Before his untimely death from cancer in 2018, veteran rider and passionate cyclist Ryan Correy (two-time finisher of the Tour Divide, founder of Bikepack Canada and author of A Purpose Ridden) pedalled his way through the most popular national parks in the Canadian Rockies in order to complete his work on this unique guidebook. Featuring routes in Waterton, Kananaskis, Banff, Kootenay, Yoho, and Jasper, Bikepacking in the Canadian Rockies will take biking enthusiasts on Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert journeys in the following locations:
Front Range – 496 km gravel grind down the Alberta foothills
High Rockies – 183 km opening sampler for the Great Divide
Beaverfoot – 389 km expedition along the Rocky Mountain Trench
Devil’s Gap – 214 km backcountry passage into Banff National Park
Highwood – 357 km over Highwood Pass into the Crowsnest region
Castle – 266 km circumnavigation of Waterton and Castle parks
Top of the World – 347 km of remote climbs in the East Kootenays
Flathead Valley – 291 km through “Grizzly Bear Alley” in southeast British Columbia
Three Point – 173 km hike-a-bike adventure around Kananaskis
Icefields Parkway (in winter) – 291 km fat-bike trek up the world-renowned Highway 93 to Jasper
The result of Correy’s remarkable dedication is an unparalleled collection of ten ambitious, multi-day routes complete with directional cues, detailed maps, a helpful Bikepacking 101 section, rich photography, and personal stories that will stoke the curiosity of both the beginner and the experienced backcountry rider.
(From Rocky Mountain Books)
John O'Neill's gothic short stories, set in the Canadian Rockies, are haunted by the violence inherent in nature and humans. The mountains are majestic and impassive. The characters are surprising, bent, but also empathetic. Their survival is tenuous. A two-sister team of goth tour guides offers guided excursions up switchback mountain trails; a paroled convict thumbs his way into the life of a family driving west; and an animal pathologist, while performing a necropsy on a grizzly bear, has an unusual encounter with both technology and humanity. Goth Girls of Banff is a superb collection, sharply written, with plot turns as consequence-laden as those on an iced-over mountain road. -- Provided by publisher.
Contents
What is written or Talking to keep the bears away -- Athabasca -- Attacking the bear -- Rudy -- Three places -- Marilyn in the mountains: nine poses -- From Castle Mountain -- Goth girls of Banff -- Natural selection -- The book about the bear.
An astounding, unique collection of some of the most stunning mountain landscapes in North America. There is a reason why the Canadian Rockies are some of the most photographed mountains in the world. Rugged peaks encircle glacier-fed lakes, rise up like protective walls around tree-filled valleys, and offer a stunning backdrop to open alpine meadows. They have been photographed from the valley bottoms, from the shores of famous lakes, and from the summits of prominent peaks. They are accessible by vehicle, boat, gondola, skis and hiking boots. But a lucky few have photographed the Rockies from the air. In the most comprehensive collection of aerial photos to date, Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photography by Paul Zizka gives the reader a unique bird's-eye view of this prized mountain range. From vast glaciers to winding rivers, animal overpasses to lakes that look like brilliant spills of turquoise paint on the landscape, these images provide a rare look at mountains that are as grandiose from the skies as they are from their better-known vantage points.
In 1898, Doctor Edward Byrne slips on the ice of the Arcturus Glacier in the Canadian Rockies and slides into a crevasse, wedged upside down nearly sixty feet below the surface. As he fights losing consciousness, a stray beam of sunlight illuminates the ice in front of him and Byrne sees something in the blue-green radiance that will forever link him to the ancient glacier. In this moment, his life’s purpose becomes uncovering the mystery of the icefield that almost was his tomb. Along the way, he encounters similarly fixated individuals, each immersed in their own quest: the healer and storyteller Sara; the bohemian travel writer Freya Becker; the entrepreneur Trask; the poet Hal Rowan; and Elspeth, greenhouse keeper and Byrne's lover.
