The signs of spring may be all around, but officials from Jasper National Park and its western neighbour Mount Robson Provincial Park were surprised last month to see how bold some snow sport enthusiasts had become in their efforts to find a place to sled.

An aerial patrol of the Mount Robson area early in April revealed that snowmobilers had managed to access Berg Lake, crossing some difficult terrain, and the borders of JNP, in order to do so.

“It’s the first time that’s happened in this specific area that I know of,” said Steve Blake, the top resource management warden for the national park. “It’s fairly complex glaciated terrain that they crossed.”

While only a small corner of Jasper park was involved in the “incursion”, Blake said that Parks Canada staff was cooperating with the efforts of Mount Robson employees to investigate the incident.

“We treat these things seriously,” said Blake. “The main incursion was into Robson and so they are investigating it with some vigour.”

Mount Robson superintendent Wayne Van Velzen told the Robson Valley Times that he was confident that the culprits were local and warned that illegal use of protected areas could make a difference to future decisions on where to allow snowmobiling access.

While much of Mount Robson park’s terrain can be accessed by sledders coming from private or crown lands, Jasper National Park is more protected against illegal snowmobiling, Blake said. Jasper is bordered by Banff National Park, Mount Robson and Hamber Provincial Parks in B.C. and the Willmore Wilderness Area. One of the only open areas along the borders runs down the east boundary of the park, and that area isn’t good for snowmobiling.

“We have some fortunate geography in terms of having protected areas on our borders and then the remaining terrain is not condusive to sledding,” said Blake.

As a result, the more prominent cases of illegal snowmobiling in the park have come on occasions when sledders driving through the park have decided to stop and take a little ride.

“Once someone snowmobiled right onto the toe of the Athabasca Glacier,” Blake said. “We were never able to find out where they were from; we just saw the tracks.”

There can be fines of more than $2,000 for illegal snowmobiling under the National Parks Act.