June 26, 2008 – There’s some exciting news from the National Parks about great plans for improved XC skiing at Lake Louise. Parks Canada is circulating a public questionnaire that everyone is urged to fill out and submit. Please view the Parks Canada questionaire

Also letters of support from ski clubs and associations on their club letterhead would be appreciated by the National Parks. The deadline for responses to Parks Canada is next week at Lake Louise. There will be public meetings in July. Stay tuned for more details.

Lake Louise XC ski proposal by National Parks, June 2008
Additional notes by Alasdair Fergusson 24 June 2008

Attached you will find a 4-page proposal & questionnaire from the National Parks for XC ski trail improvement at Lake Louise. Included is a questionnaire for input from the public. I received this yesterday afternoon. Please respond by the deadline next week. Your views are important. In addition, the National Parks would appreciate letters of support from clubs and associations. Please mail or fax to the Superintendent at Lake Louise as shown on the attachment.

Progress on this plan to improve the visitor experience for XC skiing depends on community support and feedback. Some additional points following my extensive conversation with the Backcountry Trails Manager this morning are as follows:

• Nat. Parks intent is to maintain the character of the existing Fairview and Telemark trails as widened this
past few years by Calgary Ski Club volunteers and Nat. Parks staff. (A groomed XC ski trail of 3 metres
within a cleared width between trees of 4 metres,;wider on the hills.)
• Brush cutting assists in bear management efforts by reducing or removing berry shrubs close to the Lake.
• Intent is to retain what Cross Country Ski Areas Assoc. has called “narrower, more intimate, traditional
trails”. Not “Superhighways”.
• The new trails are laid out to exploit existing natural clearings in the forest as before.
• The Parks admit their challenge will be to exploit the existing terrain with minimal terrain modification.
• Nat. Parks do not want to create “roadways” so will not use earthmoving equipment. Therefore the trails
will be similar to the existing Fairview and Telemark trails. Parks do NOT want summer usage in such an
important wildlife corridor.
• New trails will offer shorter and easier loops to appeal to more skiers than at present.
• It is proposed to cut a second parallel trail to create a safer alternate one-way trail system for the infamous “Big Hill” on the Upper Telemark behind the Chateau and Brewster stables.

Reasons to focus on Chateau area trails:

– Concentrate trail grooming on one area with better snow and fewer wildlife problems than at Pipestone.
РExisting services such as new enlarged heated washrooms, asphalt parking lots, and caf̩ services at Chateau and Deer Lodge are available at the trailhead.
– Improve signage, maps and brochures for one area for visitor safety and convenience.
– Parks will lease or purchase a small 3 metre wide snowcat for improved trail grooming and tracksetting
– Environmental Assessments on this proposal, which will be developed in the important Fairview wildlife corridor, are required. However with winter-only use and deep snow, winter conflicts should be few.
– Final internal Nat. Parks budget approvals are still to be obtained.

Two year Timetable is as follows:

– Early June Meeting with Lake Louise Community Council.
– Late June Circulate questionnaire for public input.
– Mid – late July Public Forum with results of questionnaire and comments.
– August Environmental assessments.
– September Trail clearing & construction starts.
– Late Oct. – Nov. Trail clearing construction where reqd. on frozen bog areas.
– Nov. 2008 Some new trails available for skiing. Snowcat obtained for tracksetting.
– Nov. 2009 Project finished.

I was requested to submit a report to the Parks Superintendent by Nov. 30 2007, based on my 29 years volunteering at the Lake Louise Loppet. This Nat. Parks proposal offers more ski trails than my conservative proposal.

Obviously there will be necessary changes made once environmental assessments are made. In principle, this represents a wonderful opportunity for XC skiers. It is a fitting conclusion to the pioneering volunteers of the Alpine Club who started the Telemark race (predecessor to the Lake Louise Loppet) in 1973 to popularize skiing in Alberta’s snow-belt, and to the many volunteers of the Calgary Ski Club who have worked on the Lake Louise trails since 1979 to benefit all skiers not only the Loppet.

I recommend to all skiers and clubs to support this proposal and provide additional comments.

Alasdair Fergusson, Lake Louise Loppet Coordinator 1986 – Present, Calgary Ski Club
Email: loppet@calgaryskiclub.org