Lake Louise at Its Best

For many years the CPR offered free return passage each summer for the employees of its magnificent hotels. The Dominion and the Canadian Canada's famous trains travelled west to the Banff Springs Hotel and to Chateau Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. In 1957 captivated by stories of lofty mountain peaks and clear blue lakes eighteen-year old Roger Patillo from Belle River Ontario signed up and set out to experience the West for himself. One summer turned into seven and changed his life.<p>The stories of his adventures while at the world famous Chateau are both humorous and poignant. He draws from many friendships among which are the Feuz brothers the legendary Swiss guides John Lynn the much loved pianist who presented nightly concerts in the lobby Beef Woodworth the Park Warden and Lawrence Grassi the keeper of O'Hara. The book recounts the author's time skiing flyfishing mountaineering and canoeing down the Bow River. While these stories are entertaining enough it is in the sharing of the sometimes hilarious pranks and misadventures of the staff that keeps us smiling throughout. The steak roasts the dances the parties at Gables (the Bellhop's residence) and his special friends all come alive again as Patillo recalls in tale after tale a more gentle time when maybe Lake Louise really was the best.