left):
View of 11,230 foot Mount Lefroy:
The best overall view of The Death Trap was from this spot:
Two pictures of the Abbot Pass Hut, which is accessible to hikers by way of scrambling routes from the other side:
And the Upper Victoria Glacier beneath Mount Victoria:
Zooming in on the pretty ice and deep crevasses of Upper Victoria Glacier:
The ice and snowfields at the edge of the glacier:
A picture of Gary taken at the elevation high point of our hike. The ski slopes of Whitehorn Mountain can be seen behind him in the far distance:
Steve with the upper half of Mount Victoria and The Death Trap:
Steve sitting on the edge of Upper Victoria Glacier:
Gary taking in the views high above Lake Louise at our high point:
One final look at Upper Victoria Glacier as only seen from this spot on the spur trail:
Later that afternoon, we returned to the beautiful blue water of Lake Louise:
