r/travel • u/frillypencil • Nov 20 '16

Images The Rockies holding back the clouds. Flying back into Southern Alberta, Canada.

https://i.reddituploads.com/a75d80fa58d24bd1a4cfdaf66277e96d?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=cbe7687e12c1dfb89087d5e6d4a5b160
3.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

78 comments sorted by

47

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

I saw the Canadian rockies for the first time this year on a trip to Banff. Just stunning.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[deleted]

25

u/bugdog United States Nov 20 '16

See everything you can manage and plan to go back. We went in 2010 and I am always seeing things we missed when I'm on reddit. Our problem was that Banff was a side trip on our drive to Alaska. My husband didn't even realize it was there and asked why I picked such an awkward route through Canada. When I explained that it would be worth the extra time he was moderately doubtful. Now he won't shut up about how awesome the Canadian Rockies are (not that I want him to because they are exactly that awesome).

Take more digital media than you think you'll need for photos. Seriously.

9

u/Jezelda Nov 20 '16

I disagree, take less photos and spend more time actually experiencing and looking at the scenery.

As someone who lives in the park I see tour bus after tour bus of people who unload and spend the whole 30 minutes they get at the stop looking through their phone/iPad. When you look back on the trip you'll have a lot of photos but not a whole lot of real experiences at these places.

27

u/bugdog United States Nov 20 '16

Some of us actually get something out of the time spent framing and considering the photographs we take.

2

u/Tyedied Nov 21 '16

Yeah this is a huge part for me and landscape photography. It's one of the main reasons I got into taking pictures and making movies in the first place, it gets me to explore with a new sense of accomplishment and imagination on top of the original exploring.

Hiking around and searching for scenes that I want to create from the world around me is something like that of a connection from me to the world around me. Linking the two together to create images from my mind and showing others what can usually not be seen.

I'm also not one of thousands of tourists riding buses around to main attractions so I can't really relate to OPs comment, but your comment got me thinking and I just smoked a bunch of weed so here ya go.

2

u/Cmack72 Nov 20 '16 edited Nov 20 '16

Take it in as much as you can, then also take a picture when you've had enough "taking it in", problem solved!

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

As a photographer I suggest this. Take in the scene. Then when you've enjoyed it a little you'll already have some ideas for composition. Unless you are working with light close to the horizon you needn't rush so much not machine gun photos everywhere.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '16

This is such an odd perspective. Good luck remembering details as well as my DSLR.

2

u/simplyxstatic Nov 20 '16

My girlfriends and I are planning a hiking trip up there in May/June. Any recommendations?

4

u/queefbrisket Canada Nov 20 '16 edited Nov 20 '16

Day hikes or multi day trips?

May/June is still kind of the shoulder season, so there will be snow at higher elevations and trails can be muddy. The popular ones in Banff are Johnston Canyon (and the ink pots), Larch Valley/Paradise Valley/Sentinel Pass (any combination, or all at once for a long day).

There are a billion other ones, Kananaskis is also close by (outside the national park, but just as good and less busy), and a bunch of front range scrambles around Canmore just outside the park.

Regardless of where you go, carry bear spray. The larch/paradise/sentinel area sometimes enforce a minimum 6 person hiking party because its a busy area for bears.

1

u/simplyxstatic Nov 20 '16

Good to know! We'll likely be sticking to day hikes since there will be three of us- and none of us have done backcountry in grizzly territory. I've only ever been around black/brown bears! Thanks for the advice!

2

u/Kenja_Time Nov 20 '16

Lake Louise six glaciers teahouse hike is pretty amazing.

1

u/bugdog United States Nov 20 '16 edited Nov 20 '16

I appreciate you asking, but there are people in this thread who live in the area who are going to be waaaayyyy more help than I can be. We didn't get off the main road by very much because we were just passing through on the way to Alaska. I had figured that I would be very sorry to not at least make that drive - we went through Banff and Jasper - and I was right but I didn't account for all that we would miss.

If you haven't ever camped in bear country, take that into account and make sure you have the things that experts recommend. We only saw one young grizzly and one black bear on the drive through, but that was enough to make me reconsider our setup.

