The Jasper Local September 1, 2019 by The Jasper Local

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Sunday, september 1, 2019 // ISSUE 152

VIEWS FOR DAYS // FERN YIP EN ROUTE TO THE WHITE GOAT WILDERNESS AREA VIA CATARACT PASS. // N.COVEY

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page A2 // the jasper local // issue 152 // sunday, september 1, 2019

editorial //

Local Vocal Driving home from middle-ofnowhere, Alberta last week, I pulled onto the Icefields Parkway and gritted my teeth for the last leg of the journey.

The road was thick with RVs and rental cars. A tour bus passed me doing 110 km/hr. People were pulled off on the wrong side of the road, pedestrians were dashing in front of oncoming traffic and the Parker Ridge pullout looked like a carpark at a Walmart. In other words, it was a normal August afternoon in the Canadian Rockies. You take the bad with the good. What did throw me off, however, was when I reached the Columbia Icefields and my phone buzzed. A quick glance at my screen revealed a single bar of cell service. I was perplexed. If briefly looking at my phone didn’t allow me to stay focused on the road, the eye roll that followed my receiving a notification that there was a new post in Jasper, AB Buy Sell and Trade certainly did. When I got home, I asked around. Sure enough, Pursuit and Telus struck an arrangement to use the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre as a cellphone hotspot. The new network reaches all the way to the headwall on the Athabasca Glacier and to the line-ofsight in both directions on the Parkway. While I can appreciate the inherent safety features of having cellphone communication in an isolated, busy part of the country where the elements often conspire against drivers and backcountry adventurers alike, a part of me was a little saddened by the prospect of all that wilderness suddenly coming online. Certainly response times to accidents will be improved by this initiative, but part of venturing into Jasper National Park’s wilderness is accepting its terms. It’s good for people to be self sufficient. It’s important to be able to release ourselves from the tether of the digital world. Surprisingly, this wasn’t even a Parks Canada initiative. When dispatchers recently received a call from the Icefields area, from a tourist asking if it was OK to park their car in the RV lot, they were as surprised as anyone. The calls won’t all be frivolous, however. Shortly after the network went live, emergency responders got a call from the family of a man suffering a heart attack. You can’t stop progress. You had to know the day would come when you’d be able to make a call from the Columbia Icefields. But along with the peace of mind that comes with being connected is the strange feeling of never being able to go back to the way things were before. You take the bad with the good. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

Good headlines are hard to come by Dear Editor, I've always been a sucker for a catchy headline. Perhaps that's why last week I was alarmed when I read online, and heard on the radio, headlines about Jasper National Park putting a halt to bear 'warnings' because they were attracting the curious, not deterring the wary, as intended. I count myself among the latter and wondered where

this left me on the blissful ignorance scale of impending doom on Jasper's trails. However, a quick follow-up with an informed friend at Parks Canada alleviated my concerns. Warnings and closures will continue. The annual bear report is history. Not great, but that's another matter. In contrast, your headline “Heading to Shore” for the piece on Mike Wesbrook last

issue was on point. Mike and Cyd's legacy at Maligne Lake should qualify them for inclusion among Fred Brewster and the Otto Bros on the lakeshore diorama. Great recognition of a couple who went above and beyond to serve the public and the park in many under-appreciated ways. Thanks for that. - John Wilmshurst, Jasper

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sunday, september 1, 2019 // issue 152 // the jasper local// page A3

AUMA meeting provides opportunity to discuss infrastructure pressures Local elected officials continue to bang the drum for recognition by the province as a community with unique needs.

And last month, council had an ally in the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association when AUMA president Barry Morishita visited Jasper to share and receive feedback on issues facing communities in the province. “Part of the talk with Barry was how AUMA can help facilitate a relationship with the provincial government,” Mayor Richard Ireland said. Council wants to develop that relationship because Jasper wants help paying for the infrastructure that bears the stress of its visiting public. Two million tourists per year create a demand for amenities that only 5,000 residents currently pay for. While critical to the local economy, those same visitors shorten the lifespan of Jasper’s facilities: the wastewater treatment plant gets fuller, quicker; the paint from our crosswalks wears off faster; garbage hauling and recycling requires more pick ups; local social services are more strained; and the volunteer fire brigade gets a disproportionate amount of calls, compared to a similar sized community. These are but a few examples. “It’s a difficult burden for our taxpayers,” Ireland said. To ease that burden, Ireland and his counterparts in Canmore and Banff—

CASEY FRASER WITH A MALIGNE LAKE RAINBOW // B COVEY

arguably the only other two communities in Alberta which are similarly affected by visitors—have for years been pushing for the provincial government to authorize some kind of fee at the consumer level. An environmental levy, for example, could be instituted on the basis that nearly all of the purchases visitors make end up in our waste streams.

