Mountain Insider - Busy Kananaskis

Rob: It was a busy weekend in the Bow Valley. Trail heads everywhere were just packed with people. Climbing and scrambling routes, hiking routes, jam packed as well. That turned into a really busy weekend for Kananaskis Emergency Services, responding to a variety of calls, really whatever you can think of.

Tanya: More than 20 rescues from Friday through Sunday. Several back-to-back and three on Mount Yamnuska.  One, unfortunately, was a fatality. It also led to a 24 hour closure by Alberta Parks of the mountain to give Kananaskis rescue services a bit of a breather.

Rob: I’ve been living in the Bow Valley for coming up on 19 years now and I don’t recall that kind of closure ever happening where they’re just like, “We’re overwhelmed. We need to close an entire area.”

Tanya: They had to call in an extra helicopter. Ambulances had a difficult time making it to trailheads because of the vehicles parked and how busy everything was.

We’ve seen this gradual increase of use of these Provincial Park areas, generally speaking, over the last several years, but right now it’s pretty explosive. A lot of the things that remain closed due to COVID-19 are recreational type things. So Albertans are flocking to nature. I don’t think we expected it would be at this level.

Rob: Another issue that’s coupled with that is the fact that the Alberta government is reducing some Alberta park services, making it so that people who are new to the backcountry or less experienced don’t necessarily have the same level of resources available than they would before.

Tanya: A lot of the campsite closures and changes to some of the parks have been delayed a year. But the visitor information center in Kananaskis Country at Barrier Lake is closed. I think that this is a huge missed opportunity by Alberta Parks to have somewhere where people, especially first time users, have to go. There’s other reasons too, like cell phone reception is challenging in Kananaskis Country and oftentimes you have to go to the information center to make an emergency call. Wildlife information. You see a family walk in, they’re wearing like flip flops. They’re like, “Hey, do you think we should go to Yam? Is that a nice, easy hike for that age?” Someone can say “No, stop.”

Rob: Hopefully some of this news that’s been getting a lot of high profile attention is making people aware that say, for example, Yamnuska is not just like an easy stroll through the woods and that people in general should be better prepared for day hikes. Have a plan. Have the supplies that you need, a change of clothes for changing weather, proper footwear, and just sort of a general knowledge of where you’re going and what some of the risks are.

Rob: An additional real concern is being expressed in the MD of Bighorn about where people are parking and how some people are accessing these lands.

Tanya: Highway 1A between Canmore and Exshaw within the MD of Bighorn is home to a number of things. We have industrial operations – BURNCO, Baymag, Lafarge, Greymont. There’s also Alberta parks trailheads and day use areas like Gap Lake, Grotto Pond, Jura Creek. This year these lots are filling up and people are parking on the side of the highway. When we’re looking at trail heads at Grassi and Goat, it’s problematic, but it’s even more problematic on the one 1A highway because it’s also an industrial corridor. We’re talking about 90 tonne rock trucks traveling 90 kilometres an hour. People are parking on the side of the highway and getting out with their families, creating concern about public safety.

Rob: This kind of thing just doesn’t happen in, say, Banff National Park. If a trail head parking lot is full, you don’t see cars overflowing onto the TransCanada Highway. That gets shut down pretty darn quick. So is better enforcement needed in that area? Is it even possible to enforce more?

Tanya: If you look at Parks, Canada, what they have also been doing is putting bollards or no parking signs out on the shoulders of the road. If they’re really popular places they have staff on site in order to direct people. All it takes is one person to park along the roadway for everyone else to think it’s okay. And under the Traffic Safety Act, it is illegal to park on the side of a highway. So enforcement is possible, but that takes resources as well.

We’re looking at this massive increase in use of these recreation areas. I think Alberta Parks and Alberta Transportation need to be talking about what more they should be doing to manage this.