What Should I Do My First Time In Canada

So I'm heading to the Canadian Rockies for the first two weeks of May to work on my glacier and alpine skills. Part of the reason for going is to meet prerequisites for an Advanced Alpine Guide Course. Keeping those things in mind what would be on your must do list for the Canadian Rockies?

I'm also looking for partners and people to share a ride with as well for anyone interested.

Unfortunately your options in May are going to be pretty limited. Your best bet would be to hope that conditions are still okay for ski touring. Most alpine routes don't come into shape until mid/late July. Have a look at the ACMG mountain conditions reports at acmg.ca/mcr/archives.asp.

Yeah, I figured conditions wouldn't be perfect or even good necessarily but that's the time frame I've got. So are you saying I just won't find good route conditions or I won't be able to access the good routes? I'm also bringing skis but the goal is alpine climbs.

BYOB!
As everyone who's watched Canadian Bacon knows:
"The beer sucks!"
LMAO watching that movie!
Have a fun trip and post photos!

Just catch the swayzee express across the border

Tom, I was hoping I'd be too tired to worry about beer or even lift it to my lips but I'll keep a space open.

Nick, can I pick that up in Denver? :)

Nobody has any useful beta for me? Bummer, it's like the Canadian Rockies are almost a secret or nobody has any good info to put out there.

Lots of people alpine climb before July, late May and June people do go out but be very careful and check all conditions with wardens, websites etc.
You can walk up the Columbia Icefields from your car and be ready to practice crevasse rescue in less than 20 minutes. Bring good sleeping bag,tent, toque, gloves at this time of year it is still gonna be cold at night.
Do you have Selcted Alpine Climbs by Sean Dougherty?

Thanks Greg, I figured as much. You think shorty skis are ok for approaches? I don't have any guidebooks so is that a pretty good one to use?

If the person you're with says "lets wait to buy the beer (or food), it'll be cheaper a few more miles down the road..."

The price of beer doubled when we got closer we got to Banff. Don't wait to buy beer or food, you'll regret it.

AFAIK there are only two guidebooks to the Canadian Rockies currently in print - Dougherty's book as mentioned by Greg and Bill Corbett's guide to the 11,000ers.

Corbett's book doesn't have the variety that Dougherty's does, and many of the 11,000ers are tottering piles of crud, but the descriptions are more detailed and more consistent (Corbett actually climbed them all himself).

Dougherty's book has much valuable information, but caveat empor, it's also known as the "Liar's Guide" or "Selected Alpine Sandbags". A lot of the descriptions are second-hand and in some cases badly out of date on account of glacial recession.

Yeah, I figured I'd buy food in Calgary. Beer is in a sealed container though so I believe I can bring that over the border.

It seems like the Dougherty book may be the way to go for what I'm looking for. Have to check that out when I'm at Neptune's on Friday.

Seems like finding partners is troublesome as well.