Embark on an adrenaline-pumping journey beneath the surface! Crawl through tunnels, rappel into stunning caves, and explore breathtaking underground wonders. Perfect for adventurers of all levels, our guide reveals the best caving experiences for your next thrill.
If you’re seeking an experience that’s truly unique and packed with adrenaline, caving is the adventure for you. Whether you’re a thrill-seeker or prefer something a bit less intense, caving offers packages tailored to every level of adventurer.
Imagine scaling through tight squeezes just 10 inches tall or navigating 13-meter-long chutes that are only about a foot and a half high—it’s exhilarating! Beyond the thrill, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that combines fun, challenge, and discovery. Best of all, caving is surprisingly affordable, making it accessible for anyone looking to explore the underground world. This blog is focused on Caving as an experience, but we did the Canmore Cave Tours.
How to get to Canmore Cave Tours & The Rats Nest Cave
Canmore, Alberta is a small town near Banff National Park and the Rocky Mountains. The Canmore Cave Tours is about 80 kilometers from Calgary, just right off of Highway 1A.
From being here at the building where Canmore Cave Tours operates, we all depart adn make our way to Grotto Mountain, which is about a 5 minute drive from the shop. From the parking lot of the trailhead, it is about a 10-15 minute hike to the start of the Rats Nest Cave.
About the tour!
The adventure kicked off with a briefing and gearing up session where the guides provided everything we needed for the tour. This included gloves, helmets, coveralls, harnesses, and all the essential equipment to keep us safe and comfortable during the experience. One thing to note—there are no washrooms inside the cave (for obvious reasons), so you’ll need to plan accordingly since you’ll be underground for a few hours.
We opted for the Adventure Tour package, which gave us the full caving experience. We spent about 4 hours exploring the cave, with the entire tour lasting approximately 6 hours from start to finish. It was an incredible journey packed with fun, challenges, and unforgettable memories!
Tours Available
Adventure Tour
This is the flagship tour, recognized as a Canadian Signature Experience. It includes an 18-meter rappel (no prior experience necessary) and allows participants to explore more of the cave, including passages like the Laundry Chute. The tour lasts approximately 6 hours, with about 4 hours spent underground. It is suitable for individuals aged 12 and above.
Explorer Tour
This tour offers a shorter caving experience without the rappel. Participants spend about 2.5 hours underground, exploring the cave’s passages and formations. The total tour duration is approximately 4.5 hours. It’s suitable for individuals aged 10 and above.
Solitude
A customizable, fully private experience in the cave. This tour is tailored to the preferences and skill levels of the participants, offering a unique and personalized adventure.
Group Tours
Fun, adventure and learning.
Caving Courses
Take adventure to the next level with the caving courses offered.
The Tour Guide (Brent!)
Our caving adventure wouldn’t have been the same without Brent. Brent is, without a doubt, the best tour guide we’ve ever had on any experience—and that’s saying a lot! From the moment we met him, his enthusiasm for caving and his deep knowledge of the Rat’s Nest Cave were infectious. Brent has a rare ability to combine professionalism and expertise with a warm, approachable personality that instantly put us at ease.
What truly sets Brent apart is his passion for sharing the wonders of the cave. Whether he was explaining the geological history of the formations, pointing out fascinating details we would have otherwise missed, or guiding us safely through the more challenging sections. He made the experience educational, exciting, and incredibly fun.
Brent’s encouragement was particularly invaluable as we navigated some of the cave’s trickier features, like the Laundry Chute and Grand Gallery. He has an uncanny way of making even the most apprehensive explorers feel confident and capable. His energy, humor, and genuine love for what he does made this tour unforgettable. If you ever get the chance to explore Rat’s Nest Cave, do yourself a favor and ask for Brent—he’s truly one of a kind!
Rats Nest Cave
On this tour, we explored a section of the Rat’s Nest Cave, located within Grotto Mountain. Our adventure began in the Bone Room and took us through notable features like the Laundry Chute and the Grand Gallery before circling back. While this journey covers only a portion of the cave, the intricate pathways and stunning formations make the experience feel expansive, with each step offering a new perspective of this underground wonder.
The first part of our tour was spent exploring the Bone Room. Inside, we encountered an incredible array of animal bones, ranging from large mammals like bison to smaller creatures such as rodents. Brent, our guide, shared some of the teeth he had discovered and collected, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the experience. Importantly, we learned that these artifacts must remain in the cave to preserve their historical significance.
Here’s an interesting fact: in Canada, all caves are considered public spaces, meaning anyone with the proper equipment and skills can explore them. However, Rats Nest Cave is a special exception. Due to the abundance of bones found there, it has been officially designated a Provincial Historic Resource, ensuring its protection for future generations.
After exploring the Bone Room, the next adventure was an exhilarating rappel! This descent was roughly 60 feet, if I recall correctly, and was one of the most thrilling parts of the tour. Brent, our guide, allowed each participant nearly full control of their own rappel, providing an empowering and hands-on experience. Of course, he was always there with safety measures in place, just in case.
The next part of the tour featured an optional challenge: a thrilling squeeze through a narrow passageway. This section, stretching about one to two meters in length, consequently led to a larger chamber spacious enough to comfortably accommodate the entire group—and then some. The most astonishing part? At its narrowest point, the squeeze was only as wide as a women’s size 7 shoe! Isn’t that wild? It was definitely an adventure to remember!
The highlight of the entire caving tour was, without a doubt, the thrilling “Laundry Chute”! This 13-meter-long squeeze was an exhilarating adventure that led us into the next section of the cave. It began with a narrow drop, which quickly turned into an “L-shaped” passage. To navigate this part, you had to keep your legs straight and slide down, landing on your bum to continue through. It was an adrenaline-pumping experience and an unforgettable moment of the tour!
Without giving away the entire tour, I’ll just say that we tackled some more thrilling and exciting challenges that I won’t spoil here. These surprise challanges aren’t mentioned on the activity’s website, making them even more special for those who experience them firsthand. It was an absolute blast, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment! You will have to book this experiene and find out for yourself!
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