One thing I’ve always known for sure is that I was born to live in or around the mountains, because that is where I feel the most satisfied, liberated, and at peace with the world. Living in Calgary has afforded me the opportunity (one I never take for granted) to explore the nearby Rockies and it’s pristine wilderness on a regular basis, and I have taken full advantage on my many forays into Banff and Kananaskis over the years (my favorite being Kananaskis which I chronicle in great detail on the website Powderface – the lakes and trails of kananaskis. Here one truly feels like they are living in the heart of the mountains, nestled within the bosom of Three Sisters and Grotto mountain.
Until recently my familiarity with the town of Canmore never really extended beyond it’s relevance as a stopover between trips into the backcountry, so I profess to not knowing all that much about the history of the town and surrounding area. The general knowledge is that it was a sleepy coal mining town until the 1980′s at which time mining operations had ceased and the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics were a reality, eventually putting the Canmore Nordic Center on the world map.
Ever since then it has embedded itself in the international psyche with it’s natural beauty, and of course caught the attention of Hollywood where numerous movies have been filmed, among them “Last of the Dogmen”(Tom Berenger), “Mystery Alaska”(Russell Crowe) and “The Edge”(Anthony Hopkins).
*Last of the Dogmen included several scenes filmed right in the town, most notably a chase scene on horseback down main street …
Anyway, I’ve gathered together a few factoids about Canmore which I thought were interesting enough to share, and here they are . . .
- Canmore is taken from the Gaelic Ceann more which means Big Head, the nickname for Malcolm III who was the King of Scotland between 1057 – 1093. Now I know I belong ….
- Between 1902 and 1930, Canmore and neighboring Deadman’s Flats were actually part of Banff National Park, although at the time it was called Rocky Mountain National Park.
- Nearby Deadman’s Flats supposedly got it’s name from this story … Legend has it one or more Stoney Indians were trapping illegally in the area (once part of the National Park) and spotted a Park Warden approaching. With no way to escape without being seen, they smeared themselves in animal blood and played dead, which apparently worked rather well, because as the Warden went to report the dead bodies they made their getaway with the beaver pelts. Word of the incident quickly spread, and soon the distraught Warden, humiliated over the way in which he’d been duped, resigned his post and opened up what would become the first liquor store in the Bow Valley (okay … I’m making that part up …)
- There appears to be some dispute over the naming of The Three Sisters mountain peaks looming to the town’s southeast. Some believed a surveyor in 1883 named them by altering the previous nickname “The Three Nuns”, however the most popular theory is that the first Banff Park Warden, George Stewart, named them after his daughters Frances, Olive and Grace. What we do know for sure is that it had nothing to do with a chinese man scaling the summit … (see Ha Ling Peak)
- At the time of the Olympics in 1988 Canmore’s population was a mere 3,200. By 2006 that number rose to well over 16,000, a growth that continues at an astounding rate and has many permanent residents and environmentalists feeling this once little mountain hamlet is being unnecessarily developed, negatively impacting the area’s wildlife corridors. Population is expected to reach 25,000 before the available land is tapped out.
- Became headquarters for Canada’s Alpine Club in 1980.
- Gary Andersen lives here. If you don’t know who I’m talking about than you probably didn’t watch much NFL Football in the 1980′s and 90′s. I’ve been a huge Minnesota Vikings fan for many years, a team Gary was the place kicker for and with which he had his “perfect season” when he converted on all 35 attempted field goals and 59 extra points, an NFL record to this day. He retired in 2004, moved to Canmore, and fittingly operates a Fly Fishing Charter business called Perfect Season.
- MY FAVORITE FACT OF ALL. The Coffee Mine in Canmore has some of the best food in all of the Bow Valley, so if you’re passing through and want to find out what you’ve been missing because you’ve been eating at Tim Horton’s all this time, make a point of stopping by …
But perhaps the most prevailing fact of all, Canmore is a slice of paradise that will weave it’s way around your heart until eventually you find you no longer want to leave … and that’s a good thing !
* Originally posted by Jeff Burns on TheBurnsyBlog.com, June 27th, 2007