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...

Suddenly, I saw the head of a horse above the willows of the overgrown trail. Riderless, and coming towards me. But it was mistaken identity. This was no horse, it was a grizzly bear—and he wasn't stopping. I did. Well one does when you're brought up short in grizzly country by the squire of the lan...

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...

Hans Schwarz’s life was shaped by mountains, but it was never a straight ascent. Schwarz passed away on April 11. At his funeral on Tuesday, April 28, a small gathering of friends, family and fellow climbers pieced together a story that stretched from the Alps to the peaks above Jasper National Park...

Jasperite Susi Pfisterer’s 2016 biography on her father is now available on the world’s largest audiobook and podcast platform. When it debuted, 50 Percent of Mountaineering is Uphill: The Life of Canadian Mountain Rescue Pioneer Willi Pfisterer, received high praise from not just local readers, but...

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...

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...

A father and son’s five-year journey to summit mighty Mount Robson From a distance, Mount Robson looks like something painted onto the horizon. Mount Robson looms large from the Yellowhead Highway. // Creative Commons Its glaciated ridges and sheer cliffs dwarf everything around it. At 3,954 metres,...

En route to Jasper on July 23, 2024, as part of the Banff wildland firefighting team, Sara-Jay (SJ) Nogel was pretty sure she saw her dream going up in smoke .  Flying above Highway 93N, from her seat in the helicopter, SJ saw a dense plume of smoke up the Athabasca River valley, rising over Wabasso...

At 4:20 p.m. on July 24, 2025—three days after the 100th year anniversary of its first ascent— two men who had been making their way up the steep, crumbly, snow-covered rock of isolated Mount Alberta suddenly ran out of mountain to climb. With radiant smiles shining through the freezing rain, the cl...

A rare ascent of a local peak, a climber campaigning to honour his family, and an uncovered register of heralded names in Jasper National Park’s alpinist community. The ingredients of a mountain tale, if there ever were any. For the past two summers, 31-year-old Andrew Everett has hung his helmet ne...

Jasper roping up for celebrations of Mount Alberta's 1925 inaugural ascent If you are going to steal a mountain in Jasper, I’d recommend Mount Alberta. It’s old (around 75 million years), but lightly used. It’s almost completely hidden from the Icefields Parkway—crowded in among more popular peaks—s...

A new alpine facility will be built at Robson Pass, in B.C.’s Mount Robson Provincial Park. The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC ) has the go-ahead to construct a two-storey, 12-person alpine hut near iconic Berg Lake , at the doorstep of mighty Mount Robson. “We’re super excited,” said Keith Haberl, the ...

Curtain Call, Polar Circus, Weeping Wall…Patricia Street? One of these Rocky Mountain ice climbing classics is not like the other. However, thanks to the creative minds at Rockaboo Mountain Adventures and with support from Travel Alberta, ice climbing is rising up in downtown Jasper. Along with ice ...

The Jasper wildfire was a fiery furnace, temperatures reaching almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt copper and gold.  With such atomic obliteration, will we ever see the forest come back within our lifetime, certainly within mine? In four days in August I would have my answer.  There ...

A painful slog out of Jasper’s backcountry has taught a party of skiers a lesson in being prepared for safe adventuring. Jasper’s John Ward has skied many a mile over many a mountain pass—and made most of his tracks and turns without incident. “I’ve never required any assistance,” Ward said. John Wa...

This is the sequel to Poetry in the Snow , from February 9, 2024. Next day we skied  to the alpine and came across fresh grizzly tracks. One of the things I enjoyed about snow camping was the comforting thought that all the bears were tucked up snugly in their dens and I could get a good night's sle...

Local climbers and Jasper history buffs are gearing up for an exciting tribute to one of the 20th Century’s most significant alpine accomplishments. The Jasper/Hinton section of the Alpine Club of Canada, in conjunction with the Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society, are hosting a panel discussion on...

Campers, get ready to be happy. Starting next week, Parks Canada’s reservation system opens up and campers looking to enjoy the natural beauty of Jasper National Park, among other national parks and historic sites, will be able to book their trips. The reservation system for Jasper National Park fro...