Mother Nature’s cathedral

Early morning around the shores of Lake Louise. Photo by David Lansing.

We didn’t arrive at Banff until after 7:30 and by the time we transferred to the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise it was well after 8. There was still some light in the sky and the setting was obviously gorgeous but it wasn’t until the next morning when I got up and put on layers and layers of outdoor clothing (it’s clear but cold up here) and walked out of the hotel that I really got the whole take-your-breath-away view of Lake Louise with the glacial peaks as back drop.

The sky was that deep blue you only get at higher elevations and the air was so crisp that it seemed to burn the tips of my ears and nose. But what really strikes you is the quiet. You stand there trying to take in the vastness of the sky and mountains and the lake which looks dark in the early morning light and mirrors back everything around it: the trees, the glaciers, the mountains, the sky.

It’s a funny thing about a setting like this. Everyone whispers. It was as if we had all just walked into a big European cathedral. You walk slowly and carefully around the edges of the lake, using your inside voice, nodding and pointing at the blue gray glacier at the end of the lake or an osprey floating in the thermals overhead. But you keep your voice down. And there’s nobody running around. Not even the kids.

It’s a setting so magnificent you are just naturally reverent. I took a few photos of a Japanese couple taking photos of themselves in front of the lake, wishing my camera wasn’t so noisy, and then went in for breakfast at the hotel’s brasserie, taking a seat right up against the window so I could continue looking out at the lake as the sun arched up over the mountains. It was like being in Mother Nature’s cathedral.