Rising freestyle skiing star, Gage LeBlanc, is used to giving 100 per cent, but even he can’t believe his fundraising goal is at 105 per cent. Thanks to a big push at an October 21 silent auction and lobster dinner hosted by Earls in the Rockies, Gage is now headed to Sweden to train. “We did it! I ...

Skiers, horseback riders and hikers lose out; backcountry lodges forced into disrepair Riding across Maccarib Pass into the Tonquin Valley feels like passing through a mist-filled portal into Narnia, a magical place populated by mythical creatures, including grizzly bears, wolverines and endangered ...

This story originally appeared in the March 1, 2020 edition of The Jasper Local . Author’s note: If any names have been changed, it’s to spare the blushes of Jasper’s stolid citizens. Those who dream by night . . . wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous...

At least 10 bears using townsite to feed on ornamental fruit and berry trees Jasper National Park is planning to remove several bears from the townsite. For weeks, multiple black bears, including two sets of female bears with cubs, have been feeding on the abundant fruit in a variety of non-native f...

Andrew Bovard is back on top of the 24 hour solo mountain biking podium. The 45-year-old Jasperite took home first place in the Masters category at the recent Canadian Rockies 24 , held at Canmore’s nordic centre. “That course is the hardest 2-4 course,” Bovard said. “It’s rooty, rutty and rocky.” B...

There’s a cute book in the Jasper Museum called Bears in the Alley . It’s a compilation of stories, mostly by Jasper old timers, who regale readers with recollections of life living with black bears. Back in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, not only were there plenty of bears in Jasper’s alleys, but there we...

Amphibian enthusiasts, take note: it’s toad time in Jasper. Area lakes are swimming with toads right now, and if you’re relaxing on a Rocky Mountain lake, for example, you might just encounter a toad takeover. “Right now Western (Boreal) toads are transforming and leaving their breeding ponds as toa...

As the August Long Weekend takes shape and Parks Canada reminds visitors and residents to be bear-aware, two grizzlies that were hanging out in downtown Jasper are keeping their distance far in the backcountry Two habituated bears, translocated by helicopter into the Jasper National Park backcountry...

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is still being studied, but high water events in the Rockies offer clues Medicine Lake has breached its banks for the fourth year in a row. To visitors, the event is an interesting but perhaps unremarkable sight on their tour of many Rockies waterbodies. To kayakers i...

Photos by Simone Heinrich Coyote pups are starting to make their annual appearance in Jasper National Park. The pups are venturing out of their dens and beginning to use their eyes, ears and noses to learn about the world around them. An average litter size of six makes for many playmates and there ...

Photos by Simone Heinrich It’s baby time in Jasper—elk calves, moose calves, sheep lambs and goat kids are out as well as goslings, ducklings owlets…and bear cubs. Simone Heinrich photograph Bear cubs are full of energy and can provide some great entertainment when there are safe viewing opportuniti...

When 16-year-old freestyle skier Gage LeBlanc gets into the starting gates of a mogul course, he has to stare down 160 knee-high bumps of solid snow and ice, plus two huge jumps off of which he will spin, flip and twist through the air. “It can be intimidating,” LeBlanc explained. “You have to reall...

Two grizzly bears that had been habituated to using the Jasper townsite have been captured and relocated to a remote part of Jasper National Park. The three-year-old siblings, which were “skinny and food-stressed,” according to Parks Canada human-wildlife conflict specialist Steve Malcolm, were capt...

Scottish weather greeted early-season golfers but a week after opening day (which was May 7), members and guests saw that last winter’s insulating snowfall has helped make course conditions at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course as good as they’ve been in decades. Ranked consistently as Numbe...

Look who’s up. Bears are being spotted in Jasper a bit earlier than usual this year. Prints have been spotted on the Pyramid Bench. But how do bears know when it’s time to wake up from their long winter’s nap? Unlike teenage humans, it’s not the smell of bacon and eggs that gets those big boys and g...

Photos by Jamie Robson The Jasper Park Cycling Association is shifting gears into fundraising mode. With a new operating permit in hand from Parks Canada and a fresh lease agreement with the Municipality of Jasper, members of the non-profit group once again have their collective eye on their flagshi...

Photos by Simone Heinrich , Jasper Local wildlife photographer Although it may seem like this pair of bald eagles are pushing the season, showing up to their Medicine Lake home while we are still snowshoeing to Watchtower Canyon and skate skiing down the snow-covered mudflats below their sizeable ne...

After bison, moose are the second-largest naturally occurring land animal in North America. Nice try horses, you’re imported. Unlike other members of the deer family, moose have no white rump patch. They’re brown all over and darker underneath, according to the definitive guide to the Rocky Mountain...

Local photographer Simone Heinrich found this furry friend at Maligne Lake recently. Red foxes are part of the dog family. In the Rockies, red foxes are solitary during late fall and winter, living without dens in home ranges of 3.5-8.5 km-square, according to naturalist Ben Gadd’s Handbook of the C...

In the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, near the famous crater where the celebrated Ngorongoro Conservation Area teems with wildlife and tourists, Jasper Alberta’s Cory Wallace is “motor pacing” behind a tuktuk along a busy paved road near Arusha, Tanzania. As Wallace’s tire hovers less than a metre fro...