MT Sobek Canadian Rockies Adventure Travel Webinar

From wildflower-strewn alpine trails to snow-blanketed forests, the Canadian Rockies offer year-round adventure in one of the world’s most breathtaking wilderness regions. Whether you’re dreaming of summer hikes around glacier-fed lakes or winter treks past frozen waterfalls, MT Sobek crafts unforgettable journeys that capture the soul of Banff, Jasper, and beyond. Join MT Sobek’s Canadian Rockies experts, Justin Wood and Etienne Labelle, for an inspiring look at how to experience this iconic destination. Learn about our small-group adventures and what makes travel here so incredibly rewarding.

MT Sobek Canadian Rockies Adventure Webinar Transcript

Welcome to the Canadian Rockies

Josh Kloepping: Welcome to Mountain Travel Sobek’s webinar on the Canadian Rockies. We’ll give everyone a moment to settle in before we begin. Thank you all for joining us today to learn how to experience the Canadian Rockies with Mountain Travel Sobek. We are incredibly fortunate to be joined by Etienne Labelle, a fantastic expert on the Canadian Rockies, a place he calls home. Etienne, please introduce yourself. Tell us a little about how you started guiding here and, most importantly, what you love about being a guide in the Canadian Rockies.

Etienne Labelle: Thank you, Josh, and thanks everyone for being here this morning. I’m super excited to talk about the trips we have in the Canadian Rockies with MT Sobek this summer. I grew up in Quebec, near Montreal, and have been living near Banff since 2012, so almost 13 years now. This summer marks my 10th season guiding in the Rockies. I started after meeting friends who worked at a remote backcountry lodge. One friend was a cycling guide on the road connecting Jasper to Banff, and I thought, “Man, that sounds amazing!” To be out there every day biking and hiking with people. So I started 10 years ago and transitioned to mostly guiding hiking trips around Banff and Lake Louise.

I’m still guiding because I don’t think there’s a better job around here. There’s a special aspect to being out in nature every day with people who want to be there. This is one of the most beautiful and visually impressive locations in North America. Sharing those small moments, like coming around a corner and seeing views like this one of Peyto Lake, there’s nothing that compares to it. I was hiking by myself two days ago and missed having groups. I’m really excited to kick off the season in a couple of weeks.

Josh Kloepping: This photo is beautiful. Is this Peyto Lake?

Etienne Labelle: Yes, that’s Peyto Lake. It’s the highest point on the Icefield Parkway, where I started guiding. About a 40-minute drive from Lake Louise and is the headwater of the Wapta Icefield. It’s one of the locations we’ll visit on our summer trip.

Exploring the Canadian Rockies: Location and Appeal

Josh Kloepping: Fantastic. Speaking of locations, where exactly are the Canadian Rockies in Canada, and what’s the best way to get there?

Etienne Labelle: The Canadian Rockies are located along the Continental Divide between Alberta and British Columbia. The easiest way to get here is to fly into Calgary International Airport, from where shuttle services will take you directly to Banff—about an hour and a half drive. Once in Banff, the adventure begins!

Most of our trips are centered around Banff National Park, though some extend up to Jasper. Together, the national parks cover roughly 7,800 square miles of true wilderness. If you’re looking for pristine locations, abundant wildlife, and genuine wilderness, the Canadian Rockies are unparalleled.

Josh Kloepping: Incredible, beautiful images here. What makes the Canadian Rockies so special, and why are people drawn to this area?

Etienne Labelle: When I think of the Rockies, especially these national parks, I think of untouched wilderness. Parks Canada, the governing body, has done an amazing job preserving the ecosystem and ecological integrity. Wherever we visit, you’ll see minimal to no alteration of the landscape. We prioritize minimizing our footprint. This focus on preservation, combined with the stunning mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers, creates an unparalleled experience in North America. The access is easy, and what you experience here is like nowhere else. The trails, everything—it’s truly amazing.

Josh Kloepping: Four national parks in a condensed area is pretty special.

What Makes MT Sobek Trips Unique?

Josh Kloepping: What makes Mountain Travel Sobek trips truly unique among all the options out there?

Etienne Labelle: We offer two summer trips—one lodge-based and one camping-based—and a winter snowshoe trip. What sets us apart is how we’ve laid out our trips. In a week, we aim to visit some of the most famous and iconic landscapes while also taking you to less-traveled places.

