UKC

Did some TR in canmore area many many moons ago as a teenager. I would love to go back. Is it easier, logistically, to hit the sport climbing "west side" or go bouldering in squamish? My Alberta geography is rusty! Would I need to hire a car?

In reply to jules699:
Squamish is easy to get to. Flights to Vancouver and the Whistler bound bus. I would say a car is needed to go to Canmore. If you're planning on going soon, bring your ice axes!

In reply to jules699:

There isn't a lot of detail in your post but Canmore will be too cold to do much sport climbing now. If you were planning a summer trip then you could get away without a car provided you had some contacts or were prepared to hitch or jump on a bus.

You could easily walk to Cougar canyon or Grassi but even Grotto or Heart creek arent too far out of town.

In reply to Removed User:

Best guide book will be Bow Valley Sport

In reply to jules699:

So again, at the risk of some confusion in your post, Squamish is in BC and you get to it as the previous poster said. Canmore is about 3/4 of an hour out of Calgary on the No.1 highway heading west. There will bbe buses from Calgary to Canmore.

In reply to G Graham: Thanks. I wouldnt be wanting the ice climibng action. When does their summer season start?

In reply to Removed User: This was just a "put out the feelers" post. Kinda expected the summer season to be over. Thanks for your advice.

In reply to jules699:

In the summer, right after spring.

In reply to Removed User: Sq in BC. Noted. Thanks! So once you get to Canmore you can hike form crag to crag? Accommodation?

In reply to Removed User: Doh! So its roughly same temps as UK?

In reply to jules699:

Yep. plenty of bunkhouse stuff to stay in.

In reply to jules699:

Yes.

In reply to Removed User: Thanks for all your help. As you live there(soooo jealous) I can take what you say as fairly accurate! I'll email you again once the summer season comes round for an update if thats ok?

In reply to jules699:

Just to expand a little on the summer weather. It is mountain weather so it can be quite changeable and early season can still get quite cold especially at night. Bring clothes for this.

Lots of campsites and bunkhouses but a word of warning on the campsites. Some will charge per site and it doesn't matter whether you have a one man tent or a full sized RV, the cost is the same.

The Alpine club hut just out of town is excellent especially if you want a bit of quiet and don't want to take a tent over.

In reply to jules699:
Not really! Canmore: Winter is colder (it's one of the best ice climbing locations in the world) and summer is hotter. Squamish: roughly the same and probably wetter than much of the UK.
Will Gadd has a really good description of the Rockies climbing cycle on his gravsports website. The website is not pretty but there's great info there from one of the good guys.

In reply to jules699:

Confused. Are you going ice climbing or 'summer' climbing?

Jon (Squamish)

In reply to jonny2vests: Rock climbing. i guess I'll be waiitng til next year to visit. Probably leaning more towards a squamish trip....do planes allow bouldering mats? "oversized" baggage?

In reply to jules699:

Yeah, mats are fine on planes if your happy to pay the extra. Might work out more economical and less hassle to hire one here from Climb On in Squamish.

In reply to jules699: I flew with 2 standard sized bouldering mats (120x90cm open) to vancouver on BA and had no problems. I just wrapped them with some black shrink wrap and duck tape i think they weighed about 13-14kg with a few bits thrown in as well.