Lake Louise

Long before the railway, Indigenous peoples hunted, fished and gathered in these valleys, and the Nakoda named the lake Ho-run-num-nay, the lake of the little fishes. In 1882 a Stoney Nakoda guide, Edwin Hunter, led the railway workman Tom Wilson to its shore; Wilson called it Emerald Lake, but it was renamed after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, a daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of the Governor General. The settlement below, begun in 1884 as a Canadian Pacific Railway outpost on the Bow River, was called Holt City and then Laggan before it too took the name Lake Louise.

The lake was added to Rocky Mountains Park in 1892, and the railway set out to sell it as a wilderness resort. It built a hotel on the lake's eastern shore, which grew into one of Canada's grand railway hotels, put up the Lake Agnes Tea House in 1901 as a refuge for hikers — named after Lady Agnes Macdonald, the prime minister's wife, who visited in 1886 — and in 1924 built the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House, an idea of one of its Swiss mountain guides. A new log station replaced the first depot in 1910, the first of six rustic stations in the mountains; the old depot went to Calgary's Heritage Park in 1976.

The Trans-Canada Highway made the lakes far easier to reach, and Lake Louise became an international destination. Visitor numbers grew so large that Parks Canada now manages access with shuttles, and since 2023 it has closed the Moraine Lake road to private vehicles altogether.

Lake Louise's culture is mountain culture, shaped by the railway's early promotion of the Rockies. The Canadian Pacific hired Swiss guides to lead its guests up the peaks, and the Feuz family, to whom the railway licensed the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House, were part of that tradition. The tea houses still work as they always have: fresh food carried up on foot each day, dry goods flown in each year, and hikers on the loop between the two, informally known as the Tea House Challenge.

Indigenous names remain on the land. Stoney Nakoda words named the lake, and the early explorer Samuel Allen numbered the peaks of the Valley of the Ten Peaks in the Stoney language, perhaps taught to him by local guides. Moraine Lake's view appeared on the back of Canadian twenty-dollar notes issued in 1969 and 1979, one reason it became so famous.

The seasons divide life in two. Summer belongs to hikers, canoeists, climbers and coach tours; winter to skiers, skaters on the frozen lake, sleigh rides and cross-country trails. Visitors are expected to follow the strict rules of a national park and to respect the wildlife, from grizzlies to the small animals along the paths.

Lake Louise is tiny: the 2011 census counted 691 residents, and the population changes from year to year as workers in the hotels, restaurants and ski resort come and go. It is not a municipality but is run as an improvement district inside the national park, and its working life revolves around tourism and the park.

The village is a cluster of lodgings, a small shopping centre, a petrol station and the heritage railway station beside the Trans-Canada Highway, with the Icefields Parkway beginning just to the north. Banff, 58 km away, is the nearest town of any size.

For residents, the rhythm of the day is set by visitors. In summer coaches and shuttles arrive from early morning, the lakeshore car park fills before sunrise, and trails stay busy until evening; in winter the ski resort becomes the centre of life. Managing crowds — through shuttle reservations, the Moraine Lake vehicle ban and parking fees — is the issue that shapes the place most.

Lake Louise has few places to eat, and they are part of the experience. The two historic tea houses serve tea and simple food to hikers at the end of steep trails, a tradition going back to 1905 at Lake Agnes; everything perishable is carried up on foot each day, which keeps the menus short and simple. The Lake Agnes tea house opens only from June to October and is closed in the cold winter months.

In the village, a restaurant occupies the 1910 log railway station, and there are a couple of restaurants at Samson Mall, as well as food at the petrol station. Most of the area's restaurants are inside hotels, and a few more are attached to hotels just outside the village.

In winter the ski resort's four day lodges feed skiers. Across the region menus lean on Alberta beef and bison, and with so few restaurants, many visitors pack food from the village shops before setting out on the trails.