A big differentiator is that all our trips are base camp style. This means you don’t have to pack your bags every night and move to a different location. You can truly settle in, unpack, and immerse yourself. Whether you’re staying at the same hotel on the lodge-based trip or at the same campground on the camping trip, you don’t have to pack your tent daily. This makes for a more seamless experience and maximizes our time on the trails because we avoid daily transfers, which I think truly sets us apart.

Josh Kloepping: That’s a great point. You get to unpack, get comfortable, make it your home away from home, and truly immerse yourself in the surrounding environment. I love it. Let’s check out more of these trips in detail. This is a stunning photo. Where is this?

Etienne Labelle: That is Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park.

Lodge-Based Summer Trip: Highlights

Josh Kloepping: Beautiful. Let’s dive deeper into the lodge-based trip. What are the highlights of this trip, and who is it ideal for?

Etienne Labelle: This lodge-based trip is centered out of one hotel in Banff. As Josh mentioned, the ability to unpack is ideal for those seeking more comfort. You’ll visit three different national parks: Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho.

Personally, one of the trip highlights is the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, which we do on day three. It’s a spectacular trail that starts at the Takakkaw Falls trailhead—Canada’s second-largest waterfall. So you’ll see unique mountain aspects and beautiful scenery. Throughout the week, we’ll discover different corners of the national parks, stopping at iconic locations like Peyto Lake and Lake Louise. We also sometimes see mountain goats on high mountain passes.

Being based in Banff, you’ll experience this historic mountain town, the birthplace of our National Park, founded in 1885 solely for tourism. The main avenue is perfectly framed by Cascade Mountain. Throughout the week, we explore various areas: hiking in the Helen Lake area on the Icefield Parkway, where wildflowers carpet the meadows in summer, and visiting Moraine Lake and Eiffel Lake, which is my favorite hike in the Rockies. We’ll also explore Kootenay National Park, like the Stanley Glacier area, where towering peaks and tumbling glaciers are incredibly impressive.

A unique aspect of this trip is the final dinner on top of Sulphur Mountain. We take the gondola up to a restaurant with ten-foot windows overlooking the entire Bow Valley, from Banff to Lake Louise. It’s a truly unique and impressive experience. The trip runs from June through September. In June, you’ll see residual snow on the peaks, offering dramatic mountain views. July and August bring beautiful, warmer summer months. September transitions into fall, offering stunning golden larch trees.

Josh Kloepping: This trip sounds great for active hikers who want incredible scenery, dramatic landscapes, and wildlife, but also prefer the comfort of returning to a hotel each evening. They can unpack, refresh, explore historic Banff in the evening, and then embark on a new adventure the next day.

Etienne Labelle: Yes, absolutely.

Camping-Based Summer Trip: An Immersive Outdoor Experience

Josh Kloepping: Oh, that sounds fabulous. Here are a few photos from that trip. Are these the larch trees you’re talking about down here in the corner?

Etienne Labelle: Yes, those are larch trees in the Moraine Lake area. The peaks in the background are part of the Ten Peaks. When you get that transition in September, sometimes with fresh snow on the mountaintops at night, these trees turn gold, making for dramatic photography. The sun’s lower angle in September also creates amazing lighting for photos. The top-left photo is near Moraine Lake, showing Lake Annette and Mount Temple. The photo on the right is in Kootenay National Park.

Josh Kloepping: Wow, tell me a little more about these larch trees. I’m intrigued. You come to this lake in the summer and you think these are just all evergreen conifer trees, but here we’re seeing that they’re changing color. They’re dropping their needles, is that correct?

Etienne Labelle: Correct. The larch is a conifer for most of the year, then turns deciduous as fall arrives. The needles turn gold and then fall, creating carpets of golden needles on the ground. The larch season is short-lived, so our September trip is timed perfectly to see this kind of landscape. It’s a one-of-a-kind natural event.

Josh Kloepping: And I learned something today!

Etienne Labelle: Definitely.

Josh Kloepping: Alright, let’s take a look at this second summer trip. A lot of the same trails, but this time we’re camping. What’s truly unique about this trip?

