Outdoor Video Magazine

Length: 21.2km
Time: 2-4 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies - Doug Eastcott
Elevation: 1500m-2000m
Date done: June 2006
Effort: High
Rating: 7/10
Technicality: Moderate
Map: 82 J/15 Bragg Creek

This ride is a loop predominantly on single track with a bit on gravel road. There is some nice scenery (but not stunning), and some excellent single track on varied terrain. Park at the Powderface trailhead on Highway 66, west of Elbow Falls.

Initially the ride is all up hill. At first it’s quite gentle with nice relaxing scenery. After the first 3km things get steep (see video on right…the slope doesn’t really do it justice!), very steep and towards the end you will need to push some parts. It’s just too steep and rocky. But once you reach the top, you know that’s the hardest bit of the ride over with and you have a long, fun 100% rideable descent down a rocky/muddy tree-lined trail. But first take a while to enjoy the nice view, and maybe ride/hike up to the nearby summit.

The descent brings you out on to the gravel road where you turn right (north) and can relax as you coast gently along and enjoy the meadows. When you turn off the road after 2.7km onto the Prairie Creek trail, you can look forward to a rolling, muddy, fast trail with some technical sections to keep you on your toes. Evenetually the trail climbs up away from the creek, and it gets steep (pushing requried). At the top, the fun begins again. Fast, narrow and dangerously close to a big drop into the creek the trail is an awesome ride. It is a 100% rideable if you’re good, but if you’re a bit unsure it may be best to get off your bike for the part with the warning signs! (I certainly did). After racing across the bridge at the bottom (or through the creek)…you’re right back at your car.

Length: 54.4km
Time: 5-8 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies - Doug Eastcott
Elevation: 1500m - no net gain/loss.
Date done: June 2006
Effort: Medium
Rating: 9/10
Technicality: Moderate
Map: Not needed.

This ride is out and back on 100% singletrack. It goes right along the shore of Lake Minnewanka, and it’s awesome fast, rolling, techincal (in places), rideable singletrack. Just don’t get too excited and knock a hiker off a cliff. Park at the North side of the Lake Minnewanka dam. Mountain bikes ARE allowed on this trail, so don’t take stick from the hikers.

There is not much to describe about this trail. It just goes on and on by the lake. But that makes it sound repetative and it certainly isn’t. The views are gorgeous of the mountains across the lake, there is lots of lake access if you want to cool off (summer only!), and the riding is never boring. Continually twisting and turning with rocks, roots and short rises and inclines there is nothing to slow you down or tire you out. It’s fast, continuous fun. I don’t know whether I was having a good day, or whether it’s the nature of this trail, but when I did it I didn’t tire at all and felt like I could ride forever at speed. The riding gets more techincal as you approach the warden’s cabin that marks the end of the ride. You then get to enjoy it all in reverse on your way back. It’s one trail I didn’t mind backtracking.

Mountain bike! The Canadian Rockies

Backcountry biking in the Canadian Rockies - Gerhardt Lepp

Length: 26km
Time: 4-5 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies - Doug Eastcott
Elevation: 1600m-2100m
Date done: Oct 7th 2006
Effort: High
Rating: 8/10
Technicality: Moderate
Map: You actually need 4….but can be done without, route finding is easy.

This ride is an out-and-back on wide single track and single track, that takes you pretty high on to Fiddle Pass. You start from the Whitehorse Creek equestrian staging area, 6km South of Cadomin. It is a good ride with awesome scenery and interesting riding. There is a campsite right at the start of the ride at Whitehorse Creek which makes things nice and easy.

I did this ride in early October, and rather unexpectedly got a dump of 3/4cm snow the night before while we were camping. It wasn’t forecast at all. We were totally unprepared and a little cold while setting up our tent and grilling steaks in a major blizzard and plummeting temperatures….remember kiddies, it’s the Rockies…be prepared! Although the snow made the riding difficult (and ultimately we turned back), it did make it very beautiful.

The ride starts off following the Whitehorse Creek. The riding is fairly easy, and the terrain quite flat. The scenery keeps it interesting and there is enough mud and rocks to keep it reasonably exciting, if not actually challenging. After 7.7km the trail leaves the creek and starts to climb to the pass. Here the riding gets a lot more technical and very steep. Lots of roots and rocks make the going tough, and this is where we turned back. There was just too much snow here for going uphill to be possible. However I believe if you continue all the way to the pass (some pushing involved, and some serious hard work) you are rewarded with a fine alpine setting and stupendous views. And then there’s the ride down that would make all the effort worthwhile. It would be steep, rideable, with roots twists and turns along a tight tree lined path. Awesome. I’ll be coming back here on a less snowy day sometime.

Length: 48km
Time: 3/4 Days
Book: None I could find, parks office has details
Elevation: 1400m-1400m = FLAT!
Date done: April 14th 2006
Effort: Medium
Rating: 8/10
Notes: Lots of grizzly tracks on trail - beware! Rating applies to April, could be plain/boring in summer
Map: Can be done without

If you don’t want to go uphill but love mountains, this is the hike for you. Also for an early spring hike it is perfect. This trail takes you through spectacular mountain scenery whilst hardly gaining any height at all. It has some superbly situated campgrounds, and is well maintained. I did this in April of 2006, and the parks people thought you we were crazy for trying to go backpacking at that time of year. But the low elevation and the low snow levels for that year meant that trail was in perfect condition for hiking right up until the last few kilometers approaching Fortress Lake. By then there was some old, crusty, thigh deep snow to battle through. The days were very warm and sunny…and the nights and mornings a little chilly to say the least. Fortress Lake was still fully frozen over.

