JASPER
The Local
ALTERNATIVE +
LOCAL + INDEPENDENT
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020 // ISSUE 170
HIKING WITH ANGELS// Jasper’s Regis St.-Pierre and his son Eliam frolicking amongst the wildflowers at Mount Edith Cavell Meadows, with the embrace of Angel Glacier in the background. // M.A. ARCAND
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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 170 // SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020
EDITORIAL //
Local Vocal I thought I came up with a pretty good metaphor for 2020 in Alberta the other day when I accidentally pepper-sprayed myself. It was particularly apt, because not only did I mace myself, I got my neighbour, too. Luckily, the can was pointing at the ground when I unintentionally popped the safety and hit the trigger, discharging a cone-shaped cloud of super spice, but the experience certainly left both of us coughing and retching—and, to my neighbour’s credit, laughing—in the wake of the mishap. Nevertheless, after learning about our provincial government’s latest political maneuvers I don’t think my analogy was completely on the nose. Now, had I sent my neighbour to the emergency room to wait for a health care worker who was just fired, sputtered moistly all over a classroom of students and their overrun teacher, and knocked a barrel of coal slurry into nearby Cabin Creek while writhing in pain, perhaps then I would be close to drawing a proper parallel. What is happening in this province? Between making it illegal to protest with the draconian Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (Bill 1); siphoning off funds meant for victims via the Victims of Crime Amendment Act (Bill 16); selling off 184 provincial parks and recreation areas; rescinding a decadesold policy that restricted coal mining in sensitive ecosystems; slashing labour rights of workers; and sending students back to school with no increase in funding to manage COVID-19 protocols, the UCP government is doing to Alberta’s institutions, workers and environments what those dough-heads roughcamping in the Bighorn Backcountry have been doing lately: making a damn mess of the place. You’d think that a government could only defecate in the well water for so long, before those drinking it would get sick of their crap, but Albertans are somehow still supporting the premiere and his lackeys—a group I’m lumping our West Yellowhead representative into, by the way, whose voting record and lack of accountability to local media doesn’t exactly indicate otherwise. If my words seem disrespectful, if my tone sounds harsh, consider how harsh and disrespectful the policies that the UCP government has ushered in under the cover of COVID-19 have been for Albertans. Consider the marginalized people who are, under Bill 1, going to have a much more limited ability to collectively pressure for change. Consider the victims of crime or tragedy whose already threadbare services will be undercut by Bill 16. Consider the folks downstream of the headwaters of Alberta’s eastern slopes where open-pit coal mining will soon be allowed. Consider your kids who are going to be at increased risk of catching COVID-19 in their schools. Sure, a blast of bear spray makes me gag. But bear spray’s not lethal. This government’s current direction, on the other hand, is killing Alberta. BOB COVEY // bob@thejasperlocal.com
Closing streets to vehicular traffic Dear Editor I live in Edmonton and always make sure to read The Local while in your wonderful town. I enjoyed your article regarding closing the 600 block of Patricia St to traffic. I agree with your thinking. There were far too many people on the sidewalks last weekend who had
no plan on social distancing or mask wear. My husband and I were often on the road trying to avoid them. We were in Banff for a few nights a bit later in week and their closed streets with large patio areas were brilliant. Granted it wasn’t as busy being a Wednesday/Thursday but overall a much
more pleasant time. We have also closed some lanes of traffic in Old Strathcona in Edmonton which seems to be working quite well. Just know you have me on your side! Maybe next year. Cheers, Janet Boyes
EDMONTON, AB
The Jasper Local //
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// LOCAL DOWNTOWN
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020 // ISSUE 170 // The Jasper Local // PAGE A3
SERVING THE GREATER GOOD // The Jasper Brewing Company has recently made masks mandatory for guests while not seated at their tables.// B COVEY
Employee survey indicates discrepancy between workplace and community COVID safety A survey of 99 members of Jasper’s workforce indicates that most employees feel their workplace is COVID-19 safe—but that the feeling doesn’t necessarily translate to the community at large.