Etienne Labelle: What’s unique is the camping aspect. The first night is at a hotel in Banff, allowing you to settle in and explore the town. Then, we move to the Lake Louise Campground for four nights. Being based in Lake Louise offers quicker access to the great hiking this area provides. Lake Louise is known as the hiking capital of Canada, with over 300 kilometers of trails surrounding it. Having this as a base camp gives us more freedom.

The main difference from the lodge-based trip is that we visit Jasper National Park. Remember the photo of the meadow with the huge peak? That’s a trail we do on this trip because it’s more accessible from our base. Another amazing aspect is the mix of activities. One day, we’ll hike near Lake Louise, and then in the afternoon, we go rafting on the Kicking Horse River. If you’ve never been whitewater rafting, it’s exciting and amazing! We use a well-run operation, and our guides give commands. There are sections where you can walk if you’re not comfortable with the rapids, but on a hot summer day, it’s incredible to be in the river. You return to the campground at night, always outside in the mountains. The campground has limited reception, so it’s a bit of a digital detox, perfect if you want to get away from your phone and work.

Josh Kloepping: That’s great. So, if I understood correctly, this trip is unique because it visits all four national parks, offers a taste of Banff’s nightlife on the first night, and then immerses us in the outdoor experience by staying at the Lake Louise campground each evening after incredible daily hikes.

Etienne Labelle: Yes, absolutely.

Josh Kloepping: That sounds fabulous. Can you tell me a little bit more about the camp setup and what should a guest expect on the camping portion of this trip?

Etienne Labelle: Absolutely. When guests arrive at the campground, the camp is already set up by the guides. We go the night before and pitch all the tents. We have five sites: four for guest tents only, and one “base camp” site with multiple picnic tables covered by tarps for shade or rain. There’s a fire pit (if no fire ban is in effect), and chairs around it for cooking. All you need to bring is a sleeping bag and a pillow.

The campground in Lake Louise is unique because it’s in prime grizzly bear country, but Parks Canada has done an amazing job building an electric fence around our sites to keep bears away. We’re not roughing it; it’s more like glamping. We have showers, flushing toilets, running water, and power outlets to charge your phone. On your way to the shower, you might pass meadows where we’ve seen grizzly bear mothers with cubs. It’s right along the river, and there’s a creek if you want to cool off after a hot day. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the village of Lake Louise, which has essentials like a sports store, liquor store, and a market if you need anything.

Josh Kloepping: A fully set up camp, hot showers, flushing toilets. You mentioned the guides cook all the meals. What sort of meals can we expect to eat?

Etienne Labelle: Yes, absolutely! I forgot to mention the cooking by the guides. We have a trailer with all our cooking equipment. The guides make meals from scratch or prep them ahead of time at our office. For example, after this webinar, I’m prepping spaghetti sauce my grandma used to make!

In the morning, we have three picnic tables filled with food every day, so you can make your own lunch. Breakfast includes anything from traditional scrambled eggs and hash browns to French toast made with croissants. After hikes, there’s always a post-hike snack, like nachos on the BBQ or a cheese board, followed by dinner. Dinners are high in protein and nutritious: pasta, Greek chicken or veggie skewers with fresh Greek salads, or lemongrass chicken or tofu with rice and vegetables to keep it light but nourishing after a big hiking day.

The final night on that trip is at the historic train station in Lake Louise, which is a restaurant and a museum. It’s a nice change from the campsite before we return to camp and wake up for a final hike.

Josh Kloepping: That sounds fabulous, and now we’re all hungry after hearing that menu rundown!

Etienne Labelle: I’m hungry too!

Iconic Landscapes of the Summer Camping Trip

Josh Kloepping: What are we looking at here?

Etienne Labelle: Absolutely. The far-left photo is in the Moraine Lake area. That’s a hike we do on both trips because it’s probably the most spectacular and visually striking hike we have near Lake Louise. It’s called Eiffel Lake. That’s the way back from the lake where we’ll have lunch, offering views of the Wenkchemna Glacier tumbling towards the lake.

The top-right photo is a picture of Lake Louise at the bottom. It’s hard to tell, but there are two other lakes you can see in the forest: Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes. That’s the circuit we’ll do the morning of the rafting day. The bottom-right photo is on Wilcox Pass. That trail is unique because it starts at a high elevation, about 6,600 feet from sea level, with very little forest. Most of the trail, about 90%, is alpine, with no trees, just rolling hills with glacier views surrounding you. It’s dramatically striking.