Alberta municipalities should be entering into long-term funding agreements which are linked to provincial revenues.

“We’re not interested in just asking for money—we recognize there’s a finite amount. We would just like the tools to be able to deal with our own needs ourselves,” Ireland said.

While Ireland and council aren’t holding their breath for that to happen, neither are they about to stop bringing up the topic of being recognized as a community with unique needs. With a new government which made more efficient spending a staple of its election platform, Ireland is hopeful that ministers will be receptive to their point of view. Other provinces have recognized that tourism-dependent communities have unique needs.

The visit with Morishita was a chance to make sure that council’s colleagues at AUMA are onside with that agenda. By all accounts, Ireland said, Jasper feels supported. “A lot of it is explaining the local circumstances in a way that he can understand it, so when the bigger topic comes up for discussion he has more clarity of why it’s an issue,” Ireland said. That bigger topic comes down to equitable infrastructure funding: Morishita believes that

“Municipalities are the most efficient spender of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “Communities would like to see an opportunity to be provided with more authority.”

When AUMA reconvenes in September, he hopes to map out a plan to re-engage with the province. “We’ve pursued this initiative for nine or 10 years now, we’re not about to give that up.” b covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

page B1 // the jasper local // issue 152 // sunday, september 1, 2019

local waste management //

Curbing our plastics problem The Municipality of Jasper has found a way to bring its plastic recycling full circle. Thanks to some sleuthing by Operations Services Manager Ross Derksen, all the yogurt lids, laundry detergent containers and shampoo bottles we chuck into the recycling bins will soon be turned into a useful end product. “Now we can confirm, from start to finish, where it’s going,” Derksen said. Since December, the Municipality of Jasper had been stockpiling the plastic recycling it collects from residents and commercial operators. MOJ staff were putting the plastics aside because managers were unable to determine how and where it was being processed off-site. Derksen couldn’t say if the waste— which amounted to 50-tonnes-per annum—was being handled in an environmentally ethically way. “We couldn’t confirm or deny,” Derksen said. “If it was going on a sea-can, it was going on a ship, but after that I didn’t know.” Derksen was being told the plastics were being processed in B.C., but then he would receive a waybill from Ontario, or Washington. His fear was that the plastics were being dumped. That didn’t sit well with him. The last thing he wanted, he said, was to worry that Jasper’s plastics were adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the massive floating “island” of marine debris particles growing daily in the ocean. “If we have an inkling that we’re

contributing to that problem, maybe landfilling is a better option,” he said. And so, they sat on their great bales of plastic, hoping to find a solution. Eventually, this spring, they did.

That new compound could be poured into a mold. By using different molds, the company can produce a variety of products, including fence posts, planters and parking curbs.

Derksen was setting up a bench made entirely out of post-consumer plastics. Later that afternoon, he was finding a home for the parking curbs that he ordered. “They’re lighter than concrete,” he said, manhandling a six-foot long beam. But while the story of Jasper’s plastics have a happy ending, the story of our paper recycling is not so simple. It’s the same problem with a different product: no one wants it. While Jasper’s mixed paper historically would fetch up to $120 per cubic metre, since China implemented sweeping bans on which types of solid waste it would accept from other countries, communities all over Canada have been stuck with their recycling. As a result, Derksen has a warehouse full of FULL CIRCLE //THE MOJ’S ROSS DERKSEN HAS FOUND A WAY TO TURN JASPER’S PLASTIC mixed paper bales. RECYLCING INTO USEABLE PRODUCTS, LIKE PARKING BERMS. // BOB COVEY “We’re exploding at the seams with paper right now,” he said. “We couldn’t confirm or But the solution is somewhat precariIf it’s sorted—the white paper separated deny, if it was going on ous. The company is a niche manufacfrom the magazine paper, etc—it is in a sea-can, it was going turer. Their capacity is limited. If they fact marketable. But Jasper doesn’t decide that they can no longer accept have a centralized Materials Recycling on a ship, but after that Jasper’s recycling, Derksen would be Facility (MRF). And so it piles up. I didn’t know.” back to square one. Derksen is hopeful that, like the plas“It’s market dependent,” Derksen said. tics panacea, a solution will someday “If that business doesn’t make it for arise for our mixed paper. Derksen discovered a company that whatever reason, things could change.” “We’re not content,” he said. “We’re gowould take the recyclables, grind them, For now, however, Jasper’s plastics ing to be investigating.” shred them and heat them into a slurry. are coming full circle. On August 29, Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com

