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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
International	(General)	(General)	(General)

Topic Date User

Canada 18-May-2010 At 2:08:18 AM james

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what Canmore lacks in international-bus-trip tourists it more than makes up in weekend-from-Calgary tourists. Either way there are many lifetimes of climbing (rock, ice, alpine) whether you live in Banff or Canmore. Both towns are only 20mins apart so you will climb in the same places regardless of where you live. Skiing, again endless opportunities, the Rockies typically has a thinner snowpack but this year stability was good (better than many areas of BC which is unusual). Winter is looong in the Rockies though, rock climbing season is from late April to late Sept at best. Skiing runs from November to late May (high icefields tours are best in spring). Lots of sunny days even in winter, sometimes its too cold to do anything outside, although those cold spells don't last long. Also there is lots of good xc mountain biking, loads of hiking, good paddling, caving, you won't be bored. Cost of living is not cheap, easy to find work but you'll probably be shocked at how low wages are.

Jasper is nice - lots of climbing (ice/rock/alpine), good xc mountain biking, paddling. the skiing isn't as good as further south (Banff/Canmore). less snow & its a bit colder, too cold & the thin snowpack rots. Jasper is quieter & a nice town, it will feel more remote than Banff/Canmore.

Coast/Squamish - lots of good skiing, awesome rockclimbing when its not raining, mountain biking (xc & scary downhill) & Squamish is also a world-famous windsurfing/kite surfing destination. It rains LOTS.

interior (eg Revelstoke). The ski hill is massively over-hyped but still better skiing than the coast or the Rockies, Revy is 30mins drive from Rogers Pass (ie the best ski touring in the world!). The town is very quiet, you will find it harder to find work, but overall its cheaper to live in. There is quite a bit of rockclimbing, haven't climbed there myself but I've never heard anyone says its bad. Not much ice climbing - too much avy hazzard unless you have intimate local knowledge (ie jump on routes only when you know its slid already & hasn't snowed since). Rogers Pass & the Selkirks have good summer mountaineering. Some of the big rock faces in the Selkirks rival the Bugaboos, they're just more remote otherwise they would be a popular as the Bugs.

PS: the Bugs can be a gong show at times.... beautiful but it does get busy (short season, really only July & August).