The vast network of trails around Jasper will be more accessible than ever this winter, and Parks Canada hopes to continue improving recreational possibilities in partnership with the Jasper Trail Alliance (JTA).

The upstart JTA is an independent group made up of local trail users who have been working closely with Parks officials to enhance the area’s offerings for hikers, bikers, skiers, and snowshoers.

With “so many kilometres” of trails throughout Jasper National Park, it just made sense to team up with local trail enthusiasts, according to Marcia DeWandel, a product development officer with Parks Canada.

“They’re what I call the community trail experts,” DeWandel said. “They’re really tapped into what’s going on.”

One of those experts is Loni Klettl, a lead organizer of the JTA and regular trail user who has been advising park staff on a number of issues. Recently, for example, she suggested that Parks Canada use snowmobiles to pack down the snow on several trails around the Jasper town site in order to more clearly mark the routes and make them accessible to a multitude of different users throughout the winter.

Parks obliged, laying tracks in the Pyramid Bench and Cabin Creek fire road areas.

“We’ve never really done that before,” explained DeWandel. “And so far, it’s been quite well received.”

The JTA is also helping to complement Jasper’s trail conditions reporting system, augmenting what’s available through the Parks Canada website with its own Facebook page where individual trail users can – and do – provide updates on what kind of shape they find local trails in.

Klettl said this is a perfect example of the types of thing the JTA is able to do more nimbly than Parks officials who, as part of a federal agency with several layers of bureaucracy, can’t maintain a Facebook page in the same manner.

“We can say things they can’t,” Klettl said. “We can have fun with it.”

Rogier Gruys, a visitor experience and product development specialist with Jasper National Park, said Parks Canada works closely with the JTA, but also wants to keep the group at arm’s length and fully independent.

“It’s really meant to be a community group for the community,” he said.

One current area of collaboration between Parks and the JTA, Gruys noted, is improving the quality of cross-country ski trails and making more people aware of the cross-country skiing options Jasper has to offer.

“In the past, we did lots of grooming but we didn’t tell people about it,” Gruys said.

There are now more than 70 kilometres of tracked trails – some classic, some classic with skate lanes – in Jasper. Gruys said full map of cross-country ski trails is available online at www.pc.gc.ca/jasper (click on the “Winter in Jasper” link) and a list of conditions for all trails can be found at www.pc.gc.ca/jaspertrails. 

The Parks Canada trail condition page has a direct link to the JTA Facebook page, which you can also find by simply searching Facebook for “Jasper Trail Alliance.”

Klettl said one of the best ways to get involved with the JTA is by becoming a member of its parent organization, the Friends of Jasper National Park, but the Facebook page is also a good place to start.

“People can check us out on our Facebook page and just sort of dabble in that, and see where the dabbling goes,” she said.