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sunday, september 1, 2019 // issue 152 // the jasper local// page B2

Local history //

Family of renown mountaineer donates treasury of alpine artifacts to museum Cyril Geoffrey Wates (1883-1946) was a composer, choirmaster, science fiction writer and photographer. He was also an inventor, an astronomer and an engineer. Not long after he constructed what was, at the time, the largest telescope in Alberta, Wates was awarded the Chant Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for his contributions to the field. Later in life, after he went deaf, he built a hearing aide to help him communicate. Wates was, as his great niece Jean Knopp told an audience at the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives last week, “a remarkable man.” Yet despite his incredible academic resume and proclivity for the arts, it was Wates’ accomplishments as a mountaineer with

he has left behind of the climbing adventures he undertook in the Tonquin Valley, our family has gained a much better understanding of his personality and character,” Mike Knopp told those who gathered at the museum. In 1924, Wates, along with Val Fynn and M.D. Geddes, made the first ascent on 3,298-metre Mount Geikie. His earlier attempts on the mountain are chronicled in a photo album documenting climbing activity from 1922/23, while a 1927 album documents not only the eventual successful bids on Geikie and Mount Postern, but also on Redoubt Peak. It was Wates and his partners who were able to verify that climbers F.H. Slark and F. Rutishauser did in fact gain the summit of Redoubt before perishing on the descent in 1927; Wates found their record on the top of the mountain the following summer. Mike Knopp noted that the artifacts

Cyril Geoffrey wates in 1922. // supplied

Karen Byers, Mike Knopp, ACMG MatT reynolds and Jean Knopp

the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) for which he is most well regarded. On August 21, relatives of “The Skipper,” as he was known by his climbing friends, bequeathed an extraordinary collection of artifacts from Wates’ mountaineering career to the JYMA. Knopp, who made the trip to Jasper with 18 of her family members, presented to the museum a treasury of photo albums, trip reports, songs and poems which document Wates’ various adventures in Jasper National Park. Knopp had come into possession of the albums by way of her aunt, who’d helped Wates’ widow manage her affairs when she was in hospital. Knopp and her sister, Doreen Ralston, said they take great comfort in knowing that the memories from these albums will be safely protected. “There’s a lot of history contained within them,” Knopp said. “We felt they should be in a place where they’d be well preserved.” The family also brought copies of the albums to the Alpine Club of Canada’s hut on Outpost Lake, which, along with his fellow mountaineer, Evelyn Reginald “Rex” Gibson, bears Wates’ name. While not all of the family members made it to the Wates-Gibson hut, the group of 19 did march nearly 20 km to the shores of Amethyst Lake where they absorbed the history, scenery and splendour of the Tonquin Valley—just as their great uncle would have, nearly a century before. “Thanks to the photographic legacy

“He was a remarkable mountaineering gentleman, and our family is so very pleased that his legacy can now be shared with others.” left behind by his uncle demonstrate how Wates embodied the values of the ACC. Moreover, he said, they document the romantic relationship which was budding between Wates and Knopp’s aunt, Helen Burns. “I have no doubt that Helen was in Geoff’s mind when he wrote “The Climbing Girl,” he said, reading the chorus lines from Songs of Canadian Climbers, the book which Wates dedicated to the ACC: (Give me the girl who can cut a step so neatly/That the summit of the peak will soon be won/Who can climb a rotten chimney or negotiate a crag/Who never breaks a snow-bridge/Or allows the rope to drag). Wates participated in 20 summer ACC camps and climbed more than 50 peaks as part of the ACC, which he joined in 1916. He was Chairman of the Edmonton Section in 1925 and from 1932-1935 he served as Western Vice-President. He then served as President of the ACC from 1938 to 1941. His friend and colleague from the University of Alberta, J.W. Campell,

Gwen Pickford, Helen Wates (nee Burns) ,Geoff Wates a.k.a The Skipper. // supplied

// Frank Moberley, Helen Burns/Wates;, Gwen Pickford, cyril g. Wates and Hilda Glyde // supplied.

memorialized Wates by recalling what the mountains meant to him. “He was in succession impressed by the mountains for their mystery, their friendliness, their aloofness, their beauty, their grimness, their difficulty, their sweetness, and then in the course of his mountaineering experience by the companionship, the sharing and the fun which they engendered,”

