Sulphur Mountain, Banff, Alberta

[SMRussell]

So way back in 2009 before my Munro bagging journey had even started I was offered the opportunity to head to Vancouver for a conference. As my partner and I hadn't been over to Canada before we decided to make the most of it so we rented a car and drove from Vancouver up to Jasper, over the Icefields Parkway and out across to Calgary. We then started to head back and stopped of in Banff, Alberta. While there, having spent so many hours numbing our bums in the car we opted to wander up Sulphur Mt which has an elevation of 2, 451 mtrs! However, we started from the gondola lift centre which is already about 1600 mtrs up so we only walked up around 851 mtrs.

It is an easy path and the whole time gondolas move up and down above your head moving up to and from the visitor centre at the top. The presence of gondolas and a visitor centre does seem to mock the mountain, but then I must admit I think it is really good that the elderly and infirm can be given the opportunity to take in such amazing views that would otherwise be off limits. And the views were amazing!

After cooling down from our stroll up (which I did in jeans - never again!!) and taking in the wonderful views we hopped into a gondola (hell why not), which for some reason we got for free, and hot footed it to the pub for a B&B - beer and a burger. Good times

[SusieThePensioner]

Love the photos

We were there in 1993 doing a fly drive from Seattle - Vancouver - Victoria - Kamloops - Banff - Kalispell - Coeur D'Alene -Seattle. Absolutely fantastic

[SMRussell]

Love the photos
We were there in 1993 doing a fly drive from Seattle - Vancouver - Victoria - Kamloops - Banff - Kalispell - Coeur D'Alene -Seattle. Absolutely fantastic

Sounds like a great road trip - if you're over again you should head up / down the Icefields pkwy where you can walk on the Athabasca Glacier and ride in the MASSIVE Icefield Explorers (see the pics below) wonderful stuff. We loved Canada so much we hope to move to Vancouver at some point in the next few years.

[dooterbang]

Wowsers

Now this is an area i would love to visit.

No chance of me going to a conference though - unless Methadone involved!!

The Banff mountain film festival is in Glasgow Jan 26th.

I went last year and was great fun - i'lll be there this year also.

http://banff-uk.com/

Oh brilliant photos

[SMRussell]

Wowsers

Now this is an area i would love to visit.

No chance of me going to a conference though - unless Methadone involved!!

The Banff mountain film festival is in Glasgow Jan 26th.

I went last year and was great fun - i'll be there this year also.

http://banff-uk.com/

Oh brilliant photos

Thanks for the photo comments. You have to visit the Canadian Rockies - they're just so stunning I'd love to go back for some proper hiking and climbing. We passed Mt Robson, the big daddy of the Can Rockies, while on the road trip it - was quite a sight. Attached some pics taken from the car - they do not do it justice though!

My radar had already picked up on the film fest but cheers for the heads up. Not sure whether I'm able to make it though

[dooterbang]

looks stunning

So many places to visit...i'll never get the time off

Shame about film festival as its pretty good.

Im lucky in that i live 5 mins walk from the Mitchell Theatre

[pollyh33]

Oh really fantastic photographs SM !!

I've been lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time in Canada, although most of it tends to have been in Whistler.

I love the fact that they are so geared up to hikers and climbers of all ages

Have to go back and see if I can improve on my time for the Grouse Grind- what a painful but enjoyable experience

Good luck with moving to Vancouver- fantastic city

[ChrisW]

Great photo's SMR, would you believe I was just looking at the Gondola ride this afternoon considering hiking up and riding back down as my first 'ease in' to Canadian hiking, I was also pricing up the Columbia Icefields trip for Sarah and I to do later in the year, then I log in and find your report reading it is enough to convince me to do the Icefields trip as soon as possible

We are not settled in to our house yet as we are waiting for furniture from home so 'condo-land' Calgary is where we are presently. We have finally sorted out Social Insurance Numbers, Drivers licences, new SUV's, work visas etc and we're almost ready to start enjoying Canada.

I hope to make my first hike tomorrow afternoon and think I have found a nice little 10k starter close to Kananaskis,(about 1 hour from home) we took a ride out to Canmore on Friday last week (again an hour away) and got our first sight of the Canadian Rockies...the move already seems worth it.....

[SMRussell]

Oh really fantastic photographs SM !!

I've been lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time in Canada, although most of it tends to have been in Whistler... Have to go back and see if I can improve on my time for the Grouse Grind- what a painful but enjoyable experience

Good luck with moving to Vancouver- fantastic city

You lucky thing Polly! We popped up the sea to sky highway, stopping off at the Brandywine falls by Squamish, for a flying visit to Whistler on our second last day in Canada. There wasn't any time to take in any of the fun stuff so just had a wander through town.

