Bow Valley Rock Climbing

Southern Alberta's major climbing area. Centered around the town of Canmore, the Bow Valley has a sport crag in every drainage, and long multi-pitch trad routes on most of the big walls that tower over the valley.

For the trad, as the Bugs are so close, most true alpinists will spend some time there. The trad lines in the rockies tend to be chossy and scary at times but the use of modern bolting has made it quite safe on most rock types. The crown jewel of trad climbing, Yamnuska, is a venue where you can try old-school hard-man routes or new gen 'modern' routes that are complete with many bolts on the blank limestone sections. Other worthy Alpine routes will sure include Mt. Lougheed, the Ship's Prow, Mt. Temple (Banff), Sir Douglas, Edith Cavell (Jasper) the Rundle Traverse (Some in Banff), The Fold and Joy (Kananaskis), to name a couple.

You may have heard that there are giant sport climbing routes, too. Among them, Sisyphus Summits 10d 500m is the biggest to date and was established with some controversy. It resides on Ha Ling, the prominence attached to Mt Lawrence Grassi. There is also 200m-400m+ lines on EEOR, Guides Rock (Cory, in Banff), Nanny Goat, Kid Goat, Canmore Wall and Bourgeau (Banff).

If you are looking to pull down without the risk of rockfall and prefer short routes, look no further to the array of sport climbing found in most drainages, cliff bands or canyons. Cougar Canyon, Heart Canyon, Barrier Bluffs, Grassi Lakes and Grotto Canyon all host a good mix of hard and easy routes for those who are starting or getting better.

Acephale, Planet X (Cougar), Echo and Bataan all have a harder mix of climbing that requires at least 10a climbing to have fun (11+ at Acephale) but all host incredible stone. You can also find a number of less travelled areas such as Carrot Creek or Raven's Crag which both have excellent climbing and provide some relief in the busy months.

The rock season is short (April-October) in most years, but fortunately the Bow Valley also has world-class ice climbing in the winter. Some ice climbs begin forming as early as October and the ice season can last well into April if the temperature is cool up high (more so in the parks). For a more detailed look at conditions, consult Will Gadd's website: Grav Sports Ice Forum

There are many guidebooks on any type of adventure, be it alpine, trad, sport or ice/mixed, you can find what you desire in each book (see guidebook section).