LAKE LOUISE, Alberta – Waking up to a fresh layer of fallen snow, at one of Canada’s most bucolic and iconic locations, should have been considered picture perfect.

It was Day Two in our taking up BMW Canada and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ offer to try their Canadian Rockies driving tour (see sidebar) in a $66,600 2007 BMW Z4 3.0si Roadster.

We had arrived the day before, amid sunshine and 14 degrees Celsius weather, to pick up our Z4 at the Calgary airport, the starting- and finishing-point of our three-day Rockies road trip. The subsequent two-hour drive to our first night’s accommodations, here in Lake Louise, via the Trans-Canada Highway, was merely an entrée of Canadian alpine scenery that would lead to Day Two’s main course: driving the Icefields Parkway.

Along with Nova Scotia’s Cabot Trail, the Gaspé Peninsula, the Trans-Canada from Regina to Medicine Hat, or the Old Island Highway at Qualicum Beach, B.C, the 230 km drive between Lake Louise and Jasper along the Icefields Parkway (a.k.a. Highway 93) is a “must do” Canadian road trip.

Shadowing the Continental Divide, the two-lane Parkway is chock-a-block with ice-blue lakes, snow-capped Rocky Mountains sandwiching glacial areas, the cascading Athabasca Falls and a good chance of a wildlife sighting at almost every turn in the road.

Fairmont had us booked into its Jasper Park Lodge for the evening of Day Two. The plan was we could take our time exploring along the drive up, stay overnight, then have all of Day Three to get back to Calgary for our flight home to Ottawa.

That was if we could get the BMW roadster out of the hotel’s parking lot.

Needless to say, our idea of ‘picture perfect’ didn’t include snow and below-freezing temperatures.

During the time it took to scramble through our luggage to find mitts and touques—and the Z4’s owner’s manual to get more info about the tires—the sun came out and started to do a number on the unsullied white stuff now clinging to trees and fence posts.

Optimism must be a sign of hope or ignorance.

After topping up the tank (there’s only one fuel stop along the way, at the Parkway’s junction with Hwy 11 from Red Deer) we agreed to leave Lake Louise with the Z4’s top down. Why not crank the heat, and take advantage of those world-class views that only a convertible can afford?

By 9 a.m., the temperature had risen to a few degrees above freezing. Still, the combination of melting snow, freshly laid road sand and those wide (255/40-18 front, 255/35-18 rear) performance run flats meant discretion over valour was the driver’s order of the day.

By the time we had driven past Crowfoot Glacier and Bow Summit (the highest point on the Parkway), we were feeing pretty good about our decision to go topless.

The Parkway makes it way over two major passes and switches back-and-forth over of three of Western Canada's major rivers – the Bow, Mistaya and North Saskatchewan.

Bracketed by tight, 20 km/h alpine switchbacks when climbing or descending, long, open stretches along river valley floors can test one’s control to stay under the Parkway’s maximum 90 km/h speed limit.

Being the last week of September, we had the Parkway mainly to ourselves to enjoy the Z4’s road worthiness. Having the top-down only heightened the feedback already coming back from the roadster’s sensitive steering and sweet revving 255 hp 220 lb.-ft. 3.0-liter inline-six.

Around town in Banff or Lake Louise, the Z4’s optional sport suspension reacted harshly to potholes or bumps at slower speeds. But out here on the Parkway, its confident handling and open top far outweighed the occasional discomfort over bad pavement.

About 130 km into the drive, after you pass into Jasper National Park, arguably the visual highlight of the route is its namesake, the Columbia Icefield.

As the largest body of ice south of the Arctic, the Icefield, with its stadium of 11 Rockies, creates its own weather system.

Keen to keep an eye on the outside temperature, we watched as it plummeted 7-8 degrees as we got closer to the Icefield Centre. It’s here where you can jump on one of the Icefield Explorers for a 2-hour glacier tour that includes the opportunity to walk on the Athabasca Glacier

Our guide, Terry from Peterborough, explained the Glacier is almost six kilometres long and one kilometre wide. Over the past century, it has retreated almost two kilometres, shrinking at a rate of three to 15 metres a year.

The Z4’s traction control, and my wanting to get to a cozy hotel room in one piece, made remaining drive into Jasper almost anticlimactic. But saying that would be an injustice to the whole experience.

If you decide to make this Rockies road trip yourself, two recommendations: take more time than the three compressed days we took; and bring a driving partner— this is one of the few road trips you’ll make where being the passenger can be just as rewarding.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher



Want to go?

To properly explore one of the most pristine areas in the world, BMW and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts recommend their six-day, five-night Driving the Rockies Tour.

Starting at $3,495 per person (airfare not included) they’ll arrange for a car to be ready for pickup at the Calgary airport (Z4s are recommended for the views, but an X5 is also available for an extra fee).

Driving through the Banff and Jasper National Parks and staying at any of the historic Fairmont properties, is like exploring the genetic DNA of our country.

The first night of the recommended itinerary is spent in the picturesque Fairmont Lake Louise. From there, drive north on the Icefields Parkway for two nights on the shores of Lac Beauvert at Fairmont’s Jasper Park Lodge.

The last two nights are at Fairmont’s most historic property: the Banff Springs Hotel.

The Canadian Pacific Railway built the hotel—with only bears and moose for neighbours—between 1887 and 1888. The original wooden hotel burnt down in 1926, and was rebuilt larger and in its current form in 1928.

All of these properties are world-class in amenities, yet are causal enough that we felt comfortable in our best dinner fleece at night.

The program runs from May until October, so chances are you won’t need mitts or touques like we did.


2007 BMW Z4 3.0si
BASE PRICE/AS-TESTED: $60,900/$66,600
FEDERAL PENALTY/REBATE: No
ENGINE: 3.0-litre V6
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (L/100 km est.) city 11.7, highway 7.2, as-tested 8.9
POWER/TORQUE: 255 hp / 220 lb.-ft.
COMPETITION: Audi TT 2.0T, Honda S2000, Lotus Elise, Mercedes-Benz SLK 280, Nissan 350Z. Porsche Boxster
WHAT'S BEST: Seats, shifter, engine noise
WHAT'S WORST: I have two kids
WHAT'S INTERESTING: Enclave effectively replaces three former Buicks