Crowsnest pass, Alberta, Canada

Last July when I was in Canada I got in a short ride at the crowsnest pass, which is the border of Alberta and BC. It looked like there was a lot more trail to check out and I was a little disappointed to have not spent more time in the area. Then this July when I was there, my uncle mentioned he was going to be camping there for the first week or so of August. It worked out for me to go up and bring my mountain bike and a tent.



I wound up waiting around for my uncle to tell him where he was and what he was doing for a couple of days and then finally got myself out there on Wednesday. There are a few camping options out there and after a quick ride on some trails at the ski area (where I'd biked last year) I ate and found a campsite at Chinook Lake, a few miles past and outside of Coleman. Crowsnest pass is a series of small towns that are nearly connected. From east to west, you go by Bellevue, Hillcrest, Frank, Blairmore, then Coleman, then get to the actual pass which is the border of Alberta and BC and the continental divide, so there are some tall mountains around. Chinook lake is a pretty big campground near- you guessed it- a lake. It was getting late by the time I finally had camp setup but there was time for a quick swim before dark and then sat in front of a fire and drank some beers

There are 3 main riding areas with purpose built trails in the area- first in Frank just above the slide, in Blairmore at the ski area, and then in Coleman in the mountains to the south. Trailforks is very useful for riding in the area (and most places):

The network in Frank is fairly small, and I'd already ridden most of the Blairmore trails, so Coleman was where I wanted to spend some time. Thursday I stopped at the cinnamon bear cafe to get some extra energy (I highly recommend this place) and then hit the trails at around 11. It was already getting warm. As you can see those trails span a pretty large area and I had heard good things about york with a fork and school of rock. I would up climbing next to school of rock and went down the upper section before continuing upward.

I went up to the top of that big slab and then chickened out. I'm sure I can ride down it just fine but I was out there alone and my main goal while riding is generally to not get hurt. Then later I heard two stories of crashes and broken bones on there, so maybe it was for the best. Continuing on past school of rock, I did some climbing up to the top of a trail called rumhead. It was a fairly long way up there and pretty warm out, and then I took the shorter, steeper route that involved some walking near the top. Rumhead was more of a traditional trail without the jumps and bike specific features. Fast, and steep, and a lot of work for the brakes. Strava shows an average grade of 17% The bottom of that put me near york with a fork, which was built with bikes in mind, traveling downhill only. So, you get banked corners, drops, jumps, alternate lines and all sorts of features along the trail.

This is kind of a theme in the area- nearly every trail has this kind of stuff, from rocks along the trail with little ramps so you can roll up them and over the back, to big ladder drops and huge gap jumps. I was riding a flowy blue trail (buck 50 in Blairmore), and glanced uphill to notice all sorts of freeride features on and off of boulders and rock faces. The crowsnest riders and trail builders have put a lot of work into the trails out there, much more than we do in Missoula. There are a significant amount of built wooden features and bridges and it has me wondering why we don't do more of that (well, I know why, and it's because most of our trails are on public land).

Continuing on from the bottom of "york with a fork" I decided I wasn't done yet despite it being hot, and me being low on water, and decided to climb a trail called big bear which puts you into a double black diamond rated descent. This, it turns out, is a little much for me on an xc bike with xc tires. Some of the rock roll downs and drops were big, and one section of the trail was a little steep for tires with hardly any grip so I did so a bit of walking. A couple more trips on a more "trail" oriented bike and I would probably be fine with the whole trail, but they definitely mean it when a trail is rated double-black. With black and blue trails there are usually ride arounds for the jumps and more difficult features but not so on the double.

Anyhow, tired, out of water, and in 90+ degree heat I made it back to town without hurting myself and went straight to 7-11 for some much needed fluids and electrolytes and sugar, then I had some lunch, went back to the campground, and hopped in the lake.

I had already decided to stay a 2nd night, and there was a Thursday night ride over in Frank, so after a little recovery I headed over to the Frank Slide interpretive center for the ride. There were about 5-6 of us and they keep it fairly short, so I was able to handle a 2nd ride after like 4 hours out in the heat. Pretty similar to our own TNRs although the leader was hitting all the huge jumps and drops that I would definitely not ever do. I'm too old for that shit.

Thursday's rides:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1761452934
https://www.strava.com/activities/1761791393

After another night solo drinking molson's and eating jalapeno chips it was time to head back to Lethbridge but I thought I would get in a Friday spin around Frank slide first.

Lot of big rocks out there. I had some ice cream, then stopped at Old Man River brewing in Lundbreck for a snack and a growler fill. Surprisingly, that is the only brewery in the Crowsnest pass area. I would think at least 1-2 more would be able to stay busy, especially since Lundbreck is a little out of town, to the east before you actually get to the pass. Who wants to move there and open one up?