First-come, first-served campgrounds' days are numbered in Jasper National Park For decades, Jasper residents could decide on a summer camping trip with little more planning than throwing some gear in the vehicle and heading 15 minutes east of town. That spontaneity is about to become harder to find...

Jasper runners establish new ultra-marathon circuit Alex Lader was lying on the trail, shivering uncontrollably. He had already run more than 80 kilometres, summited three of four peaks in the Jasper townsite area and spent hours exposed to the sun and heat. Now, after making it about 500 metres pas...

What an ultramarathon taught me about strength, fear and showing up in the mountains Before sunrise The hairs rise on my arms and the butterflies in my stomach flutter vigorously as I step out of the car into the fresh July mountain air. I exhale deeply and load my Strava. It’s 5 a.m. and my eyes ar...

Jasper boat captain becomes the first recorded person to swim the 22-kilometre length of one of the Rockies’ most iconic lakes At 6:30 a.m. on Monday, August 3, with the air temperature hovering near zero and the glacial water of Maligne Lake sitting at around 4 C, Kat Scheuermann put her face in th...

Being prepared in bear country helped prevent a potentially far more serious outcome after a grizzly bear made contact with a hiker on the Opal Hills trail last week, according to Parks Canada. The incident occurred July 10, one day after Parks Canada issued a wildlife warning following a separate c...

Jasper runners were at the front of the pack as the Alpenglow Ultramarathon returned to Valemount for its second year, with Maddie Trottier capturing the women's 100-kilometre title and Brooklyn Rushton finishing third in the women's 65-kilometre race. Trottier powered through the punishing course i...

Reopened after nearly two years of closure following the 2024 wildfire, the beloved Valley of the Five Lakes trail network is once again welcoming hikers into one of Jasper National Park’s most iconic landscapes—although visitors this time will encounter a dramatically changed environment. Parks Can...

On a variable May morning at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier, a new kind of machine hummed quietly onto the ancient ice. After decades of diesel engines roaring across one of the most visited glaciers in North America, Pursuit unveiled what it says is the world’s first electric Ice Explorer — a Can...

Jasper photographer Simone Heinrich captured an evening of aurora activity recently. Good things come to those who wait. // Simone Heinrich On Friday (April 18), when most people were crawling into bed, Heinrich stepped outside to check out the night sky. She could see faint hints of northern lights...

More than a ribbon of tar and gravel, the Icefields Parkway is a meandering journey of stories and adventures. In 1971, Rory Flanagan was fed up. More than 40 years after the first shovel turned the rocky soil to construct a road to connect Jasper to Banff, the route still didn’t have a name. That w...

God, I was tired. And we still had to hike out. The author on a Mount Christie expedition in 2005, around the same time he celebrated his 60th year. // Liam Harrap I had wanted to see 60 in with a flourish, not a walking stick and a sit on a bench in the Park. That was the reason I was so tired. I h...

Festival will feature astronomy experts, space-themed experiences and signature events that highlight Jasper's exceptional stargazing opportunities Jasper’s dark sky will soon be back in the spotlight. The 15th iteration of the Jasper Dark Sky Festival is set to illuminate the national park October ...

"Returning to Jasper this summer, I found myself rerooting, as an Albertan who spent most of my adult life abroad." The palette beyond our engine was a blinding white. Not snow, not fog, but something closer to the emptied light that those who brush against death claim to glimpse — a blankness that ...

He passed us, not a care in the world as if he were strolling on a tropical beach. He wore running shoes and just a pair of shorts. It was hot, boiling hot as it can be on a glacier with the sun blasting down. The four of us, roped and on the way down, were not in beachwear; we had crampons on and w...

Part 3: Seeing the forest floor through the trees In  Part 1 of our Walking Through Fire series , we discussed how post-fire vegetation bounces back. In Part 2 we looked at animals' attraction to fire . But what did the fire uncover about the landscape itself? The Jasper 2024 fire exposed an epic st...

Even though the summer sun was sweltering, the mother grizzly kept up the search. Eventually, she poked her nose into the ground and started digging. Within minutes, her head and shoulders had vanished underground, and before long she re-emerged with a wriggling prize in her jaws: a Columbian ground...

Part 2: Home is where the hearth is In Part 1 of our Walking Through Fire series , we discussed how post-fire vegetation bounces back. But what about animals' attraction to fire? There is a small stampede of wild things drawn to fire’s heat and the blackened forests it leaves behind. Some pyro-lovin...

Collars, fences and attractant elimination keys to bear management Jasper National Park bear biologists are keeping a close eye on area grizzlies. At the same time, initial steps are being taken for two large fencing projects in the park to help mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. As of June 9, seven...

Earlier this year, Jasper Local publisher Andrea Ziegler skied into a backcountry cabin with her husband and a group of friends. She was not expecting a close encounter with the furred kind. The incident After a fun day of skiing followed by an evening feast, a rowdy game of Liar’s Dice and some bev...

Part 1: Pioneer species on a fire-affected landscape Driving into the park a month after the 2024 Jasper Wildfire, we braced ourselves for a charred-earth landscape. Emotions of loss, devastation, and trepidation followed us in. So when we passed vibrant patches of green grasses springing from newly...