I've very jealous that you've whipped up Grouse Mountain! I was itching to head up there but with my conference we never found the time The big kid in me wanted to do the ziplines!

Really hope we can get out to Vancouver - I just loved it! Oh and the sushi and sashimi we had out there But it'll be a while before we can get something sorted - an occasional flick through my photos spurs me on though!

[SMRussell]

Great photo's SMR, would you believe I was just looking at the Gondola ride this afternoon considering hiking up and riding back down as my first 'ease in' to Canadian hiking, I was also pricing up the Columbia Icefields trip for Sarah and I to do later in the year, then I log in and find your report reading it is enough to convince me to do the Icefields trip as soon as possible

We are not settled in to our house yet as we are waiting for furniture from home so 'condo-land' Calgary is where we are presently. We have finally sorted out Social Insurance Numbers, Drivers licences, new SUV's, work visas etc and we're almost ready to start enjoying Canada.

I hope to make my first hike tomorrow afternoon and think I have found a nice little 10k starter close to Kananaskis,

Firstly... PHWOAR! Those photos were cracking!!! I'm green with envy You're so lucky - I always bad mouth Calgary but I forget how close it is to real mountains! If someone offered me a decent job there tomorrow I'd be over there like a shot. Oh, if you haven't yet, check out the Glenbow museum - really good.

Sulphur Mountain is a nice walk - very strange to have the gondolas ticking along above you and it felt very odd to purchase a large coffee and use a real toilet on the top of a mountain (surely I should have been squatting behind a rock?). Hope you enjoy your first hike - I'll look out for a walk report!

The Columbia Icefield is very touristy but worth it - you'll also get to brush up on your standard grade / GCSE geography as they give to a lecture on glacier formation and so on during the trip up.

Oh - have you spied a black squirrel yet? Cheeky blighters them

[ChrisW]

Firstly... PHWOAR! Those photos were cracking!!! I'm green with envy You're so lucky - I always bad mouth Calgary but I forget how close it is to real mountains! If someone offered me a decent job there tomorrow I'd be over there like a shot. Oh, if you haven't yet, check out the Glenbow museum - really good.

Sulphur Mountain is a nice walk - very strange to have the gondolas ticking along above you and it felt very odd to purchase a large coffee and use a real toilet on the top of a mountain (surely I should have been squatting behind a rock?). Hope you enjoy your first hike - I'll look out for a walk report!

The Columbia Icefield is very touristy but worth it - you'll also get to brush up on your standard grade / GCSE geography as they give to a lecture on glacier formation and so on during the trip up.

Oh - have you spied a black squirrel yet? Cheeky blighters them

Black squirrel_Calgary.jpg

My Mrs is Vice President in HR for one of the Oil Companies over here, she says they have a hard time getting people to move to Calgary, personally I find being less than an hour from the Canadian Rockies very pleasant There does seem to be an awful lot of vacant jobs around Calgary even though they seem to pay great salaries here.

I've not tried the Glenbow Museun yet but will give it a go, Sarah wants to ride up Sulphur Mountain and ride down again too so I might save that for a weekend with the Mrs event

Definitely going to check out the Columbia Icefields at some point, we both really fancy it - a weekend at Lake Louise first though as Sarah wants to skate on the lake

When I first saw one of those black squirrels I thought I had seen something rare and couldn't wait to tell our friends, after a few days I realised there are thousands of the little bleeders all over the city, I felt like a right idiot

Anyway, got my first hike in the Rockies today, a nice steady couple of thousand feet of ascent to Mt Baldy Pass close to Kananaskis,(its a molehill for the Rockies ) I'm taking it easy and respecting these big uns until I get settled in but have picked out some beauties for later in the year already - hope to get a report in tomorrow....hiking 2k feet to end at 5k feet is pretty cool though....I'm loving being surrounded by these enormous lumps

[SMRussell]

a weekend at Lake Louise first though as Sarah wants to skate on the lake

Awww Lake Louise is lovely - but you'll have to check out Moraine Lake which must be only about 10km south of Lake Louise in Valley of the Ten Peaks. It is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen! And yes, here is another photo!

[ChrisW]

a weekend at Lake Louise first though as Sarah wants to skate on the lake

Awww Lake Louise is lovely - but you'll have to check out Moraine Lake which must be only about 10km south of Lake Louise in Valley of the Ten Peaks. It is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen! And yes, here is another photo!

Now you're talking, that is definitely on the list stunning.