Yamnuska Mountain Adventures - Canmore

This is a long-overdue review for my experience over the past year with Yamnuska. I found them on the internet and signed up for the 5-day Ice Evolution course back in January of 2020. I had no rock or ice climbing experience but had done some non-technical mountaineering. The experience was outstanding! The instructor was James Walter and I cannot say enough about him as a guide, a climber, and person. There were 3 total clients, including me, and James for the 5 days of the course. Great group size with lots of opportunity for 1on1 feedback. With zero experience, by the end of the course I could climb WI4 ice. On the multipitch day of the course, we went to the weeping wall up the icefields parkway and I got to do a 180M WI3 multipitch called Sniveling Gulley with the legendary Barry Blanchard – once in a lifetime experience. After the course, I was so impressed with James that I started climbing with him 1on1. We did around a dozen ice and rock climbs together over this year, and I will write a separate review for that, but needless to say he is just excellent. Regarding Yam in general, I went on to take the basic Avalanche safety course and in addition to multiple guided climbs with James, I also did some back country skiing with Darcy Chilton, who’s a great guy and also a super competent skier and teacher, and a lot of fun to out with as well. I would highly recommend Darcy as a guide if you want to go backcountry and do some touring. With this many bookings over the year, of course issues will come up. I had to change the schedule a few times, and conditions don’t always cooperate. What I can say is that Yam was always 100% professional and accommodating. This is a high quality outfit and they run their business well and with customer service in mind. Communication was always timely, direct and clear. Any issues that arose were handled appropriately. This is a quality shop and the customer experience shows that. Everyone I interacted with at Yam was professional and the guides are top notch in terms of skill, knowledge, and especially safety. These people take their jobs very seriously – it’s a way of life for many of them – and I always felt incredibly safe with all of the guides I worked with this year. This is a company I will be going back to for many years and you absolutely cannot go wrong, whatever adventure you are looking for. One thing to note is that some of their courses are only available if they get a certain minimum number of participants, so I would encourage you to call or email the if there is something on their calendar you are interested in just to confirm it is happening. So, if you are thinking about doing any sort of outdoor adventure in the Canadian Rockies, I would 100% recommend Yamnuska – you can’t go wrong. And if you are looking for an ice or rock climbing guide, do yourself a favor and request James Walter.

What an awesome experience. My son and I went on the half day introduction to ice climbing with Patrick as our guide and absolutely loved it. Patrick took many, many photos for us (using our phones) and made us feel safe and certain the whole time. I will be booking another trip with them later this winter: my son made it to the top but I just did not quite have it in me - it is now on my bucket list to conquer that climb :) Highly recommended.

Took their AST 1 course and really appreciated the skill level and experience of the instructors. The classroom portion (Grant) was informative and well-paced while the on-snow session (Don) mixed specific content with a lot of small bits of advice and experience. Went out the next day on a plus one day of backcountry skiing and experienced a shockingly good powder day with Nathan, a really great guide. Their office communication could be more responsive, but in the end all the logistics were clear and worked out exactly as they set them up, so that's a mild criticism. Will recommend their training to anyone.

My son & I took AST 1 with Alison just this past wknd. What a great experience!! Alison was a very friendly & knowledgeable instructor. We will definitely request her again for future adventures with Yamnuska!

What an incredible hiking trip YAM pulled together for us. 4 days in the high alpine near the Campbell Ice Field, including hikes on glaciers. Getting 8 kids ages 4 to 11 up on mountain summits and on a ice field is not an easy feat! A very memorable experience, made even better by the guiding and food services teams provided by YAM. Friendly, knowledgeable, professional... I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Definitely a fun experience! Our guide, Larry, was awesome. Very informative and answered all of our questions. All the gear needed for climbing is provided. We headed to King's Cove, it was about a 30 minute hike til Larry found a suitable climbing area. We're both rookie climbers but Larry pushed us to try our hardest and we both made it to the top. It was awesome and would recommend everyone to try it at least once

Currently doing my wilderness first responder course in Canmore. Paul has been one of the best instructors I have ever had including taking my EMR in the past. Makes the learning process easy and fun and happy to answer all questions. Matt also has done a fantastic job at explaining the more difficult or complicated concepts in very easy to understand ways. Would strongly recommend.

I have done a number of mountaineering courses and programs including private guiding with Yam over the last year and a half. I have been beyond impressed with the quality of the guides (I have been with 7 different guides) and their commitment to our safety and learning. The guides are absolutely world class! Every program I have done with them has been a trip of a lifetime. The courses are packed with information (but is taught in sections so it is not overwhelming) and the guides have the answers to any questions you might have. I have learned so much in such a short period of time. I have gained so much confidence in the mountains and know that I have been taught the best practices. The guides often ask the students if they want to take the lead on summit days. Walking through trip planning, route finding, hazard mitigation and risk management with a guide is absolutely an invaluable experience. One of the most incredible days I have ever had was when our guide asked if I wanted to lead our Intro to Ski Mountaineering group up the steep snow section to the summit of St. Nickolas Peak! I smiled so much that day that I got a sunburn on the roof of my mouth from the sun's reflection off the Wapta Icefield! What a day! Rod and his team do a fantastic job in the kitchen making sure we are all well fueled up for big days in the mountains. Keep the fresh food coming! Even the Pine Martens love Rod’s food... I did a number of private programs during COVID and the guides followed social distancing when possible and we put on our masks when it was not possible (like at a belay stance when rock climbing). COVID adds another layer for the guides to consider on top of the usual hazard and risk management in the mountains and I was very impressed with their commitment to keeping us safe. I cannot recommend Yam enough! Thanks to the entire Yam team for everything over the last year and a half! I will be back for more this winter! (Most of the photos are pre COVID)