Bringing the old to the new, or the new to the old. The first segment is two Banff classics in one go, with you starting outside Aardvarks Pizza (the classic standard for late night munchies in Banff) and running to the top of Tunnel Mountain (the Banff tourist special).
Week #1 Challenge
Aardvark Pizza to Tunnel Mountain
GPX Track
**Ahem** so there’s going to be some flat(ish) road to start this one. Like 500m tops! So chill out and keep the gripes to a minimum. But this is going to be so fun, and kinda funny too. How will tourists react to a couple hundred huffing and hacking runners ripping by them? We shall see, but there’s for sure going to be some freaked out looks and people scattering when you rasp out an “on your left.” It’ll be like a living art piece/social experiment. Stoked!
Anyway, as we said, start directly outside Aardvarks Pizza on Caribou street. From there you will run 400 metres up Caribou Street towards Tunnel Mountain. At the end of Caribou there’s a path that goes up and connects to St Julien Road (maybe scout this little section during your warmup). Take a hard right on St Julien and after about 50 metres a hard left onto the Tunnel Mountain trail. It’s pretty straightforward after this, just make sure you head straight across Tunnel Mountain Drive when you get to it. After that, just follow the trail up. Badda-bing Badda-boom. The segment ends when you touch the "summit tree".
Also, from a place of pragmatism it might be best not to do this on Saturday morning, it will be hectically crowded. Please obey traffic signs and be courteous to other sidewalk and trail users!
- Distance: 6km roundtrip
- Difficulty: Chill/Sorta not chill (its all pretty hard when you’re redlining)
- Elevation Gain: 310 metres +-
- Where to Park: There are a ton of parking lots in town, just try not to park in the residential area
- Surface: Road, groomed and well trodden trails, some stairs
