Sun and snow by the Athabasca Glacier

(How many days is it to Christmas...?!!)

We woke to a significant covering of snow, which caused a change of plan from our itinerary. However it probably ended up even better than what was planned!

The sun and snow were delightful for photographs, and we kept taking and retaking the same or similar views as the light changed every few moments.

The main blip is a panorama shot taken across the small lake near the hotel. The first extra shows one of the mountain peaks peeping through the clouds; the second extra shows a rather dramatic cloud formation above the foot of the glacier.

The third extra is rather worrying: it shows how far the glacier has retreated in the 26 years since 1992 - particularly relevant to us as that was the year our youngest son was born. Apparently the glacier is shrinking by 5 metres per year, and when you think about how thick it is, that's a lot of ice being lost in a short space of time. Is global warming fake news? - I think not.