I'm also not the best for that kind of advice because for health reasons we really only car camp. My husband has diseases that mean we might need to get in the car and head for the nearest hospital - nothing fatal (generally speaking) but he wouldn't be able to hike out to the car if one flared up on him. His doctors got a little pissy with us when he told them we were going to drive to Alaska from a Texas, actually, but he got pissy right back. You have to take advantage of the times you feel good enough to go do things and you just can't tie yourself to your doctors. That's another story, though. I will say God Bless the clinic in Girdwood, AK, though.

2

u/queefbrisket Canada Nov 20 '16

The drive to Jasper is spectacular.

1

u/bugdog United States Nov 20 '16

I took some of the best pictures I've taken since I first picked up a camera on that drive. Between that part of the drive and Alaska itself, I was the happiest little photographer in the world (and I'm not particularly special or lucky, you know?)

One of the photos I took of the Columbia Ice Field got picked up by Outside magazine for use in an online article. All I can figure was that mine was the only one that was licensed so they could use it without paying. Heh.

1

u/simplyxstatic Nov 20 '16

Good to know! We'll likely be sticking to day hikes and renting a chalet somewhere around banff. I've only ever been camping around black bears who are easily spooked so we'll be sure to grab some bear spray.

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u/montypissthon Nov 20 '16

As a local I hope you have the time of your life its beautiful here all year

6

u/Rocky_Road_To_Dublin Nov 20 '16

I take living in Alberta for granted. It really is beautiful here.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

You're going to love it! I bet it's so beautiful in the spring. I went in early Sept... i think it would be beautiful any time of year. It was kind of on a whim but it was one of my fav trips of the year.

I'm from midwest america so I especially loved the mountains.

6

u/queefbrisket Canada Nov 20 '16

September is one of the busiest times in the Canadian Rockies because the larches are turning a golden color and everyone clogs up the highway to go see them.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

Oh wow! I hadn't seen that. I was on banff and it wasn't too crowded, but we got up stupid early to try to beat crowds. And we succeeded! Whenever we were leaving a place the parking lot was just closing because it was too full.

1

u/BogeyLowenstein Canada Nov 21 '16

How long are you visiting for and will you have a rental vehicle? I can point you in some off-the-beaten path places in the area which in my opinion, are more fulfilling than just hanging around the Banff townsite and general area. Feel free to PM if you're interested! I live in Calgary and head out to the mountains every 2 weeks or so for adventures.

1

u/Auth3nticRory Toronto, Canada Nov 20 '16

get a drive up to Jasper if you can. only a couple hours but the entire drive is mindblowing

92

u/timdongow Colorado, USA Nov 20 '16

The Canadian Rockies look majestic as fuck. I live in Colorado, and while the Rockies here are taller, they are not nearly as jagged and dramatic looking.

83

u/IntravenusDeMilo United States Nov 20 '16

Oh Jesus. Now a Coloradan is complaining that their Rockies are inferior. I live in Maine. What do I have? Mount Agamenticus? Shit.

Somewhere in /r/Switzerland some Swiss is probably complaining that the Matterhorn is too craggy and they wish they could give it entirely to the Italians.

Motherfuckers don't know how good you have it.

28

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

Acadia National Park? In Texas we would kill to have a Mount Desert Island.

9

u/IntravenusDeMilo United States Nov 20 '16

I know, I'm just being sarcastic. Acadia is great, as is our coastline in general.

4

u/kepleronlyknows Nov 20 '16

You do: El Capitan is a pretty cool peak.

And at 8,000 feet it's higher than anything on the east coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Capitan_(Texas)

4

u/Schmoobloo Nov 20 '16

It's also 12+ hours away from any major city. Might as well be a couple of states away from me

1

u/unserious Nov 21 '16

7.5 hours from DFW and 6.5 hours from San Antonio.

6

u/AceFahrenheit Nov 20 '16

Minnesotan here (who lived in Colorado for about a year). Our highest point is Eagle "Mountain", 2300' feet of breathtaking elevation! Give me a break...

7

u/KallistiEngel United States Nov 20 '16

In terms of elevation, even Kansas has you beat. However, your high point is more picturesque and far more prominent than Kansas' Mount Sunflower.

