You never know what you’ll find in Jasper!

One traveler even spotted a garden gnome in Jasper National Park.

Photo by Northern Xander

I recently found out that some gnomes are not so lucky. There is a humorous website called FreeTheGnomes that urges freedom for gnomes everywhere.

Jasper by snowshoe: What could be a more classic way to explore the park? Today, outfitters offer snowshoe tours of Jasper National Park.

Imagine being in the same areas that 19th century fur traders and explorers. To see pictures, look no further than the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum’s historic outdoors photos (here) and be sure to visit the museum which is open Thursday to Sunday, 10-5 during winter.

To have your own snowshoe adventures, guides tours are an easy way to tour parts the Jasper National Park by snowshoe.

(Photo credit: Rich Anderson)

Guide Tours

The experience of a Jasper National Park snowshoe tour guide not only ensures safety but also gets you into some of the best places to see in the park in the snow.

Overlander Trekking is one such guide. Their offer: “Our trips venture into the deep snow of several different areas of Jasper searching for tracks and wildlife. This trip is available for all who want to enjoy the outdoors in winter. Beginners welcome.” Overlander has a guided $59 half-day package that includes boots, snowshoes, poles and transportation. This sounds like a great way to try out snowshoeing.

The Jasper Adventure Centre also has 2 snowshoe tour offerings. The first is a 3 hour package. The $60 guided tour is available December to March. Jasper Adventure Centre describes it as “While identifying animal tracks listen to the winter song of the chickadee, smell the pine forest on a warm day or hear the ‘crispness’ of an early winter morning.”

Their second offering is a $90, 5.5-6 hour guided tour package that includes food. Trekking through a more secluded area of the park, the tour is described as a complete package: “Transportation, snowshoes, campfire, hot dogs, and hot chocolate are the ingredients for a filling experience.”

DIY Snowshoeing

Snowshoes can be rented in the Jasper village and you can set out on your own. For anything more than a short hike, planning and a good map are required.

Whether going with a guide or on your own, the mixture of snow and mountains make an awareness of the potential of avalanches essential. While snowshoeing is usually done in save area, being prepared for anything is always a good plan. Learn more in ‘What You Need to Know About Avalanches in Jasper National Park‘.

As winter arrives and snow starts to accumulate, hikers, skiers and snowshoers always need to be aware of the potential for avalanches in Jasper National Park. Luckily, Parks Canada provides a means to stay up-to-date on current conditions and the Canadian Avalanche Centre provides free online training.

Parks Canada continually monitors avalanche conditions and reports on the current risk of avalanches at the alpine, treeline and below treeline elevations. In the current November 19th report, Parks Canada says “there will be isolated locations that will trigger an avalanche with the addition of a skier’s or climber’s weight.” The current risk is moderate but archived bulletins reveal variation. As the winter goes on, the risk increases. In January 2006, for example, the risk level was rated “considerable” for alpine and treeline elevations.

How can you be prepared if an avalanche does occur? Simple. Get training.

The Canadian Avalanche Association has developed an extensive online avalanche training course and it is 100% free. I highly advise doing this online course if you are planning on winter activities in the avalanche prone areas of Jasper National Park. Even if you have previous training, a refresher may be a helpful reminder.

The online course is divided into 7 sections including pre-trip preparation, reducing risk in the field, self rescue, companion rescue, post-recovery and more.

During pre-trip preparation, the Canadian Avalanche Association advises trip takers to have clear goals for the trip, be it exercise, traversing through complex terrain or just having a casual outing with friends. Then, make sure everyone going on the trip is compatible with the goals to ensure the utmost safety for everyone.

The course goes on to explain how avalanches form and how to spot places where avalanches have previously occurred. It is important to recognize a recent avalanche not only for rescue but because nearby slopes are likely to be unstable.

One of the really good exercises in the course is a series of 11 interactive mountain pictures where the challenge is to plot the best path down the mountain. It teaches the tell-tale features of the mountain that indicate a potential for an avalanche.

Another exercise helps to reinforce the steps to take if an avalanche does occur, from when the avalanche starts to what to do when it stops.

The Canadian Avalanche Association also offers instructor lead courses and there is a list on their website.