Glacier National Park of Canada
Ski Touring in Rogers Pass
Skier on Mount Cheops, Rogers Pass © Parks CanadaWelcome Skiers!
Situated in the Columbia Mountains, Glacier National Park's 1349 square kilometres of peaks, glaciers and forest straddle the crest of the Selkirk Range, an area of legendary snowfall. Visitors to the park will find ski touring terrain including glades, alpine bowls and icefields where descents of more than 1500 metres are possible. All ski destinations in the park require knowledge of travel in avalanche terrain. Skiers are urged to wear avalanche transceivers and be prepared for self rescue.
Important: There have been extensive changes to the Winter Permit System—including changes to Winter Restricted and Prohibited Area boundaries, parking, and permit registration.
Parks Canada operates the world's largest mobile avalanche control program to keep the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway operating through Rogers Pass. If you plan to tour in the backcountry in Glacier National Park, be aware that many areas of the park have restricted and prohibited access in winter — which are defined and managed within the Winter Permit System, which is a component of the Highway Avalanche Control Program.
When the Winter Permit System comes into effect each winter, the notice is posted on the Important Bulletins section of the website.
What is the Winter Permit System?
The Winter Permit system allows backcountry users to enter Winter Restricted Areas that are affected by the highway avalanche program when artillery gunfire is not anticipated. This system protects the public from danger resulting from direct artillery fire, including shrapnel that can travel up to 1000 metres and the potential for sympathetic avalanche releases.
The avalanche control work is conducted to keep the transportation corridor open, and does not render slopes safe for winter recreationists. Anyone travelling into the backcountry in winter should have proper training to assess avalanche terrain and conditions, as well as the appropriate equipment and skills for self-rescue.
The Winter Permit System divides the park into three types of areas:
Winter Prohibited Areas
These areas are closed to visitors all winter. The areas are used for snow study explosive testing or are at risk of triggering avalanches directly onto the highway.
Howitzer used in avalanche control © Parks CanadaWinter Restricted Areas
A valid Winter Permit is required to ski here. Permit holders can only ski here on days when the area is posted as open, when there is no chance of artillery fire happening in the area.
Winter Unrestricted Area
These areas of the park are open to visitors all winter. No permit is required to ski here.
NEW – Reason for Winter Permit System Changes, November 2009
Changes to the Winter Permit System are based on concern for public safety—due to expanding terrain use by backcountry recreationists and the operational need to separate recreation activities from avalanche control actions. Boundaries to Winter Restricted and Prohibited areas have been adjusted in order to firmly apply accepted standards of 1000 metre standoff from artillery targets. The changes have also incorporated safe public parking areas during closures of the Trans-Canada Highway for avalanche control. Some changes have increased terrain accessible to skiers, while still preserving snow study areas for the avalanche control program.
NEW - What has changed with the Winter Permit System?
Changes include a decrease in the four Winter Prohibited Areas (Abbott, Fidelity, Macdonald West Shoulder and Cougar), and the addition of the Heather Hill Winter Prohibited Area. A Winter Prohibited Area is an area to which access for winter recreationists is prohibited. Most Winter Restricted Area boundaries have been expanded, and three new areas have been created: McGill, Cheops North, and Grizzly Shoulder Restricted Areas. Access to the Tupper Restricted Area and the Ross Peak Restricted Area has been re-established via routes that avoid crossing CP property – a solution found after working with interested backcountry users last spring. A valid Winter Permit is required to enter a Winter Restricted Area. Trailhead parking that requires a Winter Parking Permit now includes Bostock, Hermit, Rockgarden, Loop Creek, NRC Gully, and Stone Arch.
Winter Restricted and Prohibited Area Maps
The Winter Restricted and Prohibited Areas are defined on the maps provided:
Determine geospatial values and find/mark locations on maps, by saving the PDF onto your desktop. Click on Tools--Analysis--Geospatial Location Tool. Choose Easting and Northing, or Latitude and Longitude by clicking on Edit-Preferences-Measuring (Geo) and choose from drop-down boxes in Geographic Location box.
Obtaining a Winter Permit
Please note that all visitors to Glacier National Park must purchase a valid Park Pass. Winter Permits are provided free of charge.
In winter, backcountry users may obtain a valid Daily Winter Permit to enter Winter Restricted Areas on a daily basis at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre. New as of November 2009, every individual will have to obtain their own Daily Winter Permit, as permits will no longer be issued solely to group leaders.
