Canada 2025

Tuesday17September

For this new day in Jasper, we try to reach Marmot Basin, a popular ski resort in the winter season. Alas, the site is closed to access outside the winter season. This summer closure is primarily intended to protect visitors from mountain dangers, in the absence of rescue teams deployed in the area. While this restriction is a standard safety measure, it applies even more following the fires of summer 2024.

Not everything is burned. Some forests were able to escape the flames.

But a year later, everything betrays the devastation that was the result of the devastating fires.

A year later, the Valley of the Five Lakes site also remains inaccessible. We will have to change our program once again.

Same for Mount Edith Cavell  

We switch to plan B, the Jasper Skytram to reach Whistler Mountain. Although the temperatures are mild, the sign indicates that we are on extreme alert for fire risks.

And hop, into the cable car to reach the summit located 1000 meters higher.

If there is one place you must go to have the most beautiful panorama of Jasper National Park, it is here!

Here we are at the top.

On the left, view of Mount Robson, the highest point of the Rockies. On the right, the Bridgland and Derr Peak mountains.

Pyramid Mountain, you can easily guess why it was given this name.  

If we are taken to the summit by cable car, that doesn't mean you shouldn't climb with your feet. There is still a bit of walking to the summit.

A little over 1200 meters to reach the summit.

Ah, our friend the ground squirrel being curious...

The upper station of the Jasper SkyTram was inaugurated in 1964.

Up there, the environment is reduced to a raw mineral expanse. The rocks and scree are in harmony with the mountainous panorama that surrounds us 360 degrees.  

The Athabasca Valley and the river of the same name.

Mount Tekarra stands facing the surrounding peaks. Its flanks are marked by the scars of the 2024 fires.

And here we are, at the 2,464-meter altitude of the Whistlers summit!

Pyramid Mountain.

The valley of the lakes and Mount Robson.

The town of Jasper seen from the sky.

Edith and Annette lakes.

An impressively long freight train snakes through the valleys of Jasper. These endless trains can sometimes stretch for several kilometers.

The campsite where we are! Now you just have to look for a tiny white two-second tent!

Nestled in the heart of the Athabasca Valley, the town of Jasper normally houses about five thousand permanent residents. During high season, this small town sees its population approach thirty thousand people at the height of summer.

The relocation area is composed of numerous mobile units to compensate for the loss of residential housing in 2024.

Back down by the same path as the way up!

After seeing it from above, here we are in our Wapiti campsite, stripped of its pines, letting us see all our neighbors at a single glance.

For our last evening in Jasper, barbecue hot dogs! Tomorrow, we hit the road to leave the Rockies and start the road trip towards the west coast and Vancouver!