I had a day in between meetings in Calgary and Banff, so what better way to spend it than going underground in Canmore? My friend Chas Yonge runs the excellent Wild Cave Tours in Canmore. We spent about 4 hours in the Rat’s Nest Cave, just outside of town. His Adventure tour comes highly recommended. The 20m rappel is a blast,  and the laundry chute is out of this world. Imagine yourself 100m underground, squeezing through a narrow tube, head-first at a 45 degree angle, and after a semi-somersault on your belly through another tiny tunnel. Not for the faint-of-heart or the claustrophobic. The tour leads toa large chamber and grotto with small underground pools.

Their multi-day Alpine Cave adventure sounds rather amazing as well.