A lovely sky in the late evening seen from atop Sanson's Peak, looking SSW along the ridge of Sulphur Mountain. The Goat Range is hidden behind it. On the right is the Sundance Range, on the left is Mount Rundle and beyond the notch (a pass) located above and to the right of the building's radio tower is Kananaskis Country, Lukes's Reservoir hardly visible in the remote valley beyond.

I guess the people over at Luke's Reservoir probably don't think of themselves as remote, since they're right at the center of their own universe, but perhaps they're admiring the lovely clouds, which are there because the afternoon sun warmed the rocky west slopes of Mount Rundle and beyond, creating thermals that would interest a glider pilot or an eagle. The sun is low and the clouds are thinking about dissipation, but not the same kind of dissipation that's on the minds of the people below.

Kodak Portra 800 35mm, Canon z90w, 28mm, auto exposure.
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

The sun is setting; it has long ago ceased warming the western slopes of the mountains, and thermals no longer nourish the clouds above. The clouds mature and empty their water back onto the mountain.

A beam from the setting sun ignites a small rainbow on the top of Mount Girouard, just to the left of Mount Peechee. Both mountains are just under 10,000 ft msl, almost 3000 meters.

The spine of Mount Rundle is in the right foreground.

August 29, 2002.
Kodak Portra 800, Canon z90W AT 28mm, autoexposure.
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

You are standing on top of Sanson's Peak, part of Sulphur Mountain, just SW of Banff, looking toward the setting sun. The sky is hazy, probably from forest fires in the USA, brought north on southerly flow. Below the sun, the peaks of the Massive Range plow streaks in the haze. On the left is the dark shoulder of the Sundance Range, on the right are the peaks of Mount Cory and Mount Edith, the southern end of the Sawback Range, and the dark wooded triangle is the shoulder of Mount Norquay, home of difficult skiing.

Below is the ascent to Sanson's Peak from the Gondola. The Canadians have built a great long deck on stilts that pretty effectively keeps the tourists off the lichens and plants.

Mr. Sanson was the museum keeper in Banff for many years. Once or twice a month, year round, he would walk up Sulphur Mountain to a hut housing the weather station, and write down the data that had accumulated. In the winter after a blizzard, the trip would take 10 hours each way on snowshoes. No word on whether he was having a good time doing this. In any case, he kept it up and they named the peak after him.

Kodak Portra 800 35mm, Canon Z90w at 28mm, auto exposure.
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Two US tourists are repaid for having taken another couple's picture. The slightly overweight guy on the left is the first husband of the trim woman squinting against the setting sun. Looking NE from the top of Sanson's Peak, Sulphur Mountain, above Banff, which you can glimpse through the railing.

29 August 2002
Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, 1/350 sec f5.6
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

The file names are my file numbers, and are not directly related to image contents. The subject and technical data are contained within each jpeg file itself, as a comment readable by the Gimp or Photoshop, and the comment is provided to the right of each thumbnail image below.

All photographs are copyright © Daniel L. Johnson; all rights reserved. Photos may be copied and disseminated only without charge, and with attribution.

I'm not in the photography business, but if you'd like a print of any, these photos in real life are all 6x4.5 cm color negatives (unless noted otherwise), and we can arrange this through Photos, Inc., of Minneapolis. I send them my negative and you send them your charge card number and address, and in a week or two you'll get a print. email me at drdan AT wwt.net if you wish to pursue this.