The Lake Louise Lakeshore Trail

The first stretch from the Chateau is wide, level and hard-packed, and a pushchair handles it easily. It narrows and roughens as you go, with roots and loose gravel in the last kilometre before the end of the lake.

A wheelchair manages the paved area by the boathouse and the first few hundred metres. Beyond that the surface is not maintained to that standard, and there are no handrails on the lake side.

The colour changes as you walk. From the Chateau the lake reads pale turquoise, and by the far end it is deeper and greener, because you are closer to the meltwater coming off the Victoria Glacier that carries the rock flour making the colour.

You pass under Fairview Mountain on your left and look across to the Big Beehive on your right. Near the end of the lake the valley opens onto the glacier itself, and the quiet is noticeable after the crowd at the boathouse.

The lakeshore trail finishes at the head of the lake, where the water thins into gravel flats. From there the Plain of Six Glaciers trail carries on and up, and the ground changes immediately from flat gravel to a climb.

Turning around at the end of the lake is a perfectly good walk. Carrying on commits you to a four-hour day.

The lakeshore is walked all winter and it is often the best time to do it. The lake freezes hard, the crowd disappears, and the light is low all day.

Wear something with grip. The packed snow on the first stretch turns to ice under a thousand pairs of boots, and the drop to the lake is right beside you.

The classic frame, lake and glacier and mountain, is taken from the paved area in front of the Chateau, not from the trail. It works best in the first hour of light before the sun reaches the water.

For a quieter version, walk fifteen minutes along the north shore and shoot back towards the hotel. The lake is in the frame, the crowd is not.