Outdoor Video Magazine

I spent a few days at Edith Cavell Hostel this winter. Looking for a fun day trip on cross-country skis, I decided to venture along the trail towards Tonquin Valley, the Ramparts and Amethyst Lake. It is around 19km one way into the valley itself, so I knew I wasn’t going to make it all the way. We knew from speaking to the hostel guys that snowmobiles had been out on the trail, in fact the hostelling guy worked at the ACC Wates/Gibson Hut as well as the hostel, and often commuted back and forth (tough job huh?). I would NOT recommend this on cross-country skis if the trail has not been packed! It would be for touring skis only.

As it was, we had some 6 inches to a foot of fresh snow on the snowmobile tracks at first, which made for gorgeous “fluffy” skiing as I like to call it. We descended down a narrow trail through some trees, with good views of surrounding mountain peaks in the gaps. It was interesting skiing, with just enough ups downs and bends to keep you on your toes but not put you in the snow face first. Except once. After around 40mins we broke out next to the Astoria River. Here instead of following the Tonquin Valley hiking trail, the snowmobiles blazed up by the river. So we followed their tracks. It was a barely noticeable uphill gradient all the way, with stunning scenery in the form of snow-capped peaks and impressive cliffs. The valley is nice and wide, and there is no avalanche risk along it. We skied another 2 hours or so up this direction, and judged we had gone around 16km in total by the time we turned round. If you’re a very strong skier and you have a nicely packed trail you could make it into Tonquin Valley and back to Edith Cavell in one very, very long day.

Coming back the gradient is such you can double pole most of the way making for a nice quick return to where you joined the river. Then it is a bit of an uphill slog back to the hostel.

I think part of the reason we were lucky and had packed snowmobile trails to follow was because there was a group on the Waites-Gibson Hut who had food catered for them for the week. So the snowmobiles were probably shuttling food in and out. Check with the hostel people or with the ACC if you want to know in advance if the trail has been packed.

I think this would be a long, hard, flat day on touring skis with skins! I wouldn’t envy it at all, I am definitely going to remember to leave Tonquin Valley via Maccarib Pass instead if I ever get back there on AT gear.

I don’t know much about climbing, I only started in January. And I know even less about ice-climbing. So why am I writing on this topic you may ask? Well I’m not..it just looks like I am. I came across some cool ice-climbing videos on YouTube. They feature what is billed as the greatest ice climb in the Canadian Rockies. It’s the Polar Circus, located 27km North of Saskatchewan crossing in Jasper National Park. It’s a 700m V5 (that means its pretty hard I think, haha).

The videos linked below show some great climbing footage, and also a lot of background chit-chat and preparations. Something the avid ice-climber will probably enjoy. It is in 3 parts, each video around 6-8 minutes long. Enjoy!

Part 1 - Polar Circus Ice Climbing Video

Part 2 - Polar Circus Ice Climbing Video

Part 3 - Polar Circus Ice Climbing Video

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.