some of the worst music ive ever heard

Thanks Barry. I started climbing in 86 and Climbed for 4 years. Started under Omar Setser in Canmore. Canadian School of Mountaineering. Learned Rockclimbing, Iceclimbimg,Skimountaineering then Climbed with The Alpine Club a lot on the main trips. You sold me boots and James game me a cap at the mall 1982 Everest. Did Columbia, Forbes, Joffrey, Hungabee, Temple, Fay, French, Bolan, Little, Gordon, Phillips, Rhonda, Bow Hut, Fay Hut, Neil Colgan, and many 7,8,9 and 10. Attempted Mt Robison once on Skis and summer with Alpine 75 Anaversary. Can’t spell. Did a few trips with The Agape Ski Club. Got close to the big Crevases on Robson. Kinny lake built and slept in a Quincy snow house and the cabin at Berg Lake. Thank you both of you for inspiration and also Chic Scott for teaching us Crevas Rescue Berg Lake Camp. For many years prior I lead many hiking trips all around Banff.

what a giant is Mr Blanchard

Barry Blanchard is a national treasure, whether he wants it or not.

Barry, I love watching these videos & hearing that my retreats and triumphs were completely validated over the years. I was reading about your climbs since the early ‘80’s, felt you were a real bad ass, and now you’ve added the human element, and I really appreciate that. You’re such driving force and yet such a regular guy, you make me feel good about the little things I did. Thanks, man!

Great stories, well presented and spoken.

Barry’s a gem who could make a very good living in Hollywood or doing voice acting, storytelling, wow, just fantastic.

Thank you Barry!

I like this video!

this is awesome and i hope to sign up someday! please produce more videos like this!

nice to see the trail that was picked, i did the heart trail horseshoe this past sunday solo. awesome conditions. super fun scramble!

Love these videos.

This was so good. Thank you guys for the upload

This was so good. Thank you guys for the upload

So awe inspiring…

I so want to do this ....I’m in Banff for August 1st but I have never hiked a mountain

These are the greatest. I love the Calling memoir. More Barry stories!

Thank you for sharing such heartfelt accounts of your amazing climbs, climbing partners and mountaineering friends.

Superb. Alpine storytelling doesn't get much better than this.

Ken and I climbed north face winter 2nd assent . Made great progress 1 camp straight forward alpine climbing exposed but fun till summit. Easy raps of east ridge. Awesome climb.

Barry Blanchard's encounter with the male grizzly who chased him and his client up a tree near Lake Louise is one of the scariest I have ever heard. So glad his experiences were recorded for posterity!

I will never get over what a fantastic storyteller Barry is! All mountain guides seam to be really good storytellers (maybe the stories are just that awesome to begin with) but Barry always finds a way make me feel like I am there with him! Pulling his hair up like that when he is talking about falling over the cornice! Pure Gold!! Love these videos and love Barry!!

lIstening to Barry brings back so many great memories of my decade living in Banff National Park. I was never a very accomplished climber by any means but I truly loved the sport and the adventure that came with it. One of my more memorable trips was with Barry back around 1990 while participating in a week-long winter alpinism course offered through Yamnuska. We first attempted Hado Peak in the middle of January with temps around minus thirty and about twenty centimeters of fresh snow on the ground.....we skied a good ten clicks into where we planned to build a snow cave. Unfortunately, it was not possible thus we had to bivi in the open. This turned out to be one of the most torturous nights of my life as I spent the entire night shivering and sleepless in this shitty old three-season bag while staring up at the stars wondering what in hell I had gotten myself into. Barry and the two other participants snored away in their large four-season down bags as the minutes ticked by very, very slowly..the night seemed to last an eternity!....at dawn, Barry awoke and saw that I was struggling and had not slept a wink...he immediately reached into his backpack and pulled out a large down jacket and handed it to me. I put it on and it soon brought me some comfort and warmth....we had a quick brew then started making our way up the tongue of the glacier which was low-angle ice but hard as cement...I led one rope while Barry led the other....after much exertion, on my part, we finally all made it to the snowfield which led us toward the final summit slope.....we post-holed for what seemed an eternity across the snowfield arriving at the final thirty-degree slope around ten or so in the morning. Once there, Barry wisely assessed the situation and decided the avalanche danger was too high and probably also noticed that myself and the two other dudes that were part of the course were all pretty much done so he quickly pulled the plug - no one complained about his decision as I know I was personally fried having not slept a second the night before. Thus we turned around and began our long descent. We trudged our way back across the snowfield and then made two raps down the tongue of the glacier hanging from a foot-long piece of electrical conduit. We finally reached our skis and slowly but surely made our way back to the parking lot by nightfall on the second day.....We were stripping down and getting ready for the ride back to Canmore when I looked over at Barry who was now only wearing only a light fleece jacket...on the back of the jacket was embroidered "STOP TORTURE HANDCUFF AN ALPINIST" ....I laughed to myself and thought just how appropriate that quote was..... We took the next day off then headed out to climb Polar Circus....Barry lent me one of his own personal bags for this trip and although we did not finish the last two pitches I can't say the entire trip was a failure. It was a fantastic learning experience and being with Barry, a guy I had so much respect for and had read so much about while sitting alone in the Banff Library thumbing through old Alpine Journals, I couldn't have been happier! I continued to ice and rock climb for the next 15 years or so, never getting much past leading grade four to five ice and 5.10 rock on trad gear into the 11s on sport routes.....nothing earth-shattering to be sure but for me climbing wasn't so much about summiting or grades, it was more about camaraderie and the journey, not the destination. Now 57 and living in suburbia outside of Toronto, I look back on those days with great fondness. I will never forget my week with Barry and just how encouraging he was and what a super nice guy he is = really enjoy listening to your series Barry - hope you are well and happy in your life!!!

