Jonas to Saskatchewan River Crossing

Waking on the morning of May 23rd, I knew that this was going to be a big day. The objective was to get to Saskatchewan River Crossing, another 81km away, but in between was a pretty rough climb through the Sunwapta Pass, and the Columbia Icefield.

It was about 4C when I headed out from Jonas, joking with some roads construction workers about it being a little 'chilly' ... they just looked at me strangely. This is the Rocky Mountains after all. What did you expect?

The images pretty much tell the story.

It was ridiculous.

But the Sunwapta Pass climb up to the Icefield Skyway Walk was also ridiculous, in a particularly painful way. Lowest gear on the bike, and just grinding away for over 4 km, it was seriously hard work. I finally made it to the top and then rode on to the Icefield Centre, a tourist mecca that was thronged with buses, RVs and people everywhere.

After locking up the bike, I went inside for a LONG rest and an endless Hot Chocolate.

This was the view from the window of the Icefield Centre, though I'm not sure you can get any appreciation of the scale of it all.

Looking at this for a while, I noticed a rather large piece of solid ice just hanging on the side of the mountain. You might be able to pick it to the centre left of this image. It was HUGE, and it appeared to be just hanging there, glued to the rock. I began to wonder what happens when a chunk of ice that big just lets go and rolls down the valley.

The ride DOWN from the Icefield was truly amazing, although I'm not sure that 60+kph on a fully loaded touring bike is particularly 'wise', it was certainly 'fun'.

After a most amazing day, I eventually pulled into the lodge at Saskatchewan River Crossing for a good meal, a decent sleep, and to set up for another big day tomorrow.

After unloading all of my gear into my room, I locked my bike to the railing outside (as you do), and went off to do some laundry. At this stage I had thought it might be a good idea to swap my troublesome - and slightly more worn - rear tyre to the front of the bike where it would get a little less of a hammering. 

Only problem was that my combination bike lock wasn't properly closed and wouldn't open. In my haste to unload my gear I must have not locked it properly, and now it was completely stuck!

After probably an hour of looking at it, pushing, pulling, trying various combinations, I concluded that I would have to cut the cable, somehow. Fortunately my neighbours were road construction workers ... with some serious tools in their truck ... and very keen to dispatch a bike lock.

All done, I wheeled my liberated bike into my room and fell into bed ... big day.