| 1. Rocky Mountains 80 km away as seen from just outside of Calgary |
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The hike to the top of the Grotto Mountain (2706 m high) is relatively easy, but it gives quite a good taste of the Rocky Mountains. Grotto towers 1400 m above the town of Canmore, only about 105 km from downtown Calgary. Trail to the Grotto summit starts at the clubhouse of the Alpine Club of Canada. It is only 5 km long (one way), but the elevation gain is 1350 m, and it climbs straight up relentlessly almost from the beginning till one reaches the Grotto Ridge.
On May 26, there was still a lot of the old snow on the Ridge and on top of it up to 20 cm of new snow in some places. New snow was also in the upper reaches of the forest.
And only after I returned home, have I found that there are four kilometres of apparently interesting caves below Grotto Mountain.