Maybe you could also show how to release the device when blocked after a fall of the below climber and subsequent lowering....seems like it is quite tricky not to release the Reverso too much which may result in a catastrophy.

Great review.. Thanks Lisa. I'm considering the Banff Highline and would need to train for it to be ready. Along with walking/hiking with a pack on hills, distances, is there any suggestions you have for additional training over the winter such as related weightlifting or other exercises? thanks, dave

This would be a great video if the quality was good enough I could watch it 🤷🏼‍♂️

Amazing stories, thanks for sharing Barry.

Nice outing on the ridge; much better than when Dave McNab guided us to the top of Victoria which was in the clouds. Great trip none-the-less. Thanks for the memories!

I enjoyed these stories, listening to them on the Gold Coast of Australia; and they brought me back to my repeat accents of test pieces such as Cascade Falls, Midget's Mantel, Grillmair's Chimney and Silverhorn. LOL. Big routes for this guy from Regina inspired by Barry, Jim, and James who taught and guided me in the early 1980's. Thanks.

Great series, Mr. Blanchard. Looking forward to more!

Thank you Barry and Yamnuska! This series is incredibly inspiring. As a local Canmore adventurer, interpretive and aspiring hiking guide, I love learning about the history of our home. Barry tells the stories of his First ascent climbs with such passion, detail, emotion and enthusiasm. I am sad that it is the last one. Lol. Really enjoyed your talks Barry.

Someone needs to get Barry to do a Podcast. This series has been wonderful.

Loved the book, great hearing it from you. Thank you!!

What a treasure this is.

Great tales, great artwork, great style.

Thanks for sharing this and presenting such amazing climbing history

Amazing, epic climbs . Very dramatic ending.

Really hope to hear more about the Rupal Barry

Man Mount Alberta looks like such a monster

Man, so, so good. Thanks for putting these together. Like reading the old CAJs from the golden age, but so much more rich. Does anyone recall or have the full beta on the late/great Ken Wallator and Rick Costeas ascent (pharmacologically fuelled?) of Cavells N face? For some reason I thought it was winter.

How can there be no comments? This is the most awesome thing on KZbin imo. Can’t wait to watch them all, this is almost as good having a beer with Barry. Cheers!

Heck yeah, can't wait for another book Barry.

Yes! Keep'em comin'

Nicely Done - Awesome Vid*****

Worth noting that rappel rings majority of the time will not be located at the same height. Rappel rings will usually be offset, both horizontally and vertically. If you ever lower from a set-up similar to the one in this video (rappel rings at the same height), you might notice by the time you get to the bottom of your pitch you rope will have a series of twists all throughout.

Thank you so much for this! Really appreciate it.

Looks like a great hike! Thanks for sharing. 👍

Assiniboine myself and it is named for my people not the blckfeet who came later after we had three rounds of smallpox and could no longer defend the country but one of our bands was there the english called them Stoneys but they are Assiniboine never the less

Another great musical score

Finally!! A video has music that actually has melody !! Thankyou