Day 1 - 6km (half day)
Starting from the Sunwapta Falls car park on the Icefields Parkway, follow the trail over the falls and through some rather repetative forest to the first campground, only 6km from the start. From here there is your first view of the mountains to come. It is a gorgeous area with a nice lake as well as a river, and it provides some excellent photography opportunities at sunrise.

Day 2 - 18km
Following the trail onwards, I recommend breaking out to the river to your right occasionally to get the best views. You can even hike along side the river on a fairly decent game trail all the way to the next campground, a total of 15km from the start. Or you can stick to the true trail that takes you through the trees and limits your views somewhat. This campground is in a lovely spot too, with yet again a gorgeous lake nearby and two rivers. We had lunch here.

Crossing a suspension bridge It is now another 9km to the third and final campste at Fortress Lake. The trail becomes slightly narrower but remains very clear, and rises and drops in places. Eventually you come out to the main river bed, where you have to ford. This was no problem for us, but during high-water this would be impossible. If the water is low, this huge river bed gives you a good chance to soak up the views of the mountains on all sides. On the farside, the trail becomes less distinct as it winds along the trees by the river. This is where we started to pick up some bad snow that made the going tough. It is possible to stick to the river bed for a clearer walk though, just keep an eye on the path. Eventually it swings away from the river and heads toward Fortress Lake passing through gorgeous mossy forest (welcome to BC, you actually over the Continental Divide now). The final campground is perfectly situated above the lake with some stunning views. A shame the lake was still frozen in early April.

Day 3 - 18km
You know have to retrace your steps all the way home. If you want you can stick to the river all the way to the first campsite, or you can follow the main trail. Or mix the two. We decided to take the river back for some variety. In retrospect, I think this was slower and more tiring too. Maybe it’s just cos we were out in some VERY hot sun (it was April, but it must have been around 20C!!), or maybe it was the hour long game of frisbee we had! The river bed is sandy, flat, and huge. One day I would like a full Ultimate Frisbee game here, haha. The open views were amazing, and it was excellent for avalanche watching. We must have seen about 20 in one day. We spent the third night back at the first campsite.

Day 4 - 6km (quarter day)
We hiked the final 6km back to the car, and enjoyed a leisurely drive back through Jasper in some stunning weather.

This would make a gorgeous cross-country ski in winter and you can actually take bikes as far as the second campground (it’s a recognised MTB route in the park).

Palisade Lookout - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
Nordic Skiing with snow shoeing OR ski touring
Length: 22km
Time: 6-9 hours
Book: Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies (by Chic Scott)
Elevation Gain: 890m
Effort: High
Rating: 6/10 - Good hard work but not spectacular scenery.
Map: NTS D/16 Jasper, GemTrek 1: Jasper-Maligne Lake
Date: Feb. 19th 2007
Note: Can be ridden on mountain bike in summer.

Well, me and my friend Mark found ourselves in Jasper with cross-country skiing gear and snow-shoeing gear and a day to spare. We had to find a trail close to Jasper, and we wanted it to be LONG. So we happened upon the Palisade Lookout trail that starts from the Pyramid Lakes parking lot, 7km from Jasper. It is actually a road the whole way, so don’t expect an interesting trail, but then we are talking cross-country skiing in the mountains so it’s to be expected.

Unsure of the snow conditions, but knowing there was a lot of up (890m) we decided to take snow-shoes with us, and start off on skis. The first 6/7km of the trail were actually groomed/packed by snowmobile. I THINK this is done every year, but just not very regularly. It would be good to check with the Parks people, because you don’t want to be snowshoeing all 22km. So anyway, the first 6/7km were a good uphill slog on an OK trail. The gradient is such that with some sticky wax there is no herringbone-ing needed. There is not much in the way of views, just a few glimpses of Pyramid Mountain.

Just before the junction to the Pyramid Mountain trail…the groomed trail stopped and we were left with untouched powder. After struggling manfully for all of 5mins we gave up sinking and switched the cross-country ski gear for snow-shoes. The trail seemed to steepen at this point, and it was pretty hard going to finish the last 4km to the viewpoint. But we were going fairly fast. I think it took us two hours on skis to do the first 7km, then around another 2 hours of snowshoeing to the top. That includes all breaks and lunch.

It was fairly dull and cloudy on top…but I have a feeling the view isn’t THAT spectacular anyway. Nice…but not amazing. So then we quickly headed of downhill…with a couple of faceplants as we tried to run/make shortcuts. In no time we were back at our skis (moral learnt: snowshoeing downhill on broken trail = fun. Snowshoeing uphill in fresh snow = hard).

After hopping back on our skis it was a fast, fun easy descent for Mark and a terror filled hour of concentration for me as we made our way backdown. Competent cross-country skiers will have no problems…but I am far from competent and found the downhill difficult in places because of the packed snow (couldn’t snowplough). I had a couple of impressive wipeouts…but anyone above total beginner standard will certainly manage the way down for the most part.

It took us 6 hours all told…which left us another hour and a half before we would be picked up. So under pressure from our intense sugar craving we managed to hitch a ride into Jasper where we happily pigged out at the Bear Paw Bakery (highly recommended, and they didn’t give us free cookies to say that I promise!).

This can be done as a mountain bike ride (in summer obviously). Check out this site for a review from a mountain bikers perspective.

This book, Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies, is an excellent purchase for cross-country skiers and ski tourers who want to get out in the Rockies. It has trails from beginner level Nordic skis to expert 10 day ski tours involving glacier travel and mountaineering experience.