![]() The American Canyoneering Association rates this section of limestone 3C II, which means that you’ll be faced with exposed, technical climbing in water with strong current. I doubt the namesake ogre gives a damn.įor those interested in canyoning in Jasper, be sure to hire a guide or know exactly how to travel through a raging cauldron of icewater. Seems there was some sort of metric pushback here in the 80s. Interestingly, the folks in this part of Alberta told me they often use imperial methods of measurement. ![]() That’s about half a mile and 120 feet deep to us Americans. Using the metric system, I’d estimate the canyon at roughly 1km long and 40 meters at its deepest point. Maybe the folks who named it were on a different kind of canyon trip … ahem? You’d have to squint pretty hard to see a face in these gnarly rocks. Sidenote: this former coal mining town lacks any sort of commercial services, but does deliver some big ass mosquitoes.įrom here, it’s a short trip on a bumpy 4wd road through a horse pasture and up a muddy track to the entrance of the canyon, which according to local legend, resembles the scowling face of an ogre. To get there, one must drive to the park’s eastern fringe and discover the tiny hamlet of Brule, population 31. Ogre Canyon is not on Jasper’s official tourist map. Tommy Steward and Nejc Poberaj at the bottom of Ogre Canyon Thankfully, our canyoning guides were among the most talented in Canada, including expert rope handlers from Rocky Mountain Canyoning, based in Jasper. For me, Canyoning was truly an adrenaline rush. While I love hiking, biking, and skiing in the mountains, I’m certainly not an experienced climber. That’s the thrill (and certainly the drawback for some) of canyoning – a sport that includes hiking, climbing, rappelling, jumping, shimmying, squeezing, and God-knows-what-else through nature’s canyon playlands. Imagine being sprayed in the face with a fire hose while walking backwards down a playground slide. In the next 30 seconds, it was my turn to walk backwards into the “Turbo Washer,” the biggest of the waterfalls we’d negotiate in Ogre Canyon. I had just filmed Rock the Park TV show hosts Jack Steward and Colton Smith as they disappeared into the froth. My climbing harness held firm to a chain wrapped through some cracks. His voice was drowned out by the current’s thunder as it boomed around the car-sized boulder that sat over my head. “No, we made a plan to rappel, so we’re sticking to it,” said my grizzled, French-Canadian guide. Staring into a mist of freezing water flowing down a 10-meter chute, I asked the obvious question: “I haven’t rappelled in a while … can’t you just lower me down?”
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