The Sheer Terrain Of Cascade Mountain Towers Over The Bow River Valley In Banff National Park

Nothing describes the northern Rocky Mountains better than the word sheer. There are not many locations in the world that have such a drastic incline. What shaped the landscape to appear this way is ongoing to this day, though certainly on a much smaller scale. It is the work of water, low temperatures, and the never ending pull of gravity. As can be seen in the above image of Cascade Mountain of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, there are year round snow fields at the higher altitudes that fill in the cracks and crevasses of the mountain. Yearly snowfall packs in more solid water at the frozen altitudes of the mountain. The weight of the snow causes large pressures underneath, and it often packs to an even more solid form of water: ice. And gravity continuously pull on the great sheets of ice that somehow cling to the upper steep slopes. As the sheets are slid down across the rock face, the slowly grind away at the surface removing small bits of rock called glacial till. While the amount remove is slow over the course of a season, over many years it can add up tremendously. Of course in the past, the world has been much colder, especially during the last ice age 10,000 years ago and for tens of thousands of years before then. The ice sheets then were massive glaciers that would have also filled up and carved out the Bow River valley seen below the massif of Cascade Mountain in the above photo. But the world eventually did warm up, causing the glaciers to retreat back into the higher altitude and more northerly locations. The melt water drained away, helping to carve out the river channels that still flow today. While the mountain has not experienced such a drastic change in climate since then, it does cycle through the periodic snow and ice cover during the winter followed by the late spring meltdown. The smaller amount of water still carve the mountain side, slowly modifying its overall shape. As a matter of fact, Cascade Mountain was named for the very tall waterfall cascade seen in the steep cliffs of the above image on the left of center near the bottom. Tracing the path of the water flow for thousands of feet upward will arrive at a dark notch carved out of the left side of the top cliffs. Other water channels can also clearly be seen carved on either side of this one, but it has the most noticeable waterfalls. The Wild Images Team has captured many photos during our journey up to Alaska through western and northern Canada including colorful canoes standing at the edge of Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, a moment of isolation as a canoe crosses Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, the scene when a grizzly mother is grazing with two cubs, a practically newborn grizzly cub is shorter than the grass, near the Rancheria River where a massive blonde grizzly steps out of the brush, where the remote Liard River wanders through woods and mountains, an action shot when two bison calves are learning to spar, and another action shot as a large bull moose runs through the woods, each of which are available for sale in our store. Blog posts from our journey through Canada document the dark background storm clouds while the grain silos shine in the sunlight of Saskatchewan, the sheer terrain of Cascade Mountain towering over the Bow River valley, the velvet covered antlers of an elk as it passes by in Jasper National Park, the welcome sign declaring you are now entering the world famous Alaska Highway, the very iconic mile 0 signpost found at the start of the Alaska Highway, the desolate road of the Alaska Highway drops down into clouds of the Yukon Territory, the very remote road of the Alaska Highway rounds a mountain within clouds of the Yukon Territory, as the Alaska Highway heads straight towards a giant peak along Kluane Lake, the tall snow-capped peaks along the Alaska Highway west of Whitehorse, the shore lining patterned designs of mudflats from the missing A’ay Chu, as The Wild Images Team Photographer Jeremy Robinson hides in the Signpost Forest, and as The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina hides in the Signpost Forest. The Wild Images Team has also captured many other images while in Alaska including the terminal moraines of a glacier winding down from the Chugach Mountains, the many splendid colors of the Sheep Mountain chromatic peaks in the Talkeetna Range, as a seal watches over the thick floating ice in Kenai Fjords National Park, as very fast moving seals cut tracks through the ice, as an entertaining seal strikes a pose on Northwestern Lagoon ice, the many miles of Northwestern Glacier reflecting over the turquoise waters, the awe inspiring rumble when a glacier calves of the cliffs in Kenai Fjords National Park, the moment when clouds crown a peak in Kenai Fjords National Park, the long summer days when fireweed enjoys the land of the midnight sun, and as a very playful Dall’s porpoise breaches the ocean surface in Aialik Bay, each of which are available for sale in our store. Blog posts from Alaska document the moment we realized that no bananas on a boat is a very serious rule, as our kayak carrying water taxi Michael A launches from Miller’s Landing, the chaotic scene during a feeding frenzy floating island of seagulls, the majestic bald eagle scanning the coastline from a tree, the expansive view of a colorfully banded rock island reflection, the chaotic jumble of very noticeable blue ice of Northwest Glacier, the reflective view over briefly calm waters of the far northern Pacific Ocean under the Harding Icefield, when The Wild Images Team was photographed at the mouth of a glacier draining tunnel, the intimidating view from the snout of a very large and very steep glacier, and when our Coordinator Christina Orban keeps tradition by kissing the snout of this glacier.

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