When it comes to mountain adventure sports, there are few that are more fun and exciting than canyoning. Pioneered in the Swiss Alps, canyoning is a popular mountain sport around the world, yet was slow to arrive to Banff. I’m happy to report that you can now go canyoning in Banff with an awesome guided tour at Heart Creek.
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What is canyoning?
From the first moment I tried canyoning in Costa Rica, I’ve been addicted to it. Instead of hiking along a set trail, canyoning involves getting yourself down a canyon using a variety of technical skills and physical activities. While canyoning, you may find yourself hiking, scrambling, rappelling down waterfalls or cliffs, sliding, jumping into pools and more!
Canyoning is often done through beautiful slot canyons, usually with a river flowing through. The added element of getting wet, only adds to the excitement, especially of you are repelling next to a beautiful waterfall!
Due to the technical and potentially dangerous elements to this mountain sport, canyoning is almost always done with an expert, specially trained to guide participants safely down the canyon.
Where Can I go Canyoning in Banff?
Banff Canyoning is one of the leading canyoning tour operators in Banff. They offer three unique canyoning tours around the Banff area (although technically none are actually in Banff).
For those who want to go canyoning in Banff, the easiest option is to go canyoning at Heart Creek, which is just minutes east of the Banff National Park gates. Rest assured, this is still in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains; in fact it’s in a provincial park called Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park (which in turn, is part of Kananaskis Country).
Another exciting location to go canyoning near Banff is Abraham Lake, which is within an hour of the world-famous Columbia Icefield Adventure, making it easy to combine the two activities in a single outing. We haven’t tried canyoning at Abraham Lake yet, but based on the description from our guide, we can’t wait to go!
Finally, you can also go canyoning in Golden, BC. Home to the Golden Skybridge and the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, Golden is just 90 minutes west of the Town of Banff.
Heart Creek Canyoning Tour
Gearing Up
Having enjoyed canyoning around the world, we were very excited to sign up for our first-ever canyoning adventure in the Canadian Rockies. We arrived early for our Heart Creek Canyoning Tour to meet up with Jack (our guide), so we could get fitted into the proper canyoning gear.
Heart Creek Trail
Once we were all geared up in our warm wetsuits, we had a good, thorough safety briefing, then we hit the hiking trail. I love that the Heart Creek Canyoning Tour begins with a hike up the Heart Creek Trail, which is one of my favorite easy hikes in Kananaskis Country.
Once we were at the end of the Heart Creek Trail, Jack showed us the secret trail which continues past the end of the public hiking trail. I’ve hiked Heart Creek countless times and had no clue what amazing scenery is waiting to be discovered upstream!
The secret trail is very scenic, following the shores of Heart Creek. The trail runs through a beautiful forest, and passes several waterfalls along the way.
Heart Creek Canyoning
Upon reaching the beginning of the canyoning portion of the tour, we took a break for a snack, before getting some rappelling instructions from Jack. I appreciated a chance to practice the technique in a stress-free environment, before needing to use it in the Heart Creek Canyon.
The next few hours of canyoning down Heart Creek is some of the most fun I’ve ever had in the Canadian Rockies! I don’t want to give away too much of the fun, so I’ll keep this description to high-level highlights only:
First of all, the scenery was incredible. Many parts of our canyoning tour were through portions of Heart Creek slot canyons that I had no idea existed!
The canyoning itself was so much fun!! Heart Creek Canyon is such a varied canyon, that we got to enjoy a wide variety of canyoning experiences – both wet and dry. We got to enjoy all the classic elements of canyoning, including rappelling, scrambling, sliding, jumping into pools and more!
The absolute highlight is the final descent where you repel down next to a 15 m (50 foot) high waterfall! In my experience, canyoning is at its most thrilling when done next to waterfalls, and this is an incredible way to end the Heart Creek Canyoning Tour!
Banff Canyoning with Kids
As you can see, we enjoyed this Banff Canyoning tour with our kids. Our kids were aged 9 & 11 at the time we did the Heart Creek Canyoning Tour, which is below the recommended age of 12.
Banff Canyoning requires a discussion before allowing kids under 12 – given our kids prior canyoning experience and high level of activity in mountain sports, they were given approval. Please contact Banff Canyoning for pre-approval prior to booking your tour with kids under 12.
Heart Creek Canyoning – Final Thoughts
Having gone canyoning around many exciting locations around the world, I wasn’t too sure what to expect about going canyoning near Banff, in my own backyard. In the end, I was blown away by how beautiful and how much fun canyoning at Heart Creek was!
On the Heart Creek Canyoning Tour by Banff Canyoning I got to see areas of Heart Creek that I’ve never seen before, and they were stunning! The canyoning course was challenging and super fun, with a wide variety of canyoning situations for us to enjoy. Our guide Jack was amazing, and we felt safe and in good hands the entire time.
If you’d like to try canyoning in Banff, I’d highly recommend the Heart Creek Canyoning Tour by Banff Canyoning!
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Dan Brewer, a life-long Alberta resident, calls Canmore home along with his wife and two kids. He is the co-owner of Travel Banff Canada, where he gets to share his passion for the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Dan, along with his family, love being outdoors doing one of the many activities they enjoy in the mountains: hiking, mountain biking, paddleboarding, skiing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
When he's not in Canmore enjoying one of his favourite local hikes, you can find him hoping on a plane to explore a new country with his family or working on one of their other two travel sites: Family Can Travel and Baby Can Travel.