Canmore Sport Climbs

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Sport climbing is a relatively new subset of rock climbing or mountain
climbing. The authors liken it to “enjoyment climbing.” Sport
climbers want to find good climbs and suitable challenges on predefined
routes that are clean, safe, and properly graded.

This work is a narrowly focused guide to sport climbs at three sites in
the Canmore, Alberta, area: Grassi Lakes, Mount Rundle, and Ha Ling
Peak. Each of these sites has one or more crags with evocative names
such as The Rectory, Meathooks, and Gardner’s Wall. Each crag has
several roughly parallel routes of ascent, created and named by local
enthusiasts. This guide provides instructions for how to climb routes
such as “Lawyers Guns and Money,” “Coming Through Slaughter,”
and “Fiberglass Undies.”

The ascent descriptions are largely factual. For example, the “O,
That Thing” route on the Swampy Buttress crag reads, “[s]cramble
left, then back right to a belayer’s bolt on the steep angled ledge
below the route. Straight up on thin holds over a couple of overlaps,
passing right of a hole on the third bolt.”

The introductory and closing materials are less factual. The authors
sometimes sound arrogant or intolerant. For example, “judging by what
we’ve seen and heard over the years, illegitimate motivations for
going to the crag are epidemic.” They also seem to be very concerned
about what people wear while climbing and make fun of people who don’t
meet their particular definition of what is appropriate dress.

While there is a lot of jargon throughout the book, most of it is
explained. Occasionally, though, even with the definitions in hand,
sentences do not make sense.

There are not many books available on this subject, and this one is
specific to a local Alberta area. In spite of its shortcomings, academic
libraries that support physical-education programs and large public
libraries will want to buy this book.