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From the urban trails of Edmonton and Calgary to the pristine wilderness of the Rockies, Alberta offers a diverse range of snowshoeing experiences.
Credit: Banff Ski Resort/Sunshine Village
Explore the serene beauty of central and northern parks, or challenge yourself in the foothills and mountainous regions. Whether you prefer a guided tour or an independent exploration, discover stunning landscapes and a variety of snowshoe rental options.
Embrace the snowy season and uncover the best spots for snowshoeing in Banff, Jasper, and Waterton, ensuring a memorable and exhilarating winter adventure.
Guided Snowshoe Tours in the Rockies
Almost all parts of Alberta’s Rockies have guided snowshoe tours available for winter 2024. These tours bring your adventures to some exceptional mountain scenery, untouched snowy forests, and great photo ops.
- Explore Jasper with SunDog Tours on one of their winter snowshoe adventures. These run from December to March.
- Embark on a captivating snowshoe adventure through Lake Louise Ski Resort, suitable for both beginners and seasoned enthusiasts. Choose from scenic, wildlife, night, or full-day mountain tours, each offering unique perspectives of the Canadian Rockies. (2026 TBA)
- Snowshoe on Top of the World at Sunshine Meadows a.k.a Banff Ski Resort. The itinerary includes a gondola and chairlift ride to Standish Mountain’s summit, breathtaking views of Mt. Assiniboine, a journey across the Continental Divide into British Columbia, and a delightful treat of hot chocolate and homemade cookies.
- Fortress Ski Area offers cat snowshoeing adventures. Cat vehicles transport visitors to untouched ski slopes and snowshoe paths, starting from an old ski area with abandoned buildings. Guided snowshoe hikes to Fortress Ridge include hot beverages and cookies, with optional soup and sandwich lunch.
- Uplift Adventures hosts snowshoe tours in Waterton Lakes National Park. These are available as daytime or nighttime tours and start at $74 per person.
Snowshoeing Alberta’s Central Parks
Central Alberta certainly isn’t short on wide open spaces. This is perfect for snowshoeing, and many of these spaces are easy to access with central Alberta parks. These include National, Provincial, and Regional Parks.
- Elk Island National Park offers an extensive trail system for snowshoers, awesome wildlife viewing (most notably the bison), and a dark sky preserve for snowshoeing under the stars. The Astotin Lake area also has a number of firepits, picnic sites, and shelters.
- The Strathcona Wilderness Centre offers wide open spaces for snowshoers to explore, as well as groomed trails for cross-country skiing. The Wilderness Centre also offers snowshoe rentals!
- The Halfmoon Lake Natural Area offers 7km of peaceful trails and forested areas to explore on snowshoes.
- Crimson Lake Provincial Park, west of Red Deer, offers a huge host of winter activities, including snowshoeing. A trail encircles Crimson Lake, while a second trail leads to Twin Lake.
- Whitney Lakes Provincial Park, in east-central Alberta, is made up of four different lakes. A trail connects all of the lakes and is open to snowshoeing. Additionally, a trail will lead around the entire Whitney Lake.
Snowshoeing Alberta’s Northern Parks
Northern Alberta parks are usually densely forested or lakeside. These parks offer beautiful and convenient locations for a snowshoe adventure in Northern Alberta, including in the trees, and next to frozen lakes.
- Grand Prairie’s Muskoseepi Park, central to Grand Prairie, has a large area for snowshoeing, snowshoe rentals, and additional winter activities.
- Saskatoon Island Provincial Park, west of the city of Grand Prairie, offers snowshoe trails all around the campground, and out to viewpoints over the lakes.
- There are many winter activity opportunities around Lesser Slave Lake and the Provincial Park. Snowshoers are welcome to enjoy any of the park’s forested areas or the campground.
- The Lakeland Provincial Recreation Area has a huge, forested area to explore on snowshoes from the Pinehurst Day Use Area on Pinehurst Lake.
Snowshoeing Alberta’s Southern Parks
As the part of Alberta with likely the most snow so far this winter (and most winters), southern Alberta is a prime place for a snowshoeing excursion. And there are many parks across southern Alberta with large, open, or forested areas to explore.
- Cypress Hills is a notable winter park overall with winter cabins, campsites, and a range of outdoor activities. Many of the park’s snowshoe and hiking trails are separated from the cross-country ski trails. Trails meant for snowshoeing include Mystery, Rangers, Cobble Mine, and Mazama Drop trails, all south of Elkwater Lake. To the east of Elkwater Lake, follow the Spruce Coulee Trail for an extra 5.2km challenge.
- Beauvais Lake Provincial Park has a variety of year-round trails, many of which are meant solely for snowshoeing and hiking. These include Cutline, Christy Mines, Mount Albert, Piney Point, and South Shore trails.
Snowshoeing Alberta’s Foothill & Mountain Parks
Exploring the foothills and mountains by any means usually makes for an adventure. There is amazing scenery to uncover, winter wildlife, and usually a bit more challenges on the trails. There are opportunities for these adventures up and down Alberta’s mountain and foothill parks.
- The expansive southern mountain park of Castle Provincial Park permits snowshoeing almost anywhere in the park. Start from any of the winter Day Use Areas, like the six at the end of Beaver Mines Lake Road.
