Canmore Cave Tour

During these past few years I have been hiking the summits of the Canadian Rockies but I had not thought of exploring what lies deep down within these mountains, not until I discovered the Canmore Cave Tour.

Just a disclaimer: I did not take this photo. I give credit to Narcity.com for this pretty photo of the cave.

Not many people know about this awesome adventure so I feel very lucky to be living in the Town of Canmore in which this cave tour takes place. I was in contact with Max (a great Tour Guide) and he was just as excited as I was to have me join the adventure that day.

The tour also included a special 45 minute meditation session as, a special event with the health and wellness Thrive Festival which I became a part of through Banff Sport Medicine, one of the platinum sponsors. A special thanks to Sarah for coordinating the 20 tickets. :)

Alright, let me tell you the experience:

So that day, my friend Jeremy and I were a bit skeptical to do the tour because the weather was a bit rainy. But we thought we will be inside the cave anyways so we might as well go. We think the essence of “Adventure” is all about "just go". We arrived at the Cave Tour Office, where we met the staff and the rest of the group for the day. The tour group was 13 people in total. Through the tablets provided, we electronically signed the waiver forms. We were also given an orientation about what we we were going to do and what we should expect. Max did a really good job giving everyone a chance to ask questions and he answered very graciously.

We fitted our suits,gloves and helmet. We then were set in partners to share a backpack that contains the suits, harness, knee pads, gloves, etc. The best part about this segment is that we were provided with free snacks and water!

Jeremy is happy to find his perfect fit suit! He sure can't wait to go.

We left the office in a vehicle convoy. The drive was about 5-10 minutes to the parking lot of the mountain where we hiked for about 30-40 minutes to the cave. It turned out to be a really nice day with amazing views of the mountains so the hike was in itself a very memorable experience.

Max, the guide, showing us that the upcoming trail is slippery so we have to put our hard hats on and hold on to the ropes.

We then arrived at the entrance of the cave where there was a tent to get changed and put on our gear. It was approaching dark so we turned on our head lamps. Things were just about to get very exciting.

Here we are finally inside the cave. Well, just about in the entrance.

Going down deeper the cave.

It's getting really exciting!

Okay, at this point, I stopped taking photos because I really just wanted to enjoy the moment. As we went deeper the cave, the intensity of everyone's emotion became more amplified. We entered a big cave chamber, then went into some routes that were so narrow it got a little frightening. Our course then lead to another chamber, after which we made it to our destination.

It was very nice that Canmore Cave Tours set up this chamber of the the cave with candles that lit it up the area. They also provided us with square mats to sit on and relax. We then did the guided meditation (led by Sarah) accompanied by a relaxing steel drum (I think that's what it is called). This music was played by Francine. At the end as we left, I had the opportunity to sing in the cave as the acoustics inside sounded so perfect.

It was a really out of this world adventure. I am now learning that the tour we did was just mild as the purpose was relaxation and mindfulness. Apparently, there are more things to see in the cave and some tours take longer hours to complete. There are also other special events that happen in the cave like concerts and what not. I did not expect that I would love this adventure so much. I can not wait until I can do this again and even more, if possible, even do The "Wild" Side of the cave and hope to see some monsters.

CAVING IS FUN!

By the way, I really wanna give a shout out to our tour guide, Max. He is totally amazing! Thanks for your passion.

Max is really passionate of the cave and he sees it as his home.

Here are miscellaneous photos:

This photo is taken by Francine.

If you are interested in the Canmore Cave Tours, visit www.canmorecavetours.com.

Author: Jyn S

Editor: Jeremy T