Josh Kloepping: Absolutely. These photos are stunning. Is that truly the color of Lake Louise?

Etienne Labelle: Yes, yes. The lakes change colors slightly as the season progresses. The guides will explain why they have different colors. Right now, because it’s the big snowmelt, there’s so much sediment coming into the water that pastel blue color is true. I was there two days ago, just making sure the lake was still there and the trails were still accessible for some personal hiking. And yes, that’s exactly what it looks like.

Before we move further, Josh, I just wanted to mention two things that I think are really important for that trip. The Rockies, being fairly high elevation up north, we need to keep in mind the light. Especially at this time of year, it doesn’t get dark until 11 PM. So, in past years, we’ve recommended guests bring an eye mask. Otherwise, it’s really hard to go to sleep at night. Also, a warm sleeping bag is essential. Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean it’s not cold. Nights can be a little cooler, especially in the tent, so having those two things with you will really make a difference.

Josh Kloepping: That’s great. And all those items are covered in the detailed packing list that guests receive prior to the trip, correct?

Etienne Labelle: Yes, absolutely.

Canadian Rockies Winter Adventure: A Unique Escape

Josh Kloepping: Oh, fabulous. Alright, this one sounds truly unique to me. I’m anxious to learn more about the Canadian Rockies winter adventure. Other than the obvious of this happening in the winter, what really makes this trip stand out, and who is this trip ideal for?

Etienne Labelle: This trip is ideal for people who want a winter adventure and want to experience the snow. It’s great for those not used to winter, if you’re coming from a warm climate and want to dip your toes without committing to a ski vacation, this trip is perfect. If you’ve never experienced snowshoeing or winter hikes, this is definitely the trip for you.

What I really like about this trip is it’s a full six days based out of Banff, with out-and-back hikes throughout the week. Banff is very popular, with over 4 million visitors annually, mostly in summer. Parks Canada estimates that only about 8% of visitors leave paved areas. So, while Banff can be busy, the number of people on the trails is very small, and in winter, you see even fewer people. On this past winter’s trip, it was common to see maybe only one other pair of hikers on the trail on any given day. So it truly offers a different aspect of the park. It’s ideal for those seeking a magical winter wonderland. The park transforms; it slows down. I love winter, that’s part of why I live in the Rockies. We have long winters, and you see something different each month from January to April.

Josh Kloepping: If you’ve never done snowshoeing or a winter trip like this, what should you be aware of? How do you plan for this trip, and what do you need to pack?

Etienne Labelle: For that trip, like all trips, it’s really important to follow the packing list we provide. We put a lot of thought into those lists. Winter is even more important because you’ll be exposed to different types of weather, whether it’s cold or windy. So definitely bring warm layers—lots of them. That’s the most important thing because you can adjust to stay comfortable throughout the day. Warm boots are also crucial since you’ll be outside for hours, and we don’t always have the flexibility to return to the van right away. If you’re from a warm climate and can’t easily buy these items, you can always shop in Banff, which has many stores that can help you find all the necessary equipment before your trip.

Just be prepared for an adventure outside in the winter. We’ll supply you with the snowshoes and show you how to use them. It’s not difficult. We don’t do snowshoeing in crazy deep powder, and if we do, the guides will break the trail for you so it’s not excruciating work. We’ll provide the equipment, show you how to use your poles to your advantage, and just get ready for awesome days. It’s probably one of my favorite trips because of the winter aspect.

Josh Kloepping: Those dramatic scenes, the contrast of colors with the blue skies and the snow, but I think most importantly to me, the no crowds, just truly being able to embrace nature. And great to know I don’t need my own snowshoes! You’ll provide those and have them there for us.

Etienne Labelle: Yes. Equipment we provide includes snowshoes, ice cleats (for days when we’re not snowshoeing but need grip on ice), and poles for extra comfort and balance. We’ll also supply hand and toe warmers every day.

We’ll meet you in the morning at the hotel lobby and hand you your lunch. Lunches on that trip are all homemade by the guides, including sandwiches and hot soup in individual thermoses (different vegan soups each day) to keep you warm on the trail. So, having a larger backpack (20 liters or more) is necessary to fit all your equipment. Honestly, there’s nothing quite like this trip in Banff right now. No one else is seeing what we’re seeing. And judging from what we’ve heard from previous winter guests, it’s a spectacular and amazing trip.

