Banff Cave Tours with Canadian Outback

Banff Cave Tours with Canadian Outback >>Shannen: This is Shannon from Canadian Outback Adventures & Events and today I’m talking with Carla, our Alberta Adventure Expert. I know you book a lot of tours and you get to experience a lot of different adventures, what is your favourite adventure and what do you recommend most to our guest in Banff, Carla? >>Carla: That’s a good question and what I definitely get asked a lot. Working in the tourism industry, it has its perks and I have gotten the pleasure of experiencing quite different tours but I still always say “without a doubt, the coolest outdoor activity I’ve ever done, the most unique, fascinating adventure has been caving”. >>Shannen: Where about do you go caving? >>Carla: The caving tours that we offer take place at Rat’s Nest Cave, which is in Grotto Mountain, and that’s just outside of Canmore. Canmore is about a 20 minute drive from Banff so really accessible for anybody who is staying in Canmore, driving in from Calgary or staying in Banff and Lake Louise. >>Shannen: That sounds pretty amazing! Tell me a little bit more about this caving experience, what happens? How do you go about exploring these sites? >>Carla: Definitely in caving, it’s a very wild, adventurous activity so it is always best to go with trained professional guides. The tours that we offer, they actually start with about a 20 to 30 minute hike up of a mountain trail and that really is to get us out and up towards the cave actually entrances. Once we enter inside that cave, you really do enter a whole nether world, it’s completely pitched black and it is a world of ancient tunnels, formations, everything is just thousands of years old once you enter into the cave system. >>Shannen: Now I always think of caves when I think of bats. I’m sure you get that question all the time, are there bats in these caves? >>Carla: There are no bats and I know even if it’s called Rat’s Nest Cave, there are no rats either. There are some old fossils but when you are actually in the cave, you don’t really come into contact with any type of wild animals. But that being said, the cave is completely wild and undeveloped – there’s no electricity, there’s no boardwalk, there’s no handrails, there’s no bathrooms, it really is a completely wild world. >>Shannen: Do you have to have a certain physical fitness in order to do this adventure and or are kids allowed to experience this tour? >>Carla: Good question! The tour itself, there is obviously the 30 minute walk first to get to the entrance and then once you are inside, there is quite a bit of climbing and crawling and some squeezing so we do suggest that everybody have a base level of physicality. Anybody who’s fairly adventurous, who snow shoes, skis or climbs and hikes, bikes, these are all people that caving would definitely be accessible for. So we just say you should have a bit of base physicality, in terms of the minimum age, it does vary. We offer 2 different tours: the explorer tour is our basic introduction to caving and it’s about 4 and a half hours roundtrip and that is great for anybody who might be a bit hesitant as well as children as young as 10 years old. Next up we have the Adventure Tour, this one is very similar, it’s a longer tour though, its 6 hours roundtrip, and it also includes a 60 foot rappel. Obviously you’re rappelling in the dark which is a really exciting experience to just descent to a dark abyss. For that one, we do suggest that kids do need to be 12 years or older but you don’t need to have any prior experience or rappelling experience, our trained guides will go over everything on how to work that and operate it with you. >>Shannen: Do you need to have any special equipment when you go on a tour like this? >>Carla: Good question! No, we provide you with everything you need so in terms of what you need to do, you just need to show up. We actually ask that everybody meet at Soby’s in the heart of Canmore, that’s one of the grocery store chains. While we get you to meet there, we will suggest: even if you brought your camera, go in and buy yourself a disposable camera with a flash, because it is going to be muddy in the cave and you are going to be in tight squeezes. Definitely you don’t want to hurt your own camera. In terms of what to wear, just your basic outdoor clothing even as if you’re out gardening for the day. You might get a little bit of mud soak through but we do actually provide all participants with coveralls which are going to cover your arms and legs, your whole body, so that’s going to protect your clothing from the mud and silt. We are also going to provide everybody with a harness, a helmet, a headlamp, kneepads, gloves and backpack. >>Shannen: That sounds pretty amazing! How would somebody go about booking one of these tours or getting more information from you about it? >>Carla: Yes, we’re always happy to speak with guests about the experiences; we have done them first hand so it’s always good to ask if any questions. In terms of getting a hold of us, our phone number is 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2. You can also e-mail us as well at reservations@candianoutback.com >>Shannen: Sounds great! Looking forward to another conversation with you, talk to you again. >>Carla: Sounds good! [pause]