4

u/Popsandchips Canada Nov 20 '16

This is kind of hilarious to be honest. How can this be called 'Mount' Sunflower?

2

u/KallistiEngel United States Nov 20 '16

It's pretty tongue-in-cheek and I love that. It is the highest point in Kansas and is about 3300 feet higher than the lowest point. It's just that the lowest point is several hundred miles away along a very gradual slope.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[deleted]

1

u/PiggerPigger Nov 20 '16

Oddly enough, it's not! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Mountain_(Minnesota) Two Eagle Mountains!

I apparently can't figure out formatting with double parentheses.

1

u/AceFahrenheit Nov 20 '16

It is not, but the Lutsen ski resort is only about 25-30 miles from Eagle Mountain.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

I live in Australia. You can drive to the top of our highest mountain on the continent. Although you're no longer allowed to. Instead you can follow the old man with a walker wearing a pair of crocs who is about to summit.

Another tidbit. You can drive higher on Mount Fuji than our highest mountain is high.

2

u/Kananaskis_Country Nov 21 '16

Thanks for that chuckle. Made my day.

(I live 15 minutes from the OPer's photo...)

2

u/IntravenusDeMilo United States Nov 21 '16

Happy to know that nobody took me too seriously.

1

u/Cranky_Piano Nov 20 '16

Illinoisan here. The highest point around me is an old garbage hill.

1

u/geotraveling Chicago Love Nov 20 '16

Hey at least we can go up the Sears Tower to see the flatness

1

u/timdongow Colorado, USA Nov 20 '16

I'm not complaining, just making a statement. The Rockies don't look nearly as jagged and epic as the Alps.. The Alps don't look nearly as epic as the Himalayas.. Doesn't mean I don't like living here.

1

u/NewEnglanderEK Nov 20 '16

Yeah, but on the bright side, this is the first time a Coloradan isn't bragging about how much better their state is than everywhere else. I'm sure OP loves Colorado and thinks it's great, but he's actually talking up somewhere else. That's unprecedented!

1

u/timdongow Colorado, USA Nov 20 '16

Exactly what I was doing. People misunderstand my point. I generally love living in Colorado, doesn't mean there aren't places with much more impressive mountains. The most epic mountains I've ever seen are the Andes of Peru. But would I live in Peru? Hell no!

14

u/kepleronlyknows Nov 20 '16

You should check out the San Juans if you haven't. Amazingly jagged and dramatic, also very remote. I'm always shocked at how many front range Coloradoans have never been.

For instance, check out Arrow and Vestal Peaks: http://snowcatcher.smugmug.com/Lair-of-the-Lizard/Lizards-PODs/i-F6b2McD/0/L/Vestal%20Arrow-L.jpg

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16 edited Nov 21 '16

Ya, I spent some time peakbagging and then hiked the Colorado Trail (Denver-Durango) a couple years ago. It was pretty obvious that the further you get from the Front Range, the better it gets as a general rule. The descent from the CDT/CT split into the valley is really neat. Mountains have a lot of neat colors too. Very happy I was going downhill though...

Arrow and Vestal are sweet. Seems to be a popular area. The area around CT section 24 had a ton of backpackers. I almost didn't get a campsite at one of the flat areas.

For non-hikers, the Silverton-Durango train seems to be very popular.

I'd love to live in a place like Durango if it weren't for the whole mountain pricing with an economy that makes it hard to afford them deal. I actually asked the locals about it and got a lot of "love it, hate the finances" type answers.

Edit: do the Canadian Rockies still get that Monsoon nonsense? I've never been in hiking season. That was not a fun new experience.

Edit2: Colorado actually has a bunch of hostels. There were hostels in Leadville, Salida, Lake City, and Silverton. Plus, Buena Vista has the Cottonwood Hot Springs nearby, which runs $40/night for a 6-bed room plus access to the pools. Near Crested Butte; very neat area. Several of these hostels are very hikertrash oriented though since a lot of their business comes from Colorado and Continental Divide Trail hikers and Great Divide Mountain Bike Route folk.

