Jasper in Winter: What Runs While Maligne Lake Is Frozen

Most people who reach this site are looking for the boat to Spirit Island. Between October and late May there isn’t one. Maligne Lake freezes, the cruise season ends (in 2026 the last sailing was on 11 October), and Pursuit’s published 2027 season runs from 28 May to 10 October 2027. The Maligne Valley itself doesn’t close. It changes: the lake becomes snowshoe and ski country, Medicine Lake drains away to mudflats, and the nights get long enough to make Jasper’s dark sky the main event.

This page is the winter version of the trip, built around what you can book now and what you can do for free.

What is closed this winter

Two closures change the usual Jasper winter advice.

Maligne Canyon. The icewalk at Maligne Canyon used to be Jasper’s signature winter tour. The area around the canyon was badly damaged in the 2024 Jasper Wildfire Complex, and Parks Canada has kept it shut: its winter page says Maligne Canyon “will remain closed for the 2026 season”, and Tourism Jasper lists it as closed until further notice. The guided Maligne Canyon icewalks are listed as closed too. What replaced them, and how the canyon walk worked, is in our Maligne Canyon ice walk guide.

The Maligne Lake cruise. No boats run on a frozen lake. Spirit Island sits about 14 km down the lake from the dock, so for practical purposes it is a summer view. Both cruise tours on this site, Maligne Adventures’ and SunDog Transportation and Tours’, already have 2027 dates in their calendars (as of October 2026).

What runs: four winter tours worth booking

After dark: the Jasper Planetarium. Jasper National Park is a dark sky preserve, and winter is when the dark comes early. The Planetarium’s three-hour Dark Sky Experience at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge combines a dome-theatre show, a session at its telescopes and a guided walk of about 480 metres to a dark-sky spot for the constellations, with binoculars supplied. The dome runs whatever the weather, and if the sky is clouded out the ticket includes a two-year rain check. From US$100 per person (October 2026); children under 4 cannot enter the dome theatre.

The canyon icewalk that does run: Pleckaitis. With Maligne Canyon shut, SunDog runs a guided winter walk into Pleckaitis Canyon this season, in partnership with Jasper Hikes & Tours, who call it “an area only known by locals.” It is a three-hour trip with round-trip transport from Jasper and a stop at Medicine Lake, and the tour includes boots, ice cleats, a helmet and poles. SunDog’s departures run from mid-December 2026 (15 or 18 December by source) to 31 March 2027; the youngest walker it takes is 6, and its winter tours run down to −25 °C, with snow pants required below −16 °C. From US$64 per person (October 2026).

Wildlife from the bus. SunDog’s three-and-a-half-hour winter wildlife tour picks up at Jasper hotels and drives the Athabasca Valley while the guides look for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, coyotes, wolves and moose. It is a bus tour with minimal walking, the easiest way to see the park in deep cold, and sightings are never guaranteed. From US$64 per person (October 2026).

On foot in the snow. SunDog’s Secrets of Jasper snowshoe walk includes snowshoes, thermal boots and poles, and the guide picks the route for the day’s conditions. It starts on 15 December, has no reviews yet, and does not include transport to the meeting point. From US$64 per person (October 2026).

Pick the one that fits your trip:

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

The Maligne Valley on your own

The Maligne Lake Road runs 48 km from Jasper to Maligne Lake and stays open in winter, but it is a mountain road, and Parks Canada closes it for storms and avalanche control when it has to (it did in February 2023). Parks Canada’s own winter advice is that bringing ice cleats is always a good idea.

• Medicine Lake (27 km from Jasper). The “disappearing lake” drains every fall through sinkholes in its bed. The water travels underground through a limestone cave system and resurfaces around Maligne Canyon, about 16 km downstream. In winter you walk or snowshoe the shoreline from the northern viewpoint, a route Parks Canada lists at 3 km return.
• Maligne Lake (48 km from Jasper). Parks Canada lists easy winter routes at the lake: the Mary Schäffer Loop (3.2 km, past Curly Phillips’ historic boathouse to a viewpoint over the lake), the Moose Lake Loop (2.6 km) and the Hidden Cove trail along the shore (8 km return). Where a route touches the ice, its note is simply “ensure safe ice conditions.”
• Caribou closures. From 1 November to 28 February, Parks Canada closes the Maligne-Brazeau caribou range to all access, so that packed trails don’t give wolves an easy way into caribou habitat. Its own winter guide points visitors to the lower lakeshore loops during that window; for anything higher, check the trail report before you go.

If you have a day for the Icefields Parkway side, Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls are on Parks Canada’s own list of winter landmarks.

How to build a winter day

A good winter day pairs a daytime tour with an evening one: the Pleckaitis icewalk or the wildlife tour in the morning, Medicine Lake and the Maligne Lake loops in the afternoon if you are driving, and the dome and telescopes after dark. If you only book one thing, make it the evening, because it is the one experience winter does better than summer.

Check Dark Sky Experience dates

Planning for summer instead? The cruise tours already sell 2027 dates on the Maligne Lake cruise page, and the Spirit Island boat cruise guide covers how the boat trip to the island works.