- Sheep River Provincial Park Sandy McNabb Campground is a fun place to start a scenic snowshoe trip. The campground is connected to a variety of winter trails and a skating rink.
- West Bragg Creek Provincial Recreation Area is open year-round with trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, fat biking, and equestrian use.
- TheWillmore Wilderness Park is a backcountry part of the mountains and foothills north of Jasper National Park, and south of Grand Cache. It is open year-round with three main staging areas from where to start a snowshoe adventure.
Snowshoeing in Banff
When in Banff National Park, those in for a snowshoeing adventure may choose from one of a few different guided tours to get the hang of the activity. But if you’re ready to go, these are some of the best Banff trails and areas for snowshoeing.
- Tunnel Mountain Drive is just over 2km on its own, but add about another 4km to reach Surprise Corner and the snow-covered Banff hoodoos.
- Johnson Lake Trail from the Johnson Lake Day Use Area is a nice and simple 2.8km loop with great views of Cascade and Rundle Mountains along the way.
- TheInk Pots via Moose Meadows is a good way to get in a good snowshoe from the Bow Valley Parkway while avoiding some of the crowds of Johnston Canyon. This trail won’t go through the Canyon, but around and straight up to the Inkpots. This is a full-day snowshoe adventure at 10.6km round-trip.
- Taylor Lake is one of the more challenging snowshoe trails in Banff. Taylor Lake Trail, near Lake Louise, is 12.6km round-trip with a 585m elevation gain.
- The lakeside trail of Lake Louise, which starts in front of the Chateau Lake Louise, offers classic views of the Lake and, at the lake’s end, a 100 m tall frozen waterfall.
- There are over a dozen outfitters in Banff who offer snowshoe rentals.
Photo Credit: Paddy Pallin/Canadian Tourism Commission
Snowshoeing in Jasper
Enjoy Jasper’s peaceful areas and beautiful scenery with the ease of snowshoes. Or take advantage of some of the snowshoe tours offered in town by tour guides and experts. The entire park is filled with many areas for a snowshoe adventure!
- Maligne Lake is certainly one of the more serene areas for snowshoeing in Jasper National Park. The lake is at the end of a mountain road, which leads away from the Trans Canada and the townsite. Take time to picnic and enjoy a snowshoe adventure around the shores of Maligne Lake.
- The Pyramid Bench area is between the townsite and Pyramid Lake. The area offers additional winter activities on top of snowshoeing, like skating on Pyramid Lake. These snowshoe trails are a perfect way to explore or connect to Pyramid Lake.
- View Jasper’s Lower Sunwapta Falls frozen in time this winter. This is a quiet 2.6km round-trip trail.
- Jasper is home to 11 snowshoe rental shops in total, including one at the Jasper Park Lodge, the Pyramid Lake Resort, and Marmot Basin.
Snowshoeing in Waterton
Explore Alberta’s southernmost Rocky Mountains with ease on a snowshoeing adventure in Waterton Lakes National Park. The park is quiet over the winter, with many of the accommodations closed for the season. However, about half of the accommodations remain open, or Waterton snowshoeing may make a fun day trip.
- The Little Prairie Day Use Area is located near the western end of the Akamina Parkway. It offers snowshoers a picnic shelter with a cook stove and picnic tables, and a clear snowshoe path to the beautiful Cameron Lake to the south.
- Crandell Lake and Campground, on the Red Rock Parkway, are popular and easy places to snowshoe.
- Embark on a snowshoe adventure to the Upper or Lower Bertha Falls and view the falls, possibly completely frozen.
- There are guided snowshoe tours available in Waterton Lakes National Park; however, no snowshoe rentals.
Edmonton Snowshoe Adventures
With Edmonton’s abundance of urban parkland, there is also an abundance of areas for winter snowshoe adventures. Additionally, many of these snowshoeing areas will bring you close to riverside skating rinks or hiking and cross-country ski trails.
- Snowshoe in ANY of Edmonton’s city parks. Always be mindful of staying off of the groomed cross-country ski trails.
- Edmonton’s Rundle Park, Sir Wilfred Laurier Park, and Kinsmen Park, all offer a large area for snowshoeing away from trails. Rundle and Laurier also offer a place to skate after snowshoeing.
- Rent snowshoes in Edmonton from the River Valley Adventure Co., Splitboard HQ, or Totem Outfitters.
Calgary Snowshoe Adventures
No need to head to the mountains or outside of the city for a snowshoe adventure. While Kananaskis and Banff offer great snowshoeing opportunities, so too does Calgary. Within Calgary, you’ll find parks, tours, and snowshoe rentals.
- Use any of Calgary’s parks for a snowshoeing adventure, and always be mindful of staying off the groomed cross-country ski trails.
- Some notable parks in Calgary which offer ample room for exploring on snowshoes and off-ski trails include Fish Creek Park, Weaselhead Flats, Nose Hill Park, and Edworthy Park.
- Rent snowshoes in Calgary from the U of C Outdoor Centre, Splitboard HQ, Outlaw Sports, Craze Outdoors, or the River Valley Adventure Co.
- The U of C Outdoor Centre offers a whole lot more beyond snowshoe rentals, too. Sign upfor a guided snowshoe clinic; these are scheduled from now until late February and bring your adventure out to the mountains.
