Projects

Jumped Up Loops

The Jumped Up Loops project created a compact stacked-loop trail system based on the popular Jumpingpound Loop trail in Kananaskis, near Jumpingpound Creek.  Conceived in 2013 as an alternative to the more challenging trails at West Bragg Creek and Station Flats, the vision was to create a fun & friendly trail system that caters to a wider range of users, including less experienced and less strong riders, as well as hikers and runners. The design prioritizes gentle grades and abundant views, while keeping enough technical interest to ensure the fun factor remains high for more experienced users.

The original design for the loops was scouted, refined and proposed to the Alberta government’s management team for Kananaskis trails in early 2013.  It was met with enthusiasm, but some procedural hurdles, the 2013 flood and many competing priorities lead to it being shelved for several years. The Trails Act (2022) provided the impetus for the project to get picked up and the formal planning and approvals process began.  CMBA volunteers got back out in the field in 2023 (Ten Years Gone!) to refine the detailed design based on feedback from stakeholder consultations.

The project approvals came through in April 2024 and trail corridor clearing and construction of the east loop began.  The easternmost 1km of the trail (Solo Hill) was hand-built by volunteers over several months, while the rest of the loop was professionally machine-built. The eastern loop, consisting of Ten Years Gone and Kashmir, opened in October 2024.  The western loop was completed with the addition of Trampled Under Foot, which opened in August 2025.

In case you’re wondering, the trail names are all tracks from the 1975 album Physical Graffiti by the English rock band Led Zeppelin — a nod to the project visionary’s year and country of birth. 

Jumpingpound Loop(s)

The Jumpingpound Loop trail was formally adopted by CMBA in 2025. It consists of an outer loop and a central connector trail that essentially creates two loops.  Constructed in the late 1970’s (we believe), it was built primarily for hikers but became popular with local mountain bikers too.  Due to its age and construction, the character of the original trail is a distinct contrast to the newly added loops, with a mix of relatively easy (but often rooty) sections and more technical, eroded and steep sections.  CMBA is currently assessing how to best modernize and integrate the original trail to create a cohesive trail-system experience for all users.

Fish Creek Provincial Park

The Friends of Fish Creek Trail Care program ran for around a decade until 2018. CMBA collaborated closely with Alberta Parks and the Friends to perform maintenance and upgrades to the official single-track trail network.  The Trail Care program was wound up in May 2018 following changes to Alberta Park’s OH&S regime and an evolution of the Friend’s remit. Most single-track trail maintenance has been on hold since then.

CMBA developed and implemented its own OH&S policy as a prerequisite for any new collaboration agreement or volunteer arrangement directly with Alberta Parks that might be on offer.  Our OH&S policy was approved by the province in 2020, but uncertainty over plans for the trail network remained. 

In 2018, Alberta Parks expressed a wish to develop a cohesive trails strategy for the park, which we wholeheartedly supported. They contracted an external consultant in 2020 to develop a Trails Master Plan, taking into consideration all existing informal and sanctioned trails and many factors including usage data (Strava etc.), trail conditions & sustainability, environmental considerations and extensive stakeholder consultation. CMBA collaborated with the consultant in the fall & winter of 2020, providing recommendations for trail repairs/improvements, new connection trails to close gaps in the network and even conceptual designs for new trails. Most of CMBA’s contributions were included in the draft plan.

A limited public engagement in May/June 2021 sought feedback on the draft Trails Master Plan.  Subsequently, in September 2021, CMBA provided feedback to Alberta Parks on the final version of the plan. It is our hope that, when published, the Trails Master Plan will form the foundation of new cooperating arrangements between volunteer groups and Alberta Parks and support development and maintenance of a complete sanctioned trail network.

Skills Parks

Efforts to establish public Bike Skills Parks in Calgary have been ongoing for almost as long as the CMBA has existed. In 2016, CMBA succeeded in building Calgary’s FIRST public skills park, the Fish Creek Mountain Bike Skills Park. 

The South Glenmore Bicycle Pump Track was a collaboration between the CMBA, the City of Calgary and Parks Foundation Calgary.

Since 2020, several new pump tracks & bike parks have opened in Calgary (in Fairview, Inglewood, Livingston, Montgomery and Silver Springs).  CMBA continues to work with the City of Calgary, community associations and housing developers to support the development of more skills parks within the city. However, after getting the ball rolling, CMBA’s focus has returned to trail-building.