Nearly 1,000 metres above the legendary Mount Assinboine, renowned extreme athlete and Canmore’s Will Gadd takes in the sights after a three-hour flight with nothing but his paraglider and the wind. The flight to the iconic Canadian mountain was just one part of Gadd’s dream trip, as he will once again gain elevation in the form of rock climbing before taking to the air again and flying another 100 kilometres out of the remote area. Setting off from Ha Ling Peak, the expert paraglider circles for nearly an hour while the warm air rising from the iconic mountain takes him higher before heading toward the prominent peak approximately 50 kms away.
Canmore paddlers Steve and Natasia Varieur take on the Yukon River Quest, a 715-kilometre trip on the Yukon River. However, their canoe trip is cut short due to wildfires in the Yukon.
The Calgary Mountain Club (CMC) donated this significant collection to the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff of first ascents, articles, photographs, journals, and hut books. The collection is available for researchers and public viewing. Chic Scott, legendary mountaineer, skier, historian and author, looks back on CMC's historical and significant moments recorded in the Canadian Rockies that he’s kept for safekeeping for four decades.
Canmore climber and Kumpfy Shoes & Repair cobbler, Toranosuke “Tora” Nagayama, 25, together with two of his Japanese friends and fellow climbers put up a bold and historic world first ascent of the legendary alpine climbing route, the Cassin Ridge, on Alaska’s Mt. Denali, the highest peak in North America. Instead of climbing the towering 8,000-foot tall (2,439m) Cassin Ridge from its usual starting point at the Kahiltna Notch between the northeast and east forks of the Kahiltna Glacier, they started much further away and climbed the entire south ridge of Denali from its point of origin at 7,700 feet (2,350m) between the two glaciers.
To do it, Nagayama and his teammates, Subaru Takeda, 25, and Genya Takenaka, 26, both of whom currently live in Japan, first had to climb the west and east summits of the Kahiltna Peaks, 12,835 ft (3,913m) and 13,440 ft (4,098m), respectively, before descending 1,500 ft (460m) down a wildly exposed knife-edge ridge to the Kahiltna Notch, the conventional starting point of the Cassin. This not only increased the length of the climb by a staggering 7.5kms but also its height by at least 5,600 vertical feet (1,700m), a body and mind-numbing total accumulated ascent of at least 13,600 vertical feet (4,146m), most of it at high altitude, while carrying heavy packs through deep snow on punishingly steep terrain with zero room for error. In completing the ascent, they successfully created an elegant and long-coveted connection between the Cassin Ridge and the remainder of the entire south ridge of Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley (20,310 ft/6,192m).
Ching Yu and Rongqin Su, adventure filmmakers of DioDio Studio in Canmore, have their of three films – Find Me Outside, Old Mountain and The Great Divide – featured at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.
A new mountain bike track in Canmore is being planned that will not only connect two notable trails, but will also be one of the only adaptive lines in one of the top riding locations in Alberta. The planned 3.5-kilometre single track, which was discussed during the Canmore and Area Mountain Bike Association’s (CAMBA) annual general meeting this month, will attach Loki’s new starting point to the western access of Highline Trail. A major tipping point to bring the trail to fruition is connecting the entire trail community by designing it for accessible or adaptive users and beginner-level riders.
Expedition racer, Debbie Harksen, battles mental and physical challenges to complete a 600km journey to the finish line in the Novelle-Aquitaine region of France.
Canmore trail runner, Adam Mertens, unlocks first-known ridgeline circuit. Dubbing it the Bow Valley Cirque, Mertens completed an impressive 127km trek in 64 hours from Cascade to Rundle Traverse, the Ha Ling saddle, Mount Lawrence Grassi, Ship’s Prow, Big Sister, Rimwall W2, Wind Ridge, Grotto Mountain, Lady Macdonald and Mount Charles Stewart. For 64 hours, three minutes and three seconds, the adventure buff ran, climbed and scrambled through the Canadian Rockies to complete a route not known to have been ever done before. It’s the second time that Mertens has taken on such a monstrous feat.
Geocaching remains popular in Kananaskis Country despite Alberta Parks putting a halt on accepting new geocaching applications in Kananaskis in 2019 and has no current plans to reopen applications. Geocaching – an outdoor recreational activity that gained popularity in the early 2000s - sees participants use GPS technology to locate hidden containers, known as geocaches or caches, placed by other users in various locations. Caches can vary in size and most often contain a logbook for finders to sign and leave messages, and sometimes small trinkets for trading.
Dozens sign up for the Summit Seeker Adventure Race as part of Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing’s event, which also featured the inaugural Western Canadian Youth Adventure Racing Championships. Adventure racing is a multi-sport competition involving teams navigating against a clock while gaining points by finding checkpoints. The Canmore edition had three, two-hour sections – biking and two trekking – which had participants use clues, maps, cell phones, and compasses to locate the markers that were carefully spread around the area. Organizers hid the checkpoints in places like dry river beds, beside trails and inside concrete creek cylinders. Due to the vast network of trails at the Canmore Nordic Centre, participants had to put their navigation skills to good use or risk getting lost.
Powderface Creek trail, a popular multi-use trail located between Highway 66 and Powderface Trail in Kananaskis Country, reopens to the public after being updated with a reroute of a 2.6-kilometre section to provide better grades, improved drainage, and a more sustainable trail design. After decades of wear-and-tear from hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding, as well as natural elements, stewards Friends of Kananaskis Country completed work on the busy Powderface Creek trail following a $240,000 grant from Alberta Forestry and Parks.
November marked eight years and 96 continuous months of hitting the slopes for Canmore alpine skier Noah Jacobs. Even in the summer, when it’s more than 30 Celsius, Jacobs is hiking up and skiing down small patches of snow, sometimes only a hundred feet long, multiple times to fulfill his hunger for turns. The Canmore slopes-seeker is part of a small community of skiers and snowboarders who look to slide down snow at least one day, every month for as long as possible in a challenge called Turns All Year.
Bow Valley legends Barry Blanchard and Chic Scott, both household names in international and Canadian mountaineering circles, have been appointed to the Order of Canada – one of the country’s highest honours. A world-renowned alpinist, Blanchard has done numerous complex and demanding ascents in the Rockies, Alps and Himalayas, some of which have never been repeated. For more than 40 years, he has been a guide and mentor to countless mountain enthusiasts. Similarly, Scott has climbed and skied around the world, from Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak, to the Himalayas. A trailblazer in mountain climbing and ski mountaineering in Canada, he made notable first ascents and ski traverses nationally and internationally.
At least a dozen plaques, engraved with names and dates of people whose lives were cut short in the mountains, were delivered to Bob Krysak. He carried the plaques up a trail near Alpine Canada’s Canmore Clubhouse to carefully measure and firmly bolt each one on a new bench overlooking the Three Sisters. A dozen names already mark the 300-pound, locally carved log bench, manually carted about 300 metres up the trail by members of Bow Valley-based support group Mountain Muskox and the Alpine Club of Canada in 2023.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
