In Our Own Backyard: The renaissance of alpinism in the Canadian Rockies

From the original 2007 BMFF Program: Barely a decade ago, the remarkable growth of sport climbing led some to worry that climbers would avoid the riskier and more committing world of the alpine, especially in mountain areas with clear hazards like the Canadian Rockies. But in the last few years, the opposite has been true. Sport and mixed climbing has helped spark a renaissance in hard alpine climbing - especially in our own range, where new waves of fiercely talented local and international climbers have once again grown to love the unique character of Rockies alpinism. Barry Blanchard, Raphael Slawinski, Sean Isaac and Steve Holeczi discuss their obsessions with the area and look into the future of the range.
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[@litespeed65]

I grew up loving mountains and read about all the great climbers and their adventures, I was truly obsessed. Then in 1985 I took a Yamnuska 10 day Introduction to Mountaineering course with Blanchard as an instructor. The guy was completely rude to me, totally unsuitable for teaching, a street thug. I was young, only 19 and a mountain legend should have been inspirational, but my love of the mountains was extinguished and I never went mountaineering again. I actually have a photo of part of our group on a summit in the Wapta glacier area where he's looking away slightly and giving me the finger. Another day he laughed AT me during a crevasse rescue situation. Reading various climbing articles recently regarding big climbs in the Rockies brought his name and lousy memory back to me unfortunately. There you go, a Canadian climbing legend...

[@Greg-bz2bf]

You caught Barry on a bad day then; 19 year olds also have bad days.

[@p2g307]

You lost your love of the mountains because some guy was "mean" to you?

[@at802]

You lost your love of the mountains but your username is Reinhold Everest and the KZbin algorithm brought you here. Maybe he was trying to banter with a sensitive 19 year old kid and get you to chill because the mountains don’t care about your feelings and being moody might get you or someone else killed.

[@KevinSmith-tr4db]

54:04 oh man hahaha thats a good point and a hilarious pause in the room, in favor of Mr. Blanchards point.

[@paulmitchell5349]

As Messner said, bolts murder the impossible.

[@renatomartinez8096]

This men are so right.yes.love this video.thank you for knowing.ha. they completely understand.all of it.

[@AdrianCalgary]

to quote the end of this presentation with a twist “If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher.” The Spray Lakes Road is almost undriveable . What access can someone expect to have in the further distant areas?

[@specialj1]

Pushing the local limits is great, the Rockies is truly an amazing place, and the panelists are all pretty much the best at the game (even game-changers). My only question is, what, no women on the panel? Hopefully next time this takes place there will be a bit more gender diversity!