Three quarters (74.4 per cent) of respondents told the Jasper Employment and Education Centre (JEEC) that they felt safe in their workplace regarding COVID-19. “I think that shows there are some workplaces doing really good work,” said Ginette Marcoux, Executive Director of JEEC. Count The Jasper Brewing Company as one such workplace. Starting July 31, the Brewpub implemented a mandatory mask policy for all guests while not seated at their table. The business, which has sister
properties in Banff, Calgary and Edmonton, made the announcement via their social media platforms. “With the increased research around the spread of COVID-19, we feel strongly that mandatory masks are the next step we can take together to help keep our community healthy and safe while still enjoying a comfortable dine-in experience,” an announcement stated. While workplaces got a passing COVID grade according to the JEEC survey respondents, less than half (45 per cent) of those same participants indicated they felt safe from the virus in the community at large. Marcoux suggested the results may be reflecting people’s trepidation to frequent areas of town populated with visitors who are seemingly indifferent to basic COVID-19 protocols.
“I think it’s visitors coming to Jasper that are risk-averse,” she said. Jasper’s municipal council has strengthened their messaging regarding mask wearing in Jasper, but has not gone so far as to make the practice mandatory. Mayor Richard Ireland has said he is in agreement with the province’s chief medical officer that mask wearing is strongly recommended but suggested creating such a bylaw in Jasper would be difficult to enforce and, as such, it would be unfair to put that burden on business owners. This just in... As this paper was heading to press, a spokesperson from the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said that masks will become mandatory at all Fairmont hotels and resorts by August 7. More details to come in a future report.
BOB COVEY // bob@thejasperlocal.com
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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 170 // SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020
LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY
Nine years ago, Gadd raised public safety concerns on Athabasca Glacier moraine Long before Brewster Transportation Canada rebranded itself under the Pursuit umbrella and three years before the Glacier Skywalk was constructed, prominent Rockies naturalist and author Ben Gadd was warning that the deteriorating moraine into which the company has cut their glacieraccess road poses a danger to the people and machines which traverse it. While the July 18 Ice Explorer accident at the Athabasca Glacier is still under investigation, and Gadd wouldn’t speculate on cause of the tragedy, in 2011 the former Jasper resident wrote to JNP’s then-superintendent, Greg Fenton, alerting him that the gradual deformation of the moraine poses a significant risk to public safety. “The scenario that comes to mind is catastrophic,” Gadd wrote. “Ice Explorers, shuttle buses, parking bays, park visitors and Brewster staff being swept 75 metres down to the ice in a slurry of mud and boulders.” Gadd was referencing a 2008 PhDlevel scientific paper that appeared in the geo-technical journal Landslides. The paper, called “Large-scale moraine
Rockies author and naturalist Ben Gadd warned Parks Canada in 2011 that the deteriorating moraine at the Athabasca Glacier posed a significant public safety risk. The cause of the July 18 Ice Explorer accident is still being investigated.
which is also deformation at the “Despite the slow rate being pushed Athabasca Glacier,” down from above.” documented “progressive of deformation…the gravitational deformation The authors, potential for failure leading to a network of based out of the cannot be discounted.” fractures, bulging, and University of the development of a Calgary, concluded large gap in the moraine their paper by crest” since the early 1950s. noting that as a major attraction with thousands of visitors travelling onto In other words, Gadd translated, “it the glacier each day during the tourist says that the staging area is creeping season via specialized mechanized downhill toward the ice at a rate of 1.4 vehicles, the moraine deformation metres per year… because the glacier raises concern as to the overall is melting downward, providing less stability of slopes and the future and less support for the moraine,
viability of this operation. “Despite the slow rate of deformation… the potential for failure cannot be discounted,” it states. In his seven-page letter, the main theme of which was to call into question Parks Canada’s consideration of approving the Glacier Skywalk, Gadd asked Fenton if he would prioritize the safety of park visitors and Brewster staff using the moraine, and close the staging area immediately. He never got a reply. BOB COVEY
// bob@thejasperlocal.com
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020 // ISSUE 170 // The Jasper Local // PAGE B2
LOCAL NEWS
Eyewitness to Ice Explorer tragedy praising employees’ response Krtolica turned to see the approaching bus careening down the hill, out of control.
