It’s not something skiers expect to stumble across while ski touring in the backcountry of Banff National Park at this frigid time of year – a hibernating black bear huddled beneath a tree.
But that’s exactly what happened to renowned conservationist Karsten Heuer and some friends while ski touring near Hector Lake, about 20 kilometres north of Lake Louise, on Saturday (Jan. 14).
The brief encounter woke the bear from its peaceful slumber, prompting Parks Canada to close the area to give the bruin the space and security it needs to survive through the critical winter hibernation period.
“It was one of those moments where the mind was having trouble making sense of what I was seeing. Half a metre away from my boots was a bear curled up like a dog underneath a spruce tree,” said Heuer.
“The bear was on top of the snow pack, exposed to the elements save for the spruce branches. It was not in a den or anything. I feel so privileged to have witnessed it.”
Heuer said he and his friends were talking in hushed voices, but the bear started to wake from its peaceful slumber and lifted its head to see what was going on.
He said the bear showed no signs of aggression, “but obviously didn’t like being bothered.
“He definitely looked very groggy and almost seemed to be having trouble focusing,” added Heuer, who is a wildlife biologist and an employee of Parks Canada.
“He put his head down as if to ignore us, then lifted it again. We decided to leave for the bear’s sake and for our sake.
“It gave us a look that indicated it just wanted to go back to sleep. The feeling was ‘do you mind? I’m just trying to have my winter nap here’.”
Heuer immediately alerted Parks Canada about the hibernating black bear out in the open, particularly because there were other ski touring groups in the area.
Parks Canada decided to close the area.
“It’s a precautionary closure to help this bear maintain hibernation and hibernation activity, as well as protect people,” said Omar McDadi, a spokesman for Parks Canada.
“Seeing a bear like this is probably not something that people would be sensitized to at this time of year.”
Hibernation is a critical time for bears which need to conserve energy before emerging in spring.
During hibernation, their heart rates and metabolic activity drops, and they go several months without eating, drinking, urinating or defecating.
Mike Gibeau, a Canmore-based bear expert and retired carnivore specialist for Parks Canada, said while not common, it’s not unheard of for bears to simply curl up under trees to hibernate.
“I have known some black bears just to dig a little nest at the base of a tree, or more of a hollow, and curl up into a ball,” he said.
“Sometimes there’s a bit of an overhang, sometimes they tuck underneath the roots, so it’s not completely unusual to have an open den.”
Gibeau said he’s glad Parks Canada made the decision to close the area.
“It’s a very important time for bears. You don’t want this bear to exhaust his energy reserves,” he said. “Closing off the area keeps the place quiet so the bear doesn’t have to keep getting up and moving around.”
Heuer, who is best known for his 1998-1999 trek from Yellowstone to Yukon to bring attention to the need for wildlife corridors and core reserves and his 2003 adventure following the Porcupine caribou herd from its Yukon winter range to endangered Alaskan calving grounds and back, said he hopes people respect the closure.
“We have options and there are several other places in the area to go ski touring, but it’s a question of survival for this bear in not being disturbed,” he said.
“Its survival is so dependent on trying to keep its metabolism low. There are big energetic costs for it to become completely awake.”
While it is not known if it is the same bear, there was a report of an injured black bear along the Icefields Parkway a couple of weeks ago.
“If this bear is injured – and that’s speculation on my part – it’s all the more important it’s not disturbed,” said Heuer.
In the early 1990s, a female black bear was hit by a vehicle along the Sunshine road, leaving her with a badly broken leg. Much to everyone’s surprise, the bruin emerged in spring with two cubs in tow.
“There’s so many miracles that go on in hibernation,” said Heuer. “They wake up in spring with the same muscle and bone mass – certainly less fat – as they went to sleep with, which is miraculous.”
