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Alberta Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in Alberta

Banff National Park 130 / 441 / 2 / 15 / 60 / 4 / 52 / 67 / 631

Bow Valley 93 / 1,334 / 9 / 25 / 22 / 10 / 58 / 17 / 1,470

Calgary 0 / 1 / 1 / 99 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 100

Castle Wildland Provincial Park 2 / 51 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 53

Crowsnest Pass 6 / 54 / 11 / 87 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 148

Dry Ranges, The 0 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 15

Edmonton 1 / 2 / 2 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8

Ghost (North, South, Waiporous Creek), The 11 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 32 / 0 / 7 / 1 / 43

Greenview 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

Icefields Parkway 27 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 68 / 0 / 18 / 22 / 85

Jasper National Park 27 / 175 / 10 / 2 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 209 / 209

Kananaskis 50 / 503 / 19 / 0 / 36 / 2 / 9 / 6 / 594

Nordegg [David Thompson Corridor] 9 / 98 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 112

Porcupine Hills (Skyline) 4 / 10 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 20

Waterton Lakes National Park 3 / 12 / 0 / 0 / 9 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 22

Explore this area in 3D

Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Elevation:	6,213 ft	1,894 m
GPS:	50.93069, -114.87297 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	2,954,963 total · 12,455/month
Shared By:	Peter Spindloe on Apr 15, 2007 · Updates
Admins:	Dave Rone, Tom Jones, Richard Rose, Rhys Beaudry Page Updates (admin only)

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Description

Alberta is the epicenter (or epicentre) of Canadian Alpine climbing with countless snow and ice covered peaks, glaciers and famous north faces. Alberta is also famous for some of the best ice climbing in the world.

Fortunately, Alberta is also well rounded and has sport and trad rock climbing a-plenty. The limestone and quartzite in the river canyons in the Canmore area probably have Canada's greatest concentrations of sport routes. Trad cragging is perhaps a little more limited than some other areas as the limestone of famous peaks like Yamnuska have great history and great routes but less solid rock; the climbing is more adventurous than a granite-trained tradster might be used to.

Getting There

Calgary provides easy access to Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise and all of the surrounding areas. Edmonton provides access if your destinations are further north.

Guiding Services

There are a large number of guides in large and small operations in the area. Guides on Crown lands are generally required to hold an ACMG certification for their discipline. You can find a guide through the ACMG search: http://acmg.ca/03public/guides/memberlist_mg.asp

Other Relevant Websites

Mountain Project is crowd sourced; not all routes have been added by users. If you climb a route that has not been added yet, please take the time to share it on Mountain Project. Other useful sites:

Book of Stone: An app developed by a Bow Valley local; extremely comprehensive for the Bow Valley. bookofstone.app/

Summit Post: Less active than it used to be, but generally decent for alpine climbs. summitpost.org/ ;

TABVAR: TABVAR helps offset the cost of route development and funds retro-bolting efforts in the Bow Valley. If you love a stainless steel bolt, donate to TABVAR! If you can figure out how to navigate their site, they have some topos available: topos.tabvar.org/

Climb Alberta: Check for access updates and events. Report route, trail or belay issues using their issue tracker. Discord server available as well as contacts for helping to handle crag-specific problems: climbalberta.ca/

Avalanche Forecasts: avalanche.ca/map ;

3,510 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Alberta

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.

WI5 54 ● Polar Circus Ice 9 pitches Icefields Parkway > Weeping Wall Area
WI4-5 84 ● Lower Weeping Wall Ice 3 pitches Icefields Parkway > Weeping Wall Area
WI4 96 ● The Professor Falls Ice 6 pitches Banff NP > Mt Rundle > Professor Falls Area
WI4 61 ● Moonlight Ice 2 pitches Kananaskis > Evan Thomas Creek > Moonlight/Snowline Area
WI4-5 128 ● Louise Falls Ice 3 pitches Banff NP > Lake Louise > Lake Louise Ice
5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b 92 ● Joy Trad 10 pitches Kananaskis > Mt Indefatigable
5.8- 5b 16 VI- 14 VS 4c 78 ● Achilles Spire Sport, Alpine 13 pitches Icefields Parkway > Mt Hector & Mt Androm…
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c 80 ● South Face Trad, Alpine 4 pitches Banff NP > Sentinel Pass > Grand Sentinel
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a 102 ● Plutonian Shores Sport 7 pitches Banff NP > Raven Crag
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a 131 ● Public Enemy Sport Banff NP > … > Back of The Lake > Outhouse Wall
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a 83 ● Beautiful Century Sport 7 pitches Bow Valley > Nanny Goat
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b 103 ● Turtle Mountain Sport Banff NP > … > Back of The Lake > Outhouse Wall
5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b 106 ● Cardiac Arete Sport, Alpine 4 pitches Banff NP > Sentinel Pass > Grand Sentinel
5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c 114 ● Meathooks Sport Bow Valley > Grassi Lakes > Meathooks Area
5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c 197 ● Wicked Gravity Sport Banff NP > … > Back of The Lake > Outhouse Wall