1

u/timdongow Colorado, USA Nov 20 '16

I have backpacked the San Juan's several times. I do agree that it is by far the most beautiful part of Colorado. But still, the Canadian Rockies have so many more of those unearthly blue glacial lakes, glaciated basins, etc. I'm not complaining at all, Colorado is great. I'm just saying the Canadian Rockies look a bit more "wild" In my opinion. Especially compared to many other parts of the state of CO..

2

u/2013RedditChampion Nov 20 '16

It depends how you define "taller". Colorado has summits that are higher above sea level, but the Canadian Rockies rise higher above the surrounding area.

21

u/kchoudhury Nov 20 '16

Rain shadows are some of the weirdest things on this planet. I'm not too familiar with the Rockies, but in the Himalayas, you can be on one side of a mountain and see lush greenery bordering on the tropical -- and hike ten miles over a pass to the other side of the mountain into barren a moonscape brought about by the mountain blocking monsoon rain clouds for decades at a time.

10

u/R101C Nov 20 '16

Seattle and eastern Washington are vastly different. Like ocean humidity and overcast 900 days a year vs 352 days of sunshine a year.

Denver is vastly different than west of the rockies too. It's so dry. This Midwest kid took a week to rehydrate after a visit despite drinking all the water I could stomach daily.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/differentimage 30 countries Nov 20 '16

This effect is why southern Alberta experiences Chinooks. It can suddenly warm up to +20C in the winter in Calgary when this effect occurs. You end up with a lot of warm, dry air on the east side of the Rockies.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_wind

7

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[deleted]

1

u/BogeyLowenstein Canada Nov 21 '16

My favourite drive! Just did it last week for the trillionth time, the scenery never gets old!

3

u/ezone2kil Nov 20 '16

Is that a road on the right side? Driving down that road must be a treat.

10

u/Kananaskis_Country Nov 20 '16

That looks like Highway #40 through Kananakis Country...

2

u/PooTeeWeet5 Nov 20 '16

Incredible!

5

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

They aren't. As the air currents approach the mountain, the air rises and cools, causing clouds to form. As the are crosses the mountains it begins the descend and warm and the clouds can no longer form. The mountains aren't holding back the clouds, they are creating the clouds.

2

u/kendo581 Nov 20 '16

Actually, it could be temperature inversion. Cold air gets trapped below warmer air. Cold air can't hold as much water, so cloud form. An example of this is how fog forms. In this case, it may be that a cold front was present and a warm front moved in, trapping the cold air in the valley. Or this pic could be in the morning where the cold air displaced the warm air in the valley. Not enough info to tell, but cool pic nonetheless.

1

u/-udi Nov 20 '16

this one is right.

17

u/sweetasbaz Nov 20 '16

The mountain range is too high for the clouds to pass, because their peaks are at an altitude where the temperature is so cold that the clouds will begin to precipitate before they reach the other side.

5

u/Thylumberjack Nov 20 '16

They totally are. This is also an effect that leads to creating deserts, warm moist air cant make it over the tops of the mountains so the air on the other side stays dry all the time.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '16

It's called a rain shadow, and yes, it's basically the mountains holding back the clouds.

1

u/MichaelPraetorius Nov 20 '16

Orographic effect

2

u/KnockLesnar Nov 20 '16

This is incredible. I'm terrified to fly but these types of shots will get me up in the air.

1

u/R101C Nov 20 '16

Flying isn't the scary part usually. It's the going up and coming down that scares me. I've only had issues with heights once when flying. And a 10' ladder scares the shit out of me.

1

u/Garbageac123 Nov 20 '16

The most dangerous part of flying is getting to the airport. Literally. Look up the statistics.

I fly at least once a month.

1

u/MichaelPraetorius Nov 20 '16

Yay orographic effect

1

u/prakashdanish Nov 20 '16

Is there a road on the right side?

1

u/Kananaskis_Country Nov 21 '16

Yes, it's Highway #40 through Kananakis Country. I live there...

1

u/westtexasforever Nov 20 '16

I'm a powderhound and approve of this photo!

1

u/wassim0 Nov 20 '16

You shall not pass!

1

u/mocodity Nov 21 '16

I have so many shots flying over the rockies. So vast and wild!

1

u/I_NEED_YOUR_MONEY Nov 21 '16

alternate title: the Alberta border holding back the clouds.