RAZORS EDGE TRAIL
The Razor’s Edge Trail is one of the most technical trails in the Bow Valley and considered a crown jewel for mountain biking in Kananaskis Country. Hikers have long enjoyed the route for its stellar views and rugged terrain as it winds along McConnell Ridge. In recent years, the trail has evolved into a popular mountain bike trail for advanced riders who are drawn to its highly technical nature.
Accessed from the Quaite Valley Connector trail east, then following the Quaite Valley trail to the Prairie View/Jewell Pass Junction – Razor’s Edge branches left off Prairie View approximately 450m from the junction, weaving in and out of Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and Public Lands.
Although popular, this trail is undesignated / unsanctioned which means it is not formally recognized or maintained by Alberta Environment Parks (AEP). In 2017, AEP, the Friends of Kananaskis Country and the Canmore Area Mountain Bike Association partnered to address the trail’s use, safety, and options to formally designate this multi-use trail. For example, the existing Razor’s Edge alignment descends a steep slope off McConnell Ridge to Highway 1. One of the key elements to completing this trail is building a new 1.9 km section of trail that will direct users off McConnell ridge and offer a loop route back to the Quaite Valley Connector trail (and avoid travel along the highway ditch and shoulder).
The new connector is primarily descending, with a few short climbing sections to enable the trail to traverse across the slope and utilize nature features. The point at which this new trail leaves the original trail was carefully chosen to allow users to experience the majority of the technical sections that Razor’s is famous for. The new trail aligns with the style and character of the original trail, and will enhance the user’s experience. This phase of the project is critical to provide users with a better quality, longer and more enjoyable trail experience over the original line and offers a safer route back to the Quaite Valley Connector trail.
We’ve completed 1200m of trail and aiming to build 700m in 2020.
If you like building new trails, you will really enjoy working on this project which has a flare of slab and technical terrain, grade variation, and interesting flow.
CANMORE NORDIC CENTRE – LONG LOOP
The new 4.5 km Long Loop trail will be located between the Rundle and Meadowview ski trails and is designed to be challenging and fun with lots of elevation changes. It will be constructed predominately to blue square difficulty with black diamond sections that will have ride-around options built in.
Cyclists will be able to ride from the day lodge to the west end of the park on singletrack, where they can continue on the Rundle Riverside trail clear to Banff. Those not wishing to ride to Banff will be able to return on a very easy flowy singletrack paralleling the Banff trail, completing the loop.
This 8 km loop trail will provide the long, remote, endurance style experience that residents and visitors to the Bow Valley are looking for, specifically in providing a continuous loop experience on singletrack.