Josh Kloepping: I mean, just the thought of sitting in these locations and enjoying a homemade cup of soup is amazing.

Etienne Labelle: Yeah. If you look at those photos, we can talk about when the trip runs. For instance, the photo on the far left, taken at Sherbrooke Lake, was from a New Year’s trip. You can see the trees are caked with snow. So early in the season, like December, January, and February, you’re most likely to get a lot of snowy days. You’ll also get days where you’ll see the mountains. We don’t get a ton of snow falling in the Rockies, but we do get some. I remember trips where I’d return to the van, and there would be four and a half feet of snow on it—it just creates such a different aspect.

If you decide to come later in the season, towards warmer weather or spring, like the top photo from our April trip this year, you can expect longer days and more sunshine. But that doesn’t mean winter won’t happen again. Those trips sometimes are more prone to what I call “four seasons in one day.” You can be caught in a blizzard, then perfectly sunny, then it might start to snow a little bit. So it’s truly an adventure as the week progresses. Along the way, we’ll stop at sights that sometimes get overlooked by others. For instance, the one at the bottom there, that’s a view of Castle Mountain. Castle Mountain is interesting because it’s the division between both mountain ranges we have in the Rockies—the start of the main range with bigger, taller mountains, and to the right of it, you can see the Front Range with more of a wave shape up the mountain. So this trip really brings you into those elements and also crosses the Continental Divide multiple times that week. It’s truly unique.

Trip Levels and Daily Activities

Josh Kloepping: Lovely. Alright, we’ve gone through all three of these trips, and I saw all three of them are rated as Level 3, even though they all sound uniquely different. What does that mean, and what can I expect for daily activities?

Etienne Labelle: For Level 3, I’ll start with the summer trip. You can expect roughly 7 miles of hiking each day, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more. Elevation changes are about 1,200 to 2,000 feet. Depending on the day and time of year, temperatures can be around the mid-60s or warmer. In summer, we have more access to trails and often start at higher elevations, like Wilcox Pass on the camping trip.

The reason winter is also Level 3 is due to the elements. Naturally, in winter, standing in the cold means you burn more calories because your body needs fuel to stay warm. Second, if we get days with two feet of snow, walking through soft snow (before the trail breaking aspect) is more engaging. That’s why distances in winter tend to be a bit shorter, more around the 5-mile range, with elevation gains just under 1,900 feet. Still good elevation enough to keep you warm. Temperatures can get really cold in winter, and when they do, we’re more proactive in our approach. We might start a little later or condense our day so we’re not outside for too long, but we always go adventuring. We just modify based on conditions. That’s really the difference in levels between the summer and winter trips.

Josh Kloepping: Very helpful. And you sort of make adjustments based on weather and temperatures, especially on that winter trip, to yield the best experience. That sounds fantastic.

The Importance of Our Local Guides

Josh Kloepping: Mountain Travel Sobek is truly honored to have some of the best guides in the industry. Beyond essential skills and certifications to ensure a safe experience, our guides are passionate about the areas they share with guests. Etienne, you continue to demonstrate that today with your knowledge and dedication to this area and these activities. We’re so excited to have you and to share your knowledge and passion for the Canadian Rockies. Why is guiding so important to you? What do you look forward to most when sharing with your guests?

Etienne Labelle: For me personally, obviously, the important pillars of guiding are caretaking and safety, which are always at the forefront. But what truly sets us apart is that all the guides leading our MT Sobek trips are local. They all live in the area, are deeply passionate, and genuinely want to be outside with you and take you to these places. From personal experience, we know the trails intimately. We know where to go. Sometimes, like on our winter trip to Sherbrooke Lake, there’s an area that cuts into the forest. It seems like nothing, but I always take a little side trip to a specific spot, and people are always wondering why. But it creates that “wow” factor. That’s what drives our mindset here—showing you those “look at this” moments, or “this is because of that.” Sharing the local and cultural aspects, but also creating those moments where you hear guests exclaim, “Oh my God!” or “Wow!” Those small things make it worth it for us.

