Ice Magic at Lake Louise

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What: Ice Magic Festival

Where: Lake Louise, Banff National Park



It had been 6 months since we visited Lake Louise. We had stopped on our way back home from previous trips, I think.

Ice Magic Festival brings carvers from around the globe(mostly from USA & Canada, sometimes as far as Russia) to Lake Louise. They have 34 hours to create a 7ft wonder with 36 blocks of Ice.

The weather is always the trick while visiting Rockies in Winter. Specially, at Lake Louise, the weather is specially favourable for the Victoria Glacier. Prediction of -10C gave me the chills. But we had decided to go, no matter what.

G was a little apprehensive about parking. But we reached the Lake at around 10am. There was parking still available at the Lake. Also, this year, the festival is spread over 1 week & 2 weekends. Family/lid activities are planned over the next weekend. So, now, it was only people who were interested in the Ice Sculptures(& snow shoeing & ice climbing & cross country skiing).



With the Lake completely covered in deep ice & snow, I looked over to see the glacier. We had a short visibility within which I had a glance.



We planned to walk the Lake to the end before visiting the ice sculptures. But S turned left at the skating rink on the Lake. They had an ice fort with Ice tables. Also saw a zomboni-like giant levelling the ice.



Soon, we started walking and it felt unusually warm. Between my 3 layers and toe warmers, I felt toasty. We decided to turn back half way and S wanted a quick bite.



2 hrs later, we were ready for the carvers and their sculptures. 😊 By then they were closing down the competition at 2pm. The prize distribution was announced at 4pm. But we had no plans.

S was still not interested in the sculptures as much as the natural snow. So, as usual we took turns. The theme was "Play with words" where words come to play. It was interestingly creative & some of them made me think more than once to decipher.

By then, S had eaten some snow, threw a lot more on her face & way more on mine. So we called it a day.😊

A whole day of activity and this girl does not sleep until 8pm. Nope. Not a moment on the drive back.



Psss: The weather was actually only -4C and with 3 layers it was pretty warm. All good.



~travelbuffs

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” ― Carl Reiner

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