Yoho

When you drive from Alberta to B.C. on the Trans-Canada Highway, you cross into Yoho National Park. The park was founded on the same day as Glacier National Park, after Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and his wife Agnes visited the area in 1886. They became the second and third national parks in the country. The mountains are composed of broken bands of shattered stone. There are some long alpine routes on Mount Goodsir, Vaux, Balfour, Biddle, Odaray and Stephen. Next to Lake O’Hara is a must-do long rock route called Grassi Ridge 5.7. The valleys and peaks are known more for the winter ice climbs, such as those found near Field called the Beer Climbs. One of the classic rock routes in the park is Takakkaw Falls, a 450- metre 5.6 that climbs next to the thundering waterfall the climb is named after. There are other established rock routes close to Field, including a boulder field called Cathedral Forest below the Spiral Tunnel lookout with over 40 problems up to V10.—