The Boardwalk

Stairs, wind, and a box that is not a cafe.

From the upper platform a boardwalk climbs toward Sanson Peak. It looks short in photos. It is stairs. In winter it is ice wearing a wooden costume. In shoulder season it is wind that finds the gap in your collar.

Boardwalk and research box on Sanson Peak, Sulphur Mountain — The box on the peak. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Kay Röllig, CC BY 3.0.

The Cosmic Ray Station is a box. That is the honest word. People ask me if there is a cafe up there. There is not. There is a plaque, a wind, and a view if the cloud deck has the manners to lift.

Knees decide if you finish. I have seen fit people turn around because the stairs keep coming and the air is thinner than Banff Avenue. I have seen grandparents grind it out because they wanted the last railing.

I walked this as a teenager when I thought I was made of wire. I walk it slower now. I still go when the sky is a hard blue. I skip it when the ridge is a wet towel.

If you came for a restaurant view and not for stairs, stay at the platform. The mountain will not grade you. Your knees will.

Tickets get you the cabin. The boardwalk is extra work you do with your own legs. That is the part I actually like. The gondola is a commute. The ridge is the errand.