NEW - More frequent users may obtain an Annual Winter Permit to enter into Winter Restricted Areas. This is possible by attending an Annual Winter Permit Orientation Session, agreeing to a Waiver of Liability and Indemnity Agreement and accepting specific terms and conditions.
Annual Winter Permit Orientation Sessions will be held at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre most Thursday and Saturday afternoons. Schedule may change as needs are further identified. Contact the Parks Canada office in Revelstoke at 250-837-7500 for further information.
Permit Validity and Violation Consequences
Winter Permits are valid from the daily time of issue to midnight of the same day and are valid only for those Winter Restricted Areas which have been posted as open for entry and travel on that day. Overnight use or camping is not permitted in any Winter Restricted Area. Any person requesting a Winter Permit will first be required to agree to a Waiver of Liability and Indemnity Agreement.
Individuals entering a Winter Prohibited Area or a Winter Restricted Area that is closed to entry, or not complying with permit conditions or parking restrictions, may be prosecuted, resulting in a maximum fine of $2000 and/or permit cancellation. Vehicles parked illegally may be towed at the owner’s expense.
Highway Safety
The Trans-Canada Highway itself is not part of the Restricted or Prohibited Areas, but highway plowing and avalanche control activities place restrictions in some areas. This includes no stopping inside signed avalanche areas along the highway, and the requirement to obtain Winter Parking Permits (provided with your Daily and Annual Winter Permits) for parking at designated parking areas. Visitors are asked to obey all signs along the highway.
If an avalanche control action has started while you have been skiing you may find a card on your windshield. Remain with your vehicle at the designated parking area until notified that the highway is open.
CP Rail and Designated Access to Winter Restricted Areas
Parks Canada’s primary concern is for public safety Winter Permits will not be issued to Winter Restricted Areas where access depends on trespass of Canadian Pacific (CP) property. Access to the Tupper Restricted Area and the Ross Peak Restricted Area has been re-established via routes that avoid crossing CP property. Parks Canada and CP are integrating suggestions from public consultation and investigating solutions for access to the remaining three Winter Restricted Areas that cross CP property: Fortitude (Flat Creek), Smart and Shaughnessy. CP Police patrol these sites and may tow and impound vehicles illegally parked on CP property. As well, individuals trespassing on CP property may be charged.
Access to the Tupper Winter Restricted Area
Designated parking is at the western portion of the Stone Arch Gun Position, located 7.4 km east of the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre. Parking at the Stone Arch Gun Position is only permitted when the permit area is posted open for that date, and only to holders of a valid Winter Permit.
To access the Tupper Restricted Area (i.e. Connaught Slide Path), permit holders must enter and exit via the Stone Arch winter parking area and follow the marked trail leading southwest from the parking area, between the Trans Canada Highway and the CPR tracks, to a point where it crosses the ground above the East Portal of the Connaught Tunnel. Once over the tunnel, continue west ~ 100m along the access road until the trail heads upslope and north. From this point, permit holders can choose their own route to access the Winter Restricted Area, keeping at least sixteen metres from the CP rail property.
Similarly, permit holders completing the Tupper Traverse from the Hermit Restricted Area must exit via the same marked trail.
Access to the Tupper Winter Restricted Area
© Parks Canada
Access to the Ross Peak Winter Restricted Area
Designated parking is available at the winter parking area for Loop Brook, located 6.7 kilometres west of the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre. Access to and from Ross Peak Restricted Area is only from the winter parking area for Loop Brook by travelling westward, north of the Trans Canada Highway, up the slope west of the Loop Brook summer road or traversing level with the winter parking area and keeping more than 16 meters from the train tracks.
Map of the parking area and designated access route to the Ross Peak Winter Restricted Area
© Parks Canada
Rogers Pass Discovery Centre: Winter Permits and Information
Situated at the summit of Rogers Pass, this visitor centre is the principal source of information regarding the park and offers the following services:
- Backcountry Reports - A daily information bulletin regarding avalanche activity, weather and snow conditions, also available by calling (250) 837-MTNS (250-837-6867).
- Winter Permits -When conditions allow, some Winter Restricted Areas are open to entry and travel on a day-by-day basis. A valid Winter Permit is required which you may pick up at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre on the day you plan to ski. There is no additional fee for this permit. Winter Permits will not be issued at the Parks Canada office in Revelstoke.
- Voluntary Registration Service - Visitors may register their trip plans with the park. Failure to check back in will initiate a search.
- Winter campers require a Wilderness Pass in addition. These can be purchased at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre.
- All visitors require a valid Park Pass, which can be obtained from the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre and at the Parks Canada office in Revelstoke.
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