Campell wrote. “This joy of sharing was so characteristic of his life.” Now, a century later, his family is ensuring Wates’ joy of sharing continues. “He was a remarkable mountaineering gentleman, and our family is so very pleased that his legacy can now be shared with others,” Mike Knopp said. Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com

page b3+B4 // the jasper local // issue 152 // sunday. september 1, 2019

FEATURE // story by

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO DINE IN THE MOUNTAINS: THE MINIMALIST GORP WAY; OR THE MISS PIGGY WAY THAT GOES THE FULL NINE YARDS. ACCORDING TO MISS PIGGY, YOU SHOULD NEVER EAT MORE THAN YOU CAN LIFT. SOUND ADVICE FOR ROAMING IN THE MOUNTAINS. Gorp, an acronym for good old raisins and peanuts, has fuelled many a hiker’s trip. It’s often tarted up with M&M’s, chocolate chips, granola, you name it. There’s accounts of long-distance hikers living on the stuff for months. Others have done away with variety and existed on just one item, as if their hike was some sort of penance earning them Brownie points. A hiker on the John Muir Trail in California, for instance, went two weeks on a diet exclusively of Little Debbies. Similarly, Liam and I once hiked around Iceland’s Western Fjords eating tortellini every night for two weeks (although we did vary the sauce!). Minimalists love those freeze-dried concoctions, everything from scrambled eggs with bacon to Pad Thai to strawberries and custard. Just add water and dine straight out of the aluminum pouch. On our first ever overnight trip we were pretty minimalist. A can of pork & beans, Ryvitta, a bit of jam…but lots of tea. I didn’t even have a proper stove, just a plumber’s propane soldering torch. Tea is the great reviver. Tea rescued London during the Blitz. Houses flattened, people homeless, countless dead and injured, but what you need mate is a nice cup of tea. It boosted the morale of a nation; tea—the ultimate British weapon. Churchill claimed that tea was more important to his soldiers than bullets. I don’t doubt it, for by the time I’d cycled up the Signal Mountain fire road with Little Lord Fauntleroy ensconced over the back wheel I needed some reviving. I’d forgotten the tin opener. “Never mind,” I told Liam. “I’ll blow a hole in the can with the propane torch.” Ten minutes later. “Damn! I thought they soldered tins. Guess they don’t anymore.” The sides of the can were bulging like a rodeo clown’s pants, bubbling sounds coming from within, nothing breaking loose. “I’m going to hit it with my pocket knife, at least get a hole going.” I got a hole all right, and I’m here to testify that a can of pork and beans, heated under pressure, will

send out a jet of tomato sauce fifteen feet long. But the pork and beans will stay in the can, unless the hole is the size of a pencil. Then you’ll have bullets instead. Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. Can you imagine the chuck wagon dishing up instant oatmeal and cups of weak tea for breakfast? No, the French troops would each have had a two-foot baguette, a round of Camembert, thick slices of Jambon de Paris and a flagon of tea so strong that it would strip the

DINING IN THE MOUNTAINS MISS PIGGY STYLE polish from their boots. They would have happily marched to Waterloo with big smiles on their faces. And nothing puts the smile on a mountain man like a chunk of meat fresh off the fire. It puts steam in their boilers and a bounce in their step. Liam and I had our first taste of meat—legs of chicken, cooked over the fire—as we sat in a snow drift. Then we graduated to pork chops—mmm! pork chops— followed by pepperoni, bacon, shrimp, and if we were flush, prime rib steaks doused in Bearnaise sauce. As long as there was snow to stash them, they lasted days.

“Nothing puts the smile on a mountain man like a chunk of meat fresh off the fire.” But what about bears? you shudder. Weren’t you worried? Not really. This spring I was off on my own and had a stash of grub barely buried under a snow bank. A grizzly came by. I didn’t see him as I was exploring at the time, but I saw the tracks later. He came within 20 feet of my cache of pork chops, shrimp and bacon, but for some reason he turned left at Albuquerque and missed out on a damn good feed. There was even half a bottle of gin, which would have put a right bounce in his step.

