WINTER USE
The Kimberley Nature Park is used throughout the winter season and can be especially quiet and peaceful at that time of year. Skiing can often start by mid-November and last until well into March. Snowshoeing, winter hiking and running, and fat biking are other popular activities. The most important issue in winter is sharing of roads with multiple user-types. Please do not go on established ski tracks unless you are on skis! Several locations along trails have signs helping to show which side is reserved for skiers.
Ski access can be from the same entrances as in summer conditions, with the Jimmy Russell Road entrance being easier for skiers than the nearby campground entrance. The road up to the Horse Barn Valley Interpretive Forest is not ploughed and accessing this area is most often done through the Nordic Centre, via Rockslide Trail. An additional winter possibility is to use the popular skier-set tracks from the main entrance into Trickle Creek Golf Course (on the way to the ski resort on Gerry Sorensen Way) and work your way to the hole 7 area, which leads to Upper Army Road at the Nature Park boundary.
While most of the roads are wide and gentle enough to be skied by novices, only experienced and skilled skiers should tackle any of the single track trails, or descents such as Bear Trail (road), Higgins Hill (road) and Mountain Mine Road. Coming down Rockslide Trail from Horse Barn Valley (part of the popular 20-km Round the Mountain trail) can also be challenging. The roads in Forest Crowne are a popular place to get more sunshine, and to access Sunflower Hill from the north.
Experienced and fit skiers may be interested in doing the 20-km Round the Mountain Trail, which circles the entirety of North Star Mountain (the ski hill) and uses some trails in Horse Barn Valley and the nature park. The route begins from the Kimberley Nordic Centre and is usually skied counter-clockwise, going along the base of the ski hill first to its far western end. Brown trail markers show the way. After the ski hill area, you will travel through forest for a few kilometres on single track. Once you leave the forest and enter an old cut block, skiers usually continue on the “old route” straight down to a logging road, rather than taking the single track left turn a short distance into the cut block. Wrapping around on the road for two kms, when you come to a T-junction with another road, look for the marked single-track and continue south on it. This single track will continue for several kilometres, finally taking you to an old road in the Tora Bora part of the Horse Barn Valley Interpretive Forest. Skiers will want to stick with the road, as opposed to the single track which climbs up and right from the road. Once at the main HBV trailhead area, you can continue on Talus or Summer trails and continue through to Rockslide Trail and the nordic centre trails. Please be advised that dogs are not permitted in the Kimberley Nordic Centre. This trip could easily take twice as long if the trail has not been broken past the ski hill.
Trail Conditions, Reporting and Maintenance
Volunteers with the Kimberley Nature Park Society (KNPS) do their best to keep trails in excellent condition. Each spring, a Trail Upgrades Committee is struck to analyze the status of trails in the park and in Horse Barn Valley, and to decide which trails need work to improve them, including rerouting.
The season usually begins with leaf raking to better define trails and to rid them of organic matter. After this, trail work parties are organized to deal with issues raised by the committee and approved by the society’s directors. Each issue is dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and new trails are rare, in keeping with conservation concerns.
Weather, downed trees, and old trail designs all conspire to keep the Trail Upgrades Committee active. Please visit our Trail issues page to learn more about how you can see the condition of trails, how to report trail issues, and how you can contribute to keeping the information current.