That’s the difference, I think, between traveling alone versus traveling with guides. You can be guaranteed that if, for whatever reason, trails get closed, we’ll be able to pivot and find you something just as good around the corner. Also, access to some areas like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise is now more limited. If you’re not with a guiding company, you have to book shuttles, and it can be challenging to visit some popular park areas. But with us, you always have access. We have all the permits, which really facilitates a stress-free experience. That’s what makes it worth it to go with guides.

Josh Kloepping: That’s a great point. And it really allows your guests to maximize their time there. They don’t have to sit and think about what hike to do or what restaurant to eat at that night.

Etienne Labelle: Correct. Exactly.

Josh Kloepping: Right, they can just be in their moment and then experience it from a knowledgeable local expert.

Etienne Labelle: Yes, absolutely.

Contact Us & Further Questions

Josh Kloepping: Fantastic. Well, we’ve talked about a lot of trips here. For our guests attending today, if any of these sound interesting to you, or if you have further questions, please give us a call. Our sales specialists would love to chat with you: 1-800-974-0300, or reach out to us on our website. We’ve discussed our summer trips offering ideal hiking temperatures and our unique winter trip that allows solitude and an escape into a winter wonderland. We’re standing by to answer your questions.

Speaking of answering questions, I’d like to open it up now to any questions that may have come in. Etienne, if you have anything else to add, otherwise please stick around and help answer some of these questions.

Etienne Labelle: I just noticed my camera turned on; it wasn’t on the entire call. I’m so sorry! But yeah, please, if you have any questions regarding the trip, what to do, sometimes it’s just having that, you know, “What am I doing before or after the trip?” “Should I extend my trip?” Those are all good questions. If you have any, I’d be more than happy to help.

Josh Kloepping: Etienne, first, I want to thank you for your time, your expertise. Thank you for joining us. Our attendees on the call, thank you all for giving us your time, your attention. We do have a question that came in here regarding the camping trip.

You had mentioned five. Was it five campgrounds or five tents? This individual is asking if they’re traveling alone, will they be required to share a tent with another guest, or do they get their own tent?

Etienne Labelle: Absolutely. So sorry, let me clarify. We booked five sites, four of which are for tents. Yeah, I’m really sorry, sometimes as a French Canadian, English is my second language. So depending on how you book, if you are booking as a solo traveler but are willing to share, then you’d be sharing a tent. Our tents are large four-person tents, so that would be in double occupancy. If you do not want to share your tent or your hotel room, you can choose a single supplement, and that will give you your whole hotel room in Banff as well as your own tent at the campground. Usually for those, we use a two-person tent that you don’t have to share with anyone.

Josh Kloepping: Fantastic. Thanks for that clarity. And it sounds like there’s ample room in those tents as well.

Etienne Labelle: Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, they’re huge. They’re like condos! Especially if you live in New York.

Josh Kloepping: Etienne, how are the bugs in the summertime?

Etienne Labelle: We don’t have a lot of stagnant water here in the Rockies, meaning we don’t have many swampy areas. So, bugs are manageable. You do see them, but it’s nothing like the Northeast, for instance. I grew up in Quebec, so I know folks in New York or Massachusetts, Maine—you know about bugs to the point where they can pick you up and drop you off down the road. That’s not the case here. Generally speaking, when we’re on the trail, the wind helps to keep them away. Mostly all glacial-fed lakes around where we’re camping, especially around Banff, don’t have that possibility for bugs to attach as much. And for instance, this year, we’ve had very little rain. Sometimes in spring, when we get a pretty rainy spring, that’s when you do see a bit more bugs. But generally speaking, it’s very manageable. It’s not like going into British Columbia, near Vancouver, where it’s definitely different. If you have those anti-itch sticks, they really help. We do have bug spray in the van. Sometimes when I hike with my partner, she gets no bugs, and I get all of them, so I’m the one using the bug spray. But yeah, it’s very manageable.

Josh Kloepping: OK. You talked about the summer crowds. How crowded are the trails with other hikers?

