Visitor Guide 2013 - Jasper

Loni and Her Trail
of Diamonds
If you plan to hit the trails in Jasper
keep an eye out for Loni Klettl.
Just don’t try to keep her pace.
If you plan to hit the trails in Jasper
– whether it’s a short 1-hr walk
along the Jasper Discovery Trail or
a multi-day hike along the Skyline
Trail – keep an eye out for Loni Klettl.
Just don’t try to keep her pace.
“When I’m alone,” she admits, “I like
to go.”
Her minimum day, when she runs,
is 12 kilometres. On the weekend,
she’ll do a longer trip into the
backcountry to get away from the
crowds. Throughout the winter, she
skis 2-3 days per week at Marmot Basin
to keep her technique sharp, but she
also squeezes in multiple backcountry
tours and cross-country ski sessions.
Not only is she an avid trail user,
but she is also the biggest advocate
for a sustainable trail network in
Jasper National Park. She was on
the committee that helped build the
Three Valley Confluence Trail Plan
and she was a founding member of
the Jasper Trail Alliance Committee,
whose mission statement is to help
Parks Canada create and maintain a
vibrant and accessible trail network.
When Klettl isn’t out exploring, she
works at Fiddle River Restaurant. She
has worked there long enough that
she jokingly claims to be part of the
furniture, but as a born and raised
Jasperite, she also understands the
link between tourism and locals.
“We see the same people over and
over [at the restaurant],” she says. “We
become part of their Jasper experience.”
As a teenager, Klettl was a natural
athlete who excelled on the ski slopes.
In 1976, at the age of 16, she joined
the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and
began racing around the globe.
“The world was a big place back
then,” she admits. “I had to say ‘bye
Mom, see you in two months.’ We
didn’t call home; we wrote letters.”
She reached the 1980 Winter Olympics
in Lake Placid, New York, and took
13th in the Woman’s Downhill.
Although she continued on the World
Cup circuit for the remainder of that
season, she retired unexpectedly during
a summer training camp in Oregon.
She was only 20 years old but she says
her heart simply wasn’t in it anymore.
To anybody who’s witnessed her passion
for the Jasper wilderness, it’s easy to see
“When I’m alone,”
she admits,
“I like to go.”
that her heart has never left the Rockies.
While there are a few trails that she
hasn’t done, she claims it’s often better
22 Jasper.travel