if you are thincking about canadian rockies without the tourist invation, i sugest you canmore caus e it is way samller than banff and you re just 20 km out of the national parck. plus you got 3 sport climbing crag within 20 minutes drive and the first climbing wall is probably 35 min car and walk altogerther. baff is a party town and i do not rocommend you to live there.i ve been living in canmorefor the past 3 years and it is the climber meca of canadian rockies.
if you plan to spent a few time in the c.r. i will sugest you to go climb in the bugaboos in british columbia cause it is one of the best granit in canada not to say in the world!! it is actualy in a alpine setting like pantagonia ( smaller of course) witout the weater condition always bad.
if you want to climb early in the year or late in falls, Skaha in penticton is a very good place to go.
if you need any info about canadian rockies, i will exchange you info for some aussie climbing spot cause i am travelling here and don`t really know were to go execpt the grampians. etstboniface"hotmail.com