An eyewitness to the fatal Ice Explorer roll over at the Athabasca Glacier is reflecting on his family’s close brush with tragedy, while at the same time praising the response of all involved in the accident. Calgarians Vanja Krtolica and his wife, Carlee, who were travelling with their eight-month-old daughter, Layla, had never been to Jasper National Park before they took a trip up the Icefields Parkway July 18. Despite having made plenty of trips to Kananaskis and the Bow Valley, Krtolica had never seen the Columbia Icefield. “It was definitely one of those things I was looking forward to,” he said. After their trip was slowed down by highway construction, the Krtolicas arrived at the Glacier Discovery Centre late for their 1 p.m. reservation. They booked the 2 p.m. bus instead, but eventually got on an earlier tour. That slight change in plans meant they avoided a potentially lifechanging disaster. An hour or so later, Krtolica watched as the bus they were scheduled to go on slid out of control down a steep hill on the glacier moraine, flipped and rolled several times. The accident killed three people and injured dozens more. “It was a crazy close call for us,” he said. “We’re just very thankful and obviously thinking of the people that
“It was going down in a straight line, accelerating like it couldn’t slow down.” Then the bus’s right front tire hit an embankment, causing the 25,000 kg machine to flip. “It just basically started rolling down the hill. I think I saw two or three people thrown from the bus as it rolled probably three or four times.” CLOSE CALL // Calgarians Vanja and Carlee Krtolica, who had with their eight-month-old daughter in tow, witnessed the crash that killed three people. // SUBMITTED PHOTO
were involved,” he said.
“It was going down in a straight line, accelerating like it couldn’t slow down.”
Up until the accident, the Krtolicas were having a great day on the glacier. COVID-19 protocols meant the bus was at half-capacity and Krtolica said the experience was everything they’d hoped for. Their tour bus driver, in particular, was “amazing,” he said. “He was very knowledgable, providing us with information on glacier formations and the natural effects of gravity on glacier movement,” he said. The tour got tense when their bus—a four metre-tall, 15-metre long “Ice Explorer” fitted with six one-and-ahalf metre tall tires—began its descent down the slope leading to the glacier.
recalled.
Krtolica said the bus driver informed them they’d be travelling very slowly down the 33 degree grade. “Everybody gasped at the big hill,” Krtolica
After descending to the Athabasca Glacier, Krtolica disembarked with the group to snap photos and experience the ice close up. After 20 minutes or so, they hopped back on the vehicle for their journey back to base. After driving back onto the moraine, their driver stopped the Ice Explorer at the bottom of the big hill to let the next bus pass. Suddenly, Krtolica, who was peering out his side window, heard gasps from his fellow passengers.
As eyewitnesses screamed in terror, Krtolica’s driver radioed for help. Coincidentally, a party of climbers were descending from Mount Athabasca at that exact time and called 9-1-1. Within five minutes, Krtolica said, company vehicles from Pursuit arrived and within an hour, the first emergency officials from Jasper showed up, triaging casualties and attending to the injured. Throughout the ordeal, Krtolica said he and his fellow passengers were not forgotten. “The company did a fantastic job of taking care of us in the situation that we were all in,” he said. The experience has left Krtolica and his wife grateful for every day. “It definitely makes you think of the fragility of life and how it can be your time at any point.” BOB COVEY
// bob@thejasperlocal.com
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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 170 // SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020
FEATURE // COVID CHECK-IN // PHOTOS BY: NICOLE COVEY
THE PENANCE AND THE PAYO Bushwacking in bearcountry t Alexandra River’s heavenly he Photos by Michal Jurik It started with an online post—an open question for adventure. “Is anybody interested in a pack raft trip to the headwaters of the Alexandra River?” Laurent Tourville-Blanchet wanted to know. Jasper’s Michal Jurik had never met Tourville-Blanchet, who lives in Calgary. But he didn’t need to. A cursory review of the adventurer’s website and social media accounts told him they’d be a good match in the outdoors.
The hike in was what they expected of bush, bugs and bear scat before t trees finally gave way to an eye-pop valley, surrounded by peaks. Follow the generous river flats, 23 km after set out, they finally arrived at a lake
“I’m always up for an adventure,” Jurik said. “I said ‘where do we meet?’” The Alexandra River Valley is a “I have two little-explored area days off a week, in the north part of Banff National I want to make Park. Heading west the most of from the Mount Amery viewpoint, them.” near Rampart Creek campground, hikers can eventually access the revered Castleguard Meadows, a 2,300 metre-high plain south of the Saskatchewan Glacier famous for its enormous cave system, as well as its grandiose views and impressive mountaineering objectives. But Tourville-Blanchet’s idea was a little different. He wanted to hike the Alexandra River Valley with a special tool in his backpack: a packraft. Packrafts are ultralight, inflatable watercraft, and, depending on their design, can navigate everything from stillwater to sizeable rapids. The river system they planned to engage would hardly be considered whitewater, but the distance, remoteness and routefinding would qualify the Alexandra trip, in Jurik’s eyes, as “pretty epic.” Tourville-Blanchet envisioned spending a night next to the Alexandra glacier before floating back to the cars by way of the river of the same name, which would eventually be joined by the emerald flows of the Castleguard. “I have two days off a week,” Jurik said. “I want to make the most of them.”
