UKC

Hi,

I have made the decision to move to Canada for a 24 month working holiday visa. I've done a season in Whistler before and I know that there is a lot of good ski mountaineering there, but wanted to know if anyone had any other suggestions for mountain towns in Canada that have it all...ski mountaineering, ice climbing, rock climbing, hiking etc and would recommend for an extended period of time? Banff? Nelson? Ideas?

TIA,
Rowan

In reply to Rowancb:

Phew! For a moment I thought this was a suggested re-branding for the Canadian equivalent of the BMC!

In reply to Rowancb:

Only spent a day or so there, but Canmore looked promising - similar mountains, etc as Banff but outside the national park & seemingly much cheaper.

Have fun

In reply to Rowancb:

In reply to Rowancb

Would agree Canmore is cheaper than Banff. Both seem to have quite an active community of climbers so good for finding partners etc. Lots of ice, and rock climbing in the summer too, perhaps not as solid as Squamish but Yamunuska, Ha Ling. Hiking too. Every outdoor shop and cafe seemed to be looking for staff around August/September time.
Lake Louise not really a town as such, close knit, 45 mins (ish) down to Banff, subsidised staff accomodation if you were going for a resort related job.
Golden/Kicking Horse area might be worth a look? Some good ice climbing round Field but again not exactly a town.
Revelstoke, everyone seemed super stoked for skiing esp. Rogers Pass area about 45 mins up the road. There is ice around, mainly of multi-pitch gully type with some long/risky approaches, perhaps not quite as reliably cold as further east (have a look for West Coast Ice website/fb group), seemed to be less active climbers and I only found a partner by chance. Not sure if there is much summer rock around.
Hope that helps and good luck

In reply to Rowancb:

I agree Canmore is an ideal place. I stayed there (over Banff, pretty much no affordable accommodation when I was there in the summer) and then extended my stay as it suited my purposes so well. There is a bus to and from Banff about every half hour (think every hour perhaps in the evening) which took about 20 minutes and was an amazing journey itself through the mountains (but in a decent road).
Canmore has plenty of places to eat, shops, supermarkets and an indoor climbing wall (should you need it). I hiked Ha Ling from there too (used a transfer to the start, easy to organise) which was an epic hike. Great fun.
I am sure you will have a great time. PM me if you're interested in more information.

In reply to Rowancb:

Great, thanks for the info guys. SOunds like Canmore should certainly be on my list of possible destinations. Cheers!