Elks sleep on top

After yesterday's late afternoon snowshoe walk I decided to get out earlier today, and go further afield. I visited a couple of hilltops and a lake in the hills behind where we live. Everywhere I walked I saw lots of tracks with Elk (Alces alces) and fox tracks the most common, followed by hare and roe deer. I saw an elk cow, with her calf, loping away from me across the lake but they were too far away for photos.
This blip is taken up near the summit of a hill, surrounded by steep rocks. I thought I may have to take of my snowshoes to get up the steepest section but followed an elk track and just about managed it. Despite the difficulty getting up to the top, there were a lot of elk tracks all over the place, and at least 8 of these sleeping spots on the snow. They are distinctive because the snow under the elk's body has melted slightly in the night and then refrozen. The elk's body, with the legs folded away underneath, forms one patch, closest to the camera. The head forms another patch, furthest from the camera. I've no idea if all those sleeping patches are made by the same two elk returning night after night, or if it's just an ideal spot for elk passing by. They definitely seem to like sleeping on the top of hills, places with a good view. They don't want wolves, lynx or people sneaking up on them.
There are four more pictures from the day on flickr. The first is my picnic spot by the lake, showing the fire and the coffee! Two and three (here and here) are from the top of the hill, and a fourth one showing where an elk has scraped, and eaten bark from an alder and a pine as it passed by.
In Europe this beast has always been known as "elk" but in N America it is "moose". Wikipedia tells me it had disappeared from Great Britain by 900 AD so the British settlers had no idea what it was when they found it on the N American continent.