'Sneak peak': Overhaul of Ha Ling trail makes route safer for hikers

Ha Ling Trail close to re-opening After being closed for close to12 months, the popular hiking trail reopens in August. Kathy Le reports.

A popular mountain trail that has been closed for almost a year is just a few weeks away from reopening to hikers and officials say the work was required to allow it to remain safe and sustainable.

Crews have started to wrap up work on Ha Ling trail, which is one of the most heavily used in all of Kananaskis Country and Alberta Parks as a whole.

During peak times in the summer, as many as 600 people per day use the trail and Alberta Parks recognized that it needed a major facelift.

"The trail was not constructed with erosion, environmental or public safety in mind. It had never received any major trail improvements in its lifetime and it required major refurbishment to allow for it to remain sustainable on the landscape," said Jodi Reade with Alberta Parks.

Reade says when the project was initiated in 2015 that the entire trail was rated as poor.

"It was mostly steep and uncomfortable with poor footing and some arguably hazardous conditions. The heavy traffic on this steep angle resulted in a rapid degradation of the trail and its crude structures leaving many sections of this trail in disrepair and in some cases dangerous to travel. This generated an outcry for Alberta Parks to adopt the route and repair, re-build it to a higher, more sustainable standard," she said.

The entire trail has now been refurbished and lengthened to reduce the grade in some sections and stairs and cable ladders have been added to those parts of the trail where the grade could not be pared down.

"There are major sections of the trail tread surface that are mountain bedrock and will allow for the trail to remain maintenance free for a significant period of time. There’s also an additional viewpoint which was not on the original trail route overlooking Whiteman’s Pond and the East End of Rundle. This can be a destination for those who want the experience of a high elevation view, but may not have the technical expertise to reach the summit," said Reade.

The project was started in July of 2018 and weather was a major challenge for construction crews.

"Throughout the month of August, 2018, it was unseasonably warm with poor air quality due to forest fires. This made the manual labour required more challenging, but the construction crews persevered and pushed through," said Reade. "The cold, wet spring with abundant electrical storms we’ve had in 2019 delayed the start of construction and limited the amount of hours which could be worked in a day, as a large portion of construction is above the treeline and must stop if there’s a threat of lightning."

Alberta Parks says the changes will help preserve the trail and surrounding landscape and make it safe and sustainable for years to come.

Tips for hikers visiting Ha Ling:

The goal is to have the trail open to the public in early August. For more information on hiking Ha Ling, click HERE.