Just a month ago I had a pot of Grenadian chicken stew heating on my little backpacking stove when a black bear sauntered by, actually brushing the pot. It didn’t even stop for a lick. So we’ve followed the Miss Piggy way, heavy packs stuffed with delights. We’ve passed gaunt hikers chewing their gorp cud, eyeing us suspiciously when they saw our smarmy smiles. Yet even the minimalists are not without hope, for there is still that pot of gold at the end of the hike: the All You Can Eat Buffet. As if we were figuring the exact moment for reentry of the space shuttle, we would plan our hikes to end Saturday so we could hit the buffet brunch Sunday—mmm! Marguerite’s Zuger Kirschtorte. And remember, we’d been dining the Miss Piggy way all along. We’ve hauled whole watermelons, bottles of Champagne, caviar, 8.6 beer, Carr’s Water Biscuits, Camembert and French Brie, black pepper and cognac pate, whipped cream for that dining in the sky moment. A few weeks ago Liam surprised his old man when I finally struggled to the summit. A small bottle of sparkling wine lay chilling in the cornice along with two wine glasses. He pulled from his pack two china ramekins filled with chai creme brûlée. He took out a Ziploc bag of sugar, his fancy cooking blow torch and proceeded to caramelize the topping. He even brought up golden fleabane and mountain avens for the garnish. We had his almond and pistachio biscuits, a summit to ourselves, the Wapta Icefield below, and far in the distance, Emerald Lake, where I imagined hikers chewing on gorp and gagging on Oatmeal Creme Pies. Thank you Miss Piggy for rescuing us.

David Harrap//

info@thejasperlocal.com Jasper’s David Harrap is the author of the soon-tobe-published book Over The Mountains, Under The Stars. He isn’t fooling anyone, however, by struggling to the summit. He just wasnts Liam to carry the 8.6 beer!.

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Local arts and culture //

page B5 // the jasper local //issue 152 // sunday, september 1, 2019

Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge debuted their Trishaw, a cycle-powered rickshaw, on August 29. Jasper Motorcycle Tours took the lead on fundraising for the unit, which will help get seniors outside in easy, breezy fashion. // Bob Covey

Saskatchewan songwriter storm a-brewing Megan Nash likes an iced coffee from the big city as much as anyone, but the small town Saskatchewan singer/ songwriter says there’s no place like home. “I love the vulnerability and the openness of the big sky,” she said. That description might also apply to her voice. Either way, you can feel the static in the air as the thunderclouds build. Her sound is electric. Last year, her album Seeker was nominated for a JUNO.

And now the prairie storm is coming to Jasper. As a prelude to the Jasper Folk Music Festival, Nash is playing the D’ed Dog on September 4. “I can’t wait to show my friends how beautiful it is there,” she said. Her friends are Scotch and Water, the Hamberg, Germany-based five piece with whom Nash has been touring since August 24. Together they’ve gone all over Western Canada, keeping the flame lit on her nine-year career. “It’s a slow burn,” she says. “I want to make songs I’m happy with and sing my truth.”

Key to that process has been working together with different artists. Show-sharing—being invited to play in a different artist’s community then paying them the same favour in hers—has helped foster creative collaborations. That’s how she started playing with Bears in Hazenmore, another Saskatchewan-based group and another Jasper Folk Fest favourite. “It’s not competitive, I feel there’s enough to go around for everybody,” she said. But touring can be exhausting. When she gets back to the farm she’ll decompress with long walks with her

dog, journaling and gazing up at the Milky Way. “If I can do that and the day also lends itself to working on a song, that’s the perfect day,” she said. The perfect night, is equally as simple. “When the sound is right, when people are able to connect to what you’re doing, that’s a great gig,” she said. Megan Nash and Scotch and Water play the D’ed Dog on September 4 at 8 p.m. Just like a Saskatchewan storm, there won’t be another show like it. Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com

Megan Nash Plays the De’d Dog Sept 4 at 8 p.m. // Gina Brass

local ultra running //

sunday, september 1, 2019 // issue 152 // the jasper local// page B6

SLAYDIES// THE GIRLS BREAKING TRAILS CREW CRUSHED THE BLACK SPUR ULTRA IN KIMBERLY, B.C. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CARO ROY COMPLETED THE 54 KM SOLO EVENT IN 15TH PLACE; EMMA FREEMAN, DANIELLE VIEN AND NICOLE VEERMAN JOINED VAL BARTZIOKAS, ANGE BLAKE AND ROBIN BANGLE TO RIP FIRST PLACE OVERALL IN THE 108K TEAM EVENT. // RAVEN EYE PHOTOGRAPHY

Minimum Requirements: • Minimum 18 years of age • Permanent Jasper resident • Valid driver’s licence • Clear criminal record • Physically & mentally fit

More information, full recruitment packages and application forms are available at the fire hall Monday through Friday 09:00 – 17:00, or by email at awest@town.jasper.ab.ca Application Deadline: September 15, 2019 at 17:00