Back Door or Lionel?

Nov 29, 2019(Click on the image to make it larger)

Martin brought up a good point in his comment:

“Shouldn’t we respect our heritage and refer to ‘back door’ as Lionel? Does anyone know the history of this name?”

I’d prefer to use Lionel but very few people would know what I’m talking about(and it would be inaccurate in any event). 

The official name of that 650 metre stretch of trail is actually “Kananaskis Fire Lookout Access Road,” as you will see in the excerpt from Gillean Daffern’s guide book. 

Lionel was a ski trail which paralelled Hwy #40 but was decommissioned before I ever started skiing. 

This guide book by Gillean Daffern was published in 1992. There are a number of trails which are no longer used including the first third of Pocaterra itself. 

The Back Door is a convenient access to Upper Pocaterra before Dec 1. We only have two more days to make use of it. 

As Martin asks, and I’m wondering, does anyone know the history of the name Lionel?

4 Comments:

Leave a Reply to Doug Connery Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. I remember the trail as Lionel, but I do not know the origin of the name. Perhaps there is an old timer from Alberta Parks who would know.

  2. I have that book, sometimes I’ve had a quick look and when I’m out, I try to find old trail connections, which I believe I did, off the screamer. But usually I’m wrong…

  3. It was simply perfect today. -20C start and then it warmed up to -15C. No wind, great track, shiny snow.

  4. When I first read of a Kananaskis ski trail called Lionel right here on SkierBob I thought ‘great a new ski trail for me to try’, a Google search immediately took me back to SkierBob (what a surprise) http://skierbob.ca/2014/03/plpp-flashback/ and a trail map revealing Lionel hooks up with Pocaterra. In all the time I’ve skied PLPP how could I possible have missed this trail before realising, oh it’s the hwy! The trail map does however clearly show Lionel ski trail joining Pocaterra South.

Leave a Reply to Doug Connery Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *