Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Mt. Rundle

I have a serious fascination with Mt. Rundle, the towering rock that separates Banff from Canmore. I'm far from the only one -- most nature photographers from the area have any number of Mt. Rundle shots for sale.

There's something in the way the mountain seems to jut into the sky, and the sharp angle of the peak. The lines of the mountain on the north side seem to run right to the ground. The most fascinating thing about Mt. Rundle is it seems like a completely different mountain depending on where you're standing.

Mt. Rundle is the mountain on the right in the banner photo of this blog, but that's far from my favorite angle.

I drove up to the Norquay ski hill parking lot for a look at Banff from Stoney Squaw mountain. This was mid-May or so:




It is a lot greener now. Mt. Rundle is the snowy peak on the left.

I drove back down to the Trans-Canada, and took the turn-off to Vermillion Lakes. I saw at least two professional photogs camped out along this road this day.... me, I just happily snapped away, and got some of my favorite shots of my favorite mountain...




16 comments:

Michele said...

Oh wow... these are awesome... spectacular photography, Michelle! I am very happy to have stopped here to view these... you are very talented in snapping these landscape pictures.... breathtaking!
Hope your Canada Day was good!
Mountain Retreat Photography

Suzanne said...

That is sure some mountain. I love the sharp angles and austerity - rugged and inhospitable. My kind of a place.

Suzanne said...

That is sure some mountain. I love the sharp angles and austerity - rugged and inhospitable. My kind of a place.

Suzanne said...

I left a post here yesterday. What happened to it?

Michelle said...

I'm sorry I was a little slow on the comments -- I had a hard drive failure on Tuesday night and I've been offline ever since. :-(

Michele - aww, thanks, but I think sometimes the credit goes to the subject! There are some places you just can't take a bad photo in!

Suzanne - I'm glad you like. And yeah, it looks pretty inhospitable. I'd still like to stand at the top!

Cool Papa said...

Great shots again, thanks for sharing!

Shelley said...

Beautiful photos of the mountains - they should be framed or placed on a greeting card!

Marvin said...

Mt. Rundle is distinctive as well as beautiful. You have some great shots here.

(My condolences to your hard drive.)

Shelley said...

All breathtaking photos!

Anonymous said...

I really like the image with the stumps in the foreground. That was a good choice. I can see why you like this mountain so much. It is very unusual looking.

Michelle said...

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Ben, that stumps shot was a happy accident (isn't it always?). Most of the shots are from a dirt road, but in this case I wanted to walk into the valley a little and see what the terrain was like. I was very pleased with what I saw.

Jackie said...

What an interesting looking mountain. Beautiful scenery and great photographs.

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Mt Rundle does hold a mystic quality. Great shots!!!

JJ :D

coolwaterworks said...

Great shots and blog... I am adding you to my blog roll....

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pics. Makes my toes itch to climb it. The beauty of the world never ceases to amaze me.

PowderLover

Michelle said...

Thank you both for your comments. I've been hiking, so I'm hoping to get more photos up soon!