DAY 2: Abbot Pass to Lake Louise
After a nights rest, better for some than others, we were up early preparing for our days adventure on the glacier. Most of us weren't quite sure what to expect as we'd never traveled on a glacier before. It had snowed about a foot since yesterday afternoon and the sky wasn't looking like what was forecasters had promised.

Getting our things packed and our equipment on.

Mountain men, Brian and Peter, spend a few moments meditating
before heading out the door.

Do I look the part?

Lilibeth and Irene pinned against the wall. Do we really want to go down there?

Peter and Roy all geared up and ready to go.

Roy and Lilibeth putting on their crampons.

The ropes are laid out, finishing touches on the crampons, Irene is ready. and then we're ready to go.

Brian and Bart

Charles and Nancy

Peter and Tim
Where's Robert?

Our last look at the hut, complete with icicles, before heading down.

Here we are roped up and starting our trip down the glacier. Yahoo!

Here's Nancy showing us the graces of traveling on crampons....

....but wait.
What's she doing sitting down?

These crevasses are the reason we're roped together. These are the ones we can actually see but there are more hidden beneath the new snow.

Looking down at the Death Trap. Honestly. That's what they call it.

Spooky

Now we're getting to the exciting part. Albi is in the lead and will set up and anchor point just in front of where he is now. As each person comes up to him he will take them off the rope and attach them to the anchor.

Here's the last of the group making their way to the anchor point.

Roy is approaching....

....and now attached with the others to the anchor point.

Albi and Dave are now setting up a belay station so they can lower us down one by one into the crevasse and pull us over to the other side. It didn't seem like such a big deal while standing at the top but then  we couldn't see where we were going. Or better yet, how far down we were going.

Here you can see part of the crevasse we descended into but certainly not the full depth that it drops down. It was quite the experience to say the least.

Once you were hooked into the belay station, Dave would have you walk backwards to the edge of the crevasse. Then you laid down on your belly and Dave lowered you over the edge. If you were quick (and brave) you could sneak a look down. Way down.
Yikes!

By the time you're actually dangling over the edge and looking down into the depths of the crevasse it certainly takes your breath away.

Lilibeth makes it to the other side to the sounds of Happy Birthday being sung to her.

Roy and Carol happy and excited to be on firm ground.

Peter is now the Main Man as he leads us down through the Death Trap. Apparently there are always chances of ice breaking off the glaciers from the cliffs above and crashing down into the Trap. We moved at a quick pace until we were well clear of any danger.

We were split into two ropes. This is the second crew coming down.

Here's Peter reeling us in as we reach a point that is out of danger of falling ice.

We've reached the end of the snow but there are still many crevasses underneath the rock. Safety is still an issue so we left our crampons on until we were well off the ice.

Lake Louise in the distance. We're getting closer to the tourists!

Lake Louise with the Chateau at the far end of the lake.

Lilibeth and Dave at the tea house.
Two beers please.