above, the Alexandra Glacier calved the occasional icefall, indifferent to wonderstruck audience. With wani
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OFF: to float the eadwaters
d. Hours the pping wing r they e. High
d o its ing light,
they blew up their boats and paddled across the lake to make camp. “It was mind-blowing,” Jurik said. “The valley was beautiful and green.” The duo felt lucky to visit when they did. To restore wildlife habitat and promote the growth of the endangered white bark pine, Parks Canada had a prescribed burn on the books for 2019. Less than ideal burning conditions last year pushed the project back. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to go in there after they burn it,” Jurik said. “It may not be possible.” Which is why, on the morning of July 14, when Jurik and TourvilleBlanchet woke to clear skies and the knowledge that what lay between them and their cars was 20 kilometres of bubbling, aquamarine riverscape, they were giddy with anticipation. “No bears, no bushwacking, no carrying heavy backpacks…now it was worth the effort, one hundred per cent,” Jurik said. BOB COVEY // bob@thejasperlocal.com
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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 170 // SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020
LOCAL COMMUNITY
Packing in his passions: local cyclist finding niche in adventure industry In January 2017 Jasper’s Mike Gurnham was two weeks into a bike packing trip on the Baja Divide, cycling and camping from California to Mexico.
the University of Ottawa. As he reflected on where he’d been and where he was going while sipping a coffee and checking emails at a quaint Mexican café, Gurnham mulled over what he might call his budding business.
Life was good. Gurnham was soaking up rays and making miles during the day, and during the cool Then he saw a bike, just evenings, chilling out in one stellar like his, being ridden away campsite after another. He had done from the café, a trail of a similar trip in 2015, pedalling 2,200 dust tailing behind it. He kilometres around Japan in two snapped out of his reverie. months, but since then, Gurnham’s His bike was being stolen. interest in the sport of bike packing “I ran out of the café in my had intensified. He loved the DIYbike shoes,” he recalled. nature of the activity, loved how it “But I couldn’t combined his catch up.” passion for bike BAG BOY//Jasper’s Mike Gurnham started Thief Bikepacking out of a passion for cycling. // BOB COVEY maintenance “I ran out of the café The bandit with seeing disappeared in in my bike shoes. But the world from Oma’s 80-year-old Kenmore) with a handlebar bags, but also water bottle a maze of streets. I couldn’t catch up.” the saddle of a brand new, industrial walking-foot bags, bear spray holders and bike Gurnham was in disbelief. bike and loved tool rolls. He puts on some music He was marooned. Stranded. machine. The upgrade means he can knowing he had sew through heavy duty fabric with or a podcast, lays out his mat, ruler Royally screwed. His trip customized his ease and keep his materials from and rotary cutter and prepares the was over. rig with his own bike packing bags. bunching—a constant bugbear of his materials for the sewing machine. “I can laugh at it now,” he said. “But For some time, Gurnham had been previous setup. And he hasn’t once had Now that he’s comfortable with his there were a few moments of self tinkering with the idea of starting to call his mom for sewing advice! new unit, he can keep up with the the pity, that’s for sure.” his own business, and now—after his orders which have been streaming “Now she asks me,” he laughed. On the positive side, Gurnham had mom taught him the basics of how in. Bike packing has become more As Gurnham sat down to put the inspiration for the name of his new to sew—he was testing out the first popular and customers have become finishing touches on one of his “snack company: Thief Bikepacking was prototypes of a bike packing gear more discerning with their buying break” handlebar bags, a rainbow of born. enterprise. habits. spools decorating the windowsill of “It’s got a good backstory,” he “It was my first trip with a frame bag I “People want to buy local,” he said. his tiny Cabin Creek bachelor suite, shrugged. made,” he said. he snipped the stray threads dangling Unlike the bike bandit in that dusty Now Gurnham is writing the He was proud of what he’d from the bag’s various seams. When Mexican town, it seems Thief ’s timing next chapter of Thief. He recently manufactured, particularly in light of he’s not rafting or pulling wrenches couldn’t be better. replaced his vintage Singer sewing the fact he wasn’t exactly applying the at the local bike shop, Gurnham’s BOB COVEY // bob@thejasperlocal.com machine (which had replaced his accounting degree he’d obtained at making product—frame bags and
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020 // ISSUE 170 // The Jasper Local // PAGE B6
LOCAL BUSINESS
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