Etienne Labelle: Where we’re going, there are definitely super popular trails in Banff, but we try to avoid them. For example, trails like Johnson Canyon, which is part of our winter trip, we don’t go close to it in the summer because it’s so popular. In the Lake Louise area, there are days where we will see other people on the trail, but it’s not “bumper to bumper.” What usually happens in those busy areas is that the first few kilometers (or miles) you may see more people, and then it just kind of tapers off after a few miles. Generally, people are more after getting that quick photo or that Instagram moment, and then they’re back to their cars. So for us, on those days, like when we go to Eiffel Lake, for instance, Moraine Lake is super busy at the lake, and then we get to the turn-off with the busy trail there, and you’ll see a handful of people. Usually, where we have our lunch, often last summer when we were leading that trip, we’d see no one else. It comes down to having the guides, because the guides can say, “Tomorrow morning, we’re leaving at this time to beat the crowd” to certain locations. That’s also why going with the guides is really helpful—just to be able to go and balance those areas and get away from people.

Josh Kloepping: Very calm, yeah. There’s a great question that came in. What sort of planning contingency do you think about with regard to wildfires?

Etienne Labelle: We experienced that situation last summer in Jasper; we had a group there when they got evacuated. The way we work with it is we have an operational plan for wildfire situations, and each situation is a little different. For instance, in the Jasper case, we knew that a small town called Valemount was going to get overrun right away with all the people flooding out of Jasper, because that was the only exit point. So, what we decided to do was push our group further into a town called Kamloops, where there’s an airport, so if people didn’t feel comfortable staying on the trip, they could fly out. But we drove a couple of hours away from the fire to really separate ourselves from the situation.

In terms of wildfires here in Banff, Parks Canada has done an amazing job with wildfire prevention, especially in the Lake Louise and Banff area, by cutting huge fire breaks around the town. This all happens during the winter. They have sprinkler systems. What we do is our guides, at the end of each day, for instance, will go back to the gas station to ensure the vehicle always has a full tank of gas. We’re always, you know, they have satellite devices within reach, so if something is happening, they can be made aware faster. We have radio systems, so we listen to the park’s channel. If they’re thinking of evacuating or anything like that, our guides will generally know before the rest of the public, and then we just get our plans in motion.

Josh Kloepping: Yeah. That’s fantastic. Just a quick one. On the winter trip, there seems to be a lot of options out there with hiking shoes. What works best for snowshoeing? Some think about using normal waterproof hiking shoes, others perhaps insulated hiking shoes or boots. And then there are some that use dedicated snow boots. What do you recommend?

Etienne Labelle: Personally, having lived in winter landscapes my whole life, I don’t like getting cold, so I personally have a full-on winter boot that comes up right underneath your knees. That’s a personal preference. They’re not dedicated for hiking, but I’m willing to sacrifice hiking performance for more warmth. I will definitely steer you away from regular hiking shoes; I think they’re the worst idea in winter. You can get some really high-quality hiking boots that are winterized, like Salomon makes some good products that come a bit higher above your ankles. In conjunction with a good pair of gaiters, that will really help to keep the snow out of your boots. Good socks are essential. If you want to be like me, I have heated socks with a battery and an element. You crank them, it’s beautiful. Sometimes I even throw in toe warmers because I’ve really abused my feet over the years skiing and such, so I’m more susceptible to getting cold faster. But for most folks, just having good insulated winter boots (a full-on pair) and good gaiters to prevent snow from entering your boots, plus good snow pants, is key. Sometimes we see people with just normal hiking pants, I’ll steer you away from that as well. If you can get fleece pants with some kind of water-repellent membrane on the outside, that’s definitely the way to go, or just ski pants—they work great.

Josh Kloepping: Heated boots, that’s something new, that’s luxurious!

Etienne Labelle: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I’m Canadian, I have to have them.

Josh Kloepping: Etienne, again, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time, your expertise, your passion. It really shines through. Guests attending and listening today, thank you all so much for your time. A recorded copy of this will be sent out to the email address that you registered with. Again, if you have additional questions or just want to chat about any of the trips we talked about today, contact information is there on the screen: our website, email address, as well as telephone number. Etienne again, thank you, and have a great season.

Etienne Labelle: Thank you, Josh. Sorry again for my camera. Well, thank you guys. Hopefully we’ll get to see you guys in the Rockies at some point here. I’d love to meet you all. Yeah. It’s gonna be an amazing summer. We’re looking forward to it.

Josh Kloepping: Thanks so much. Take care all.

Etienne Labelle: All right, take care.