First published in 1995, Thomas Wharton’s Icefields is an astonishing historical novel set in a mesmerizing literary landscape, one that is constantly being altered by the surging and retreating glacier and unpredictable weather. Here—where characters are pulled into deep chasms of ice as well as the stories and histories they tell one another—is a vivid, daring, and crisply written book that reveals the human spirit, loss, myth, and elusive truths. -- From the publisher
Notes
This updated Landmark Edition includes an author interview with Smaro Kamboureli and an Afterword by award-winning writer Suzette Mayr.
Tales from the Great Divide brings to life the memories of many of the "originals" whose vision, idealism, dedication and hard work over five decades made Canada's Great Divide Trail a reality. Transcripts of interviews and storytelling sessions, combined with excerpts from letters and other documents, and with over 300 photographs and illustrations, reveal the adventurous, heartbreaking and hilarious moments that characterized the early history of the Great Divide Trail. -- Excerpt from backcover
Contents
Introduction -- Origins of the Great Divide Trail concept -- Project Great Divide trails -- Early history of the Great Divide Trail Association -- Rejuvenation of the Great Divide Trail Association -- Reflections, then and now.
Fourteen-year-old Jillian as no idea who her dad is but uses her banishement from summer parties in Toronto to isolation in Banff National Park to track him down. But it's not easy. A reclusive log cabin, a grumpy aunt, few trips to civilization and seriously--no cell phone reception? When she's not searching for her dad, Jillian pursues an elusive girl, Mika, who lives on her own in the wilderness. Together they track down a poacher and Jillian reunites Mika with her family. All should be well -- but it isn't. Big secrets in Jillian's family surface, Jillian's boyfriend ditches her, and her dad wants proof he's her dad. Like she's make this up? -- From backcover
The unconventional, untold story of Alberta's film history, defined by the terrible beautify of its pristine landscape, surprisingly important to Hollywood, and recaptured in lost or ignored Indigenous perspectives and stories. Alberta's magnificent landscape has served as a popular location for filmmakers since the dawn of the movie industry. For film pioneers, Alberta embodied the myth of the Great Northwest, a primeval mountain wilderness and the last western frontier. In turn, Canadian entrepreneurs were eager for American studios to drape Alberta landscape across the backdrop of their movies, an advertisement without equal. A Stunning Backdrop is the untold story of six rollicking decades of filmmaking in Alberta. Mary Graham draws on twelve years of exhaustive research to reveal a film history like no other, illuminating the deep importance of the province to Hollywood. She explores the often friendly partnerships between American filmmakers and Indigenous communities, particularly the Stoney Nakoda, that provided economic opportunities and, in many cases, allowed them to retain religious and cultural practices banned by the Canadian government. Beautifully illustrated with archival photography and featuring century-old set stills alongside photographs of the locations as they appear today, by Jean Becq, Solomon Chiniquay, Jeff Wallace, George Webber, and Paul Zizka, A Stunning Backdrop is the fascinating, often surprising, always unconventional story of film in a province whose rugged, compelling, multifarious, terribly beautiful landscape continues to inspire filmmakers and audiences around the world.-- Provided by publisher.
Contents
Early Alberta movie landscapes today -- Into the (civilized) wilds -- Snow! snow! snow! -- A rabble rouser and a dreamer -- Father of the western -- In the shadow of Castle Mountain -- Royalty, great chiefs, ranches, and rodeos -- The joy girl and others of a gregarious nature -- Mountain men -- Building the railway, movie style -- War and propaganda -- Out of the coma -- Rodeo westerns of the atomic age -- Selling sex and nostalgia -- Making Rocky Mountain movie magic -- The power of revision -- List of movies made in Alberta, 1917-1960
Notes
Mary Graham received the Whyte Museum's Lillian Agnes Jones Fellowship, 2021-2022.
Jillian has to start grade 10 a month after the semester begins in a new school where everyone knows everyone's business. And it totally sucks. She loves her Opa but moving from Toronto to Banff to help Aunt Steph take care of him was not Jillian's idea. As she navigates unfamiliar hallways, bear attacks and strangers she makes choices which impact relationships and a potential boyfriend. Will the last choice Jillian makes be the right one? -- From backcover
Coloured by the magnificience of the Western Canadian landscape, The Wind and The Sky and everything else is a stark exploration of our connection and disconnection to the Earth, ourselves, and each other. -- From Backcover