August 13, 2025
I drove south 20 miles from the town of Banff to the town of Canmore, about triple the side of Banff with a permanent population of around 16,000. Canmore is just outside the southern end of Banff National Park. Golden and Canmore were, by far, the most expensive Airbnb’s on my trip but they are both close to the places people want to be and can command higher prices. Staying in Banff proper would have cost even more…
I went downtown and parked and found that I was in a very nice little town that didn’t feel as congested as Banff. They also had a few blocks of their downtown area blocked off to traffic to form a pedestrian mall of sorts. I walked around and went in a few shops and immediately felt at ease. I also noticed that no matter which direction I looked I could see mountains.
I walked a short distance to a town park located along the Bow River.
Before I checked in at my Airbnb I decided to go to the library to print some documents from my computer. What I found there was totally unexpected.
A multi-story climbing wall! The library is located inside the Elevation Place Recreation Centre which also features a fitness gym, an aquatic centre and an art gallery! The climbing walls seemed to be the most popular and there were not only adults but also some rather young, but fearless, children.
Some of the walls go as high as 45 feet and the are some much lower ones which arced out to give an additional challenge to the climbers (not shown).
I stood for quite a while in the entrance area and marveled at the ability of the climbers. I even went back on another day to watch some more as I found it fascinating.
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