The Ice Walk

Well I managed a bit of a lie in, I was up at 7.45, and I am sleeping through the night now so that is good. The main problem was getting out of bed I was quite sore from all that hiking and running yesterday especially my legs and buttocks, I managed to get to breafast in the hotel dining room which was very nice I had the 'healthy starter' of pancakes and maple syrup and coffee I am not really sure whether pancakes are that healthy but I'll take their word for it.
They were really nice though.
I was met at 9.15 in the lobby by a guide from the Jasper Adventure Centre Ltd who gave me some special boots to put on that were not unlike wellies but had a -30 degree lining to keep my feet warm, he also put on cleats (I think thats what he called them) which were to prevent me from slipping on the Ice. We were off to the Maligne Canyon for an Ice walk. We drove about 15 minutes from the Hotel, during which I signed that darn waiver form again.
When we pulled up in the car park we all got out, there were 9 of us in total two families of four and me.... Norman no-mates!
The guide gave us a 10 minute health and safety talk, and off we walked, it was about a 3km walk to the Canyon itself which was'nt too difficult at all and we stopped plenty of times so that people could rest and take photos. During the walk we came across two dear 'oh that must be lunch' I said.
We had to climb down a few little rocks to start our walk into the Canyon. It was explained that the Canyon was formed by an underground water system, and that the ice in places was 14 feet thick. We carefully and slowly walked up the Canyon stopping alot and being told to step only where the guide stepped, we saw people doing some Ice climbing and we also saw a few frozen waterfalls some were only about 5 or 6 feet high but others were 80 feet high. We walked up the Canyon to a place called the Cathederal where the rock had been smoothed by the action of the water that cascaded down the mountain at some considerable force in the summer obviously!
Then we walked back down the Canyon and finally back to the car park, it took three hours but it did'nt really feel like it, the guide was very informative and knew his stuff, I thought he should have been a geography teacher!
We took off our footwear and put our normal shoes on, then it was back to the hotel.
I needed to be quick because I was meeting Helen Kellcher-Empey General Manager of Jasper Tourism & Commerce at the De'd Dog Pub in the town which was a local favourite.
Lunch was great and I even managed to watch Liverpool, my football team, playing AC Milan in the Champions League on the TV in the pub.... what a result!
While in the pub George, the owner asked me if I'd like to ski in the monthly Marmot Basin Ski Race which took place the next day. It was teams of fiver skiers made up of workers in the town as well as ski instructors and ski racers. I was put in a team called the Medical Monday's there were two nurses and a paramedic as well as me and someone else they managed to scrabble to make up the team.
I then walked around the town to see what they had to offer, there were lots of gift shops, ski shops and cafes so after a walk I went back to the hotel for a swim in the outside pool, a sauna and a soak in the hot tub to ease my weary limbs. I then had a quick bite to eat before retiring back to my room for a rest.
I quickly replied to all my e-mails then it was off to bed.