Q&A with Barry Blanchard: Mountain Guide & Lover of the Rockies

Barry’s résumé reads like the who’s who of mountains (if there were such a thing) and his sentences start with gems like, “When I was teaching Anthony Hopkins how to climb…” We were fortunate enough to be instructed by him on our first ever ice climb in Banff National Park through Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. After we were back on solid ground, we asked him a few questions.

What are the ice climbing options in the area for beginners?

There are probably a dozen or more appropriate places in Banff National Park itself, but also in the larger area, like Canmore, Kananaskis, Kootenay National Park, Yoho National Park and Jasper National Park. 

Why is Banff and the surrounding terrain one of your favourite areas?

The Rockies offer pretty much any form of mountain adventure you want to experience. There are a number of virgin alpine faces in the Rockies that are big, glaciated, steep, high mountains offering the most challenging kind of terrain, especially in the wintertime. There’s no shortage of that type of opportunity in this range. I’m also a very passionate rock climber and there’s a lot of good rock climbing in the Canadian Rockies. It’s probably the best place to ice climb in the world.

I’m also a southern Albertan, so I’ve been inculturated: I like rodeo, I like cowboy clothes and I like country music!

What are some favourite climbs you’ve done?

A number of my best climbs have been in the Rockies: the North Pillar of North Twin, the north and northeast faces of Howse Peak in the wintertime, Emperor Face of Mount Robson - some of the best climbs of my career have been in this range. And Mount Yamnuska, specifically the south face of Mount Yamnuska. I probably spent between 400-500 days of my life on that cliff climbing rock routes, so it’s basically where I learned to climb and is a very special place for me.

Where else would you like to climb?

My list is actually getting smaller; I’m actually crossing things off. Anything over 7,500 metres is off. No more super high climbing! But there are still a number of places I’d like to get to. I’ve never climbed in Patagonia and I’ve never climbed in Africa. I’d actually like to climb Mount Kenya, which is the second highest peak in Africa, but it has definitely got challenging rock routes on it, whereas Kilimanjaro is pretty much a hike, and I’m more interested in technical climbing than hiking.

While we’re always up for a good hike, it sure was exhilarating to ice climb with Barry. And while our résumé doesn’t read anywhere close to a who’s who of mountains, at least it has our first entry on it. 

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