Flying from Whitehorse sunshine to a Calgary blizzard
I’m currently in Calgary, on Day 5 of a 14-day series of family visits in Alberta and Ontario. It was gorgeous when I left Whitehorse, but a wild blizzard hit the next morning in Calgary.
At 4:45 Sunday evening, we were about ready to board one of Air North’s Boeing 737-500s. That’s one of their new ATR 42-300 turboprops in the photo.
At 5:15, away we go, with the Yukon River and the Riverdale residential area off my wing.
The Alaska Highway, the Macrae industrial area, the Yukon River, and Chadburn Lake.
The Meadow Lakes Golf Course and Alaska Highway.
Carcross Corner where the South Klondike Highway, coming in from the bottom right of the next photo, meets the Alaska Highway.
The Alaska Highway follows the Yukon River as it drains Marsh Lake at the right.
White Mountain is in the centre of the next photo, with the Alaska Highway to its left.
Visibility got poor so I had a short nap. When I woke up at 6:20, we were over the huge W.A.C. Bennett dam near Hudson’s Hope, BC.
As we were descending to Calgary at 7:15 (10 minutes after sunset), we could see a massive storm off to the northeast.
Agricultural patterns northeast of Calgary.
I find Calgary to be a particularly attractive city, both from the air and on the ground. That’s due in large part to its location on the Bow River, but it also has some great architecture.
We had to make a long loop around the city because of strong north winds, and passed by downtown again at 7:31 as we were on our final descent to the runway.
There’s a lot of construction going on at the airport, and it was a long and confusing trek to the baggage area. The flight attendant told us that it was a long way, and that they would try to have people pointing the way, but finished with “good luck”. My daughter was outside waiting for me, and we were soon settled at her home just north of the airport.
I’m staying with my daughter and her family for 5 of the 6 nights that I’m in Calgary. I don’t have any canine company here, but their cats are both real characters. This is Tigger.
And the big old-timer, Max.
The blizzard hit very early Monday morning, as expected. It was wild in our fairly protected subdivision, but we heard many reports of what it was like out in the open prairie.
Monday was definitely a stay-at-home day. Roads were closed all over the region, and hundreds of the people who chose to venture out got into accidents.
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