Exciting adventures and winter fun waiting for Alberta families
Beacon Staff Reporter
There are a lot of ways to enjoy a snowy Alberta winter. Photo courtesy TravelAlberta.com
With snow settling all across Southern Alberta, it’s time for some winter fun of all kinds.
Alberta’s Provincial Parks offer winter camping, equipment rentals, and various exciting events in many of our parks.
There are several cross-country ski trails throughout Southern Alberta, including Chinook Provincial Recreation Area, Syncline Provincial Recreation Area and Beauvais Lake Provincial Park. Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, near Medicine Hat, boasts more than 15 km of groomed and track set cross-country ski trails.
The Spring Creek cross-country ski trails on the plateau South of Elkwater offer an excellent variety of winter fun skiing for both beginner and novice skiers. The Spruce Coulee trails east of Elkwater are excellent trails for all levels of cross-country skiers.
The park’s visitor centre also has a variety of winter fun equipment available for rent, including pulks (enclosed toboggans with harnesses), ski attachments for chariot strollers, kick sleds, toboggans, geo-caching GPS units and snowshoes. Suggested route maps are available at the visitor centre.
Ski or snowshoe in/out accommodation rentals are now available at two backcountry huts to extend your winter fun to an overnight stay. They are located approximately 5 km from the parking area at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.
The cabins sleep between 8 and 10 people and have a living/dining room and a fully stocked kitchen area. Winter coziness is provided by a wood burning stove. Call 403-893-3833 for more information and to book your winter fun vacation.
On Jan. 12 and March 10, join Gregg Campbell, a level 3 Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructor and a former national team member, for a winter fun afternoon of skate skiing at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.
Classes for children run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Cypress Hills Learning Centre. Adult classes are from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Cross-country ski clinics are free and open to skiers at every skill level.
The first annual Cypress Hills Loppet will be held on Feb. 23. This fun cross-country ski race will have an 8 km family loop and a 22 km open event. Contact the Cypress Hills visitor information centre at 403-893-3833 for more details.
For more overnight opportunities, winter camping is a wonderful adventure for the whole family and sites are available at Chain Lakes Provincial Park; Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park – Elkwater, Lakeview and Spruce Coulee; Dinosaur Provincial Park; Kinbrook Island Provincial Park; and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reservations can be done at the campsite at Dinosaur Provincial Park by calling 403-378-4344 or at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park by calling 403-647-2364, extension 229.
For world-renowned cross-country skiing, visit Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park, the Kananaskis Village/Ribbon Creek system or West Bragg Creek.
At the Canmore Nordic Centre, Alberta residents and visitors can even enjoy night skiing from sundown until 9 p.m. on the lit Banff Trail up to Junction 7 where it meets the Banff Loop Trail. The day lodge closes at 5:30 p.m. daily.
There are ample opportunities to experience winter fun by snowshoe in Kananaskis Country as well. Visitors can skate at outdoor ice rinks at Sheep Valley Provincial Park, the Kananaskis Village and Canmore Nordic Centre, or slide down a toboggan hill at Kananaskis Village.
World Snow Day will be celebrated on Jan. 20 at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park. The celebration includes free skiing for children and youth under 17, as well as an opportunity for girls aged 9 to 19 and boys aged 10 to 14 to ski with Olympians Sara Renner, Gord Jewitt and Sean Crooks.
Jan. 20 is also Avalanche Day in Kananaskis Country. Visit the Burstall Pass day use area on the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for a variety of demonstrations, including how to use avalanche beacons and the role of rescue dogs.
For winter camping, sites are available at McLean Creek Provincial Recreation Area on a first-come, first-served basis. The Mount Kidd RV Park in the Evan-Thomas Provincial Recreation Area has amenities to suit most camping enthusiasts.