University of Calgary Outdoor Centre — Local services in Calgary

Rented ‘2-Burner Stove’ ‘2-Person Backpacking Tent’ ‘Standard Thermarest Sleeping Mat’ for a week. The stove was broken, the tent was leaking, and the only thing that wasn't a problem was the sleeping mat. If you want to sleep in the rain and see the whole stove on fire, then feel free to place a rental order. The first night, when I took the stove out to cook, I was in for a severe shock as fire erupted from all four sides and the top of the stove. The control valve was broken and, not really knowing what to do, I had to risk removing the butane tank. I couldn't eat at the end of a busy day, it was a perfect night! Luckily I didn't leave Calgary, and the next morning I had to cancel some of my trips and return to the Outdoor Centre for a replacement. Their technician said that the pilot tube and control valve inside were broken, causing butane to leak out of every crevice, and when I fired it up the whole stove would ignite. They gave me a replacement, I tested it in the field and it worked, and I left Calgary for Banff National Park to start the trip. The first few days of the trip were smooth sailing, however, on the night of 23rd August 2024, it thundered and rained heavily in the National Park. I set up my tent (with the rain cover secured), went to the toilet, washed up, and went back to my tent to sleep. However, I noticed a puddle of water in the tent and it was like a bolt from the blue, the rain was seeping through the waterproof cover in three or four places and dripping on the inside of the tent and on top of my sleeping bag. I had to remove the groundsheet and place it between the rain cover and the tent in the rain to try and direct the leaking rain around the tent. It was 1am by the time this was done. All in all, if you too want to sleep in the rain, be terrified by a burning stove and be hungry for the night, then book a rental as soon...

My wife and I took our AST2 course with the U of C Outdoor Centre in December 2015. Overall, the course was very well organized and we had an excellent experience. Jeff Bullock at the U of C was very helpful in answering questions and accommodating requests and our two guides, Doug Latimer and Hamish Sanderson, were excellent in delivering and executing the AST2 curriculum requirements.

Apart from the classroom day at the U of C, the course was run out of the Il Nido Country Inn in Golden. Not only was this venue fantastic in terms of hospitality, accommodations, and meals, it allowed for a unified meeting venue for all 12 participants. The group would meet in the morning before breakfast to go over the day’s objectives and then once finished the day, would have debrief meetings later on in the evening. This type of setup also allowed participants to get to know their fellow ski tourers over the course of three days. We spent two days in Rogers Pass and one day slackcountry at Kicking Horse Resort. The Glacier National Park winter permitting exam was done by all participants prior to arrival to ensure our day operated as efficiently as possible. We had three excellent days of learning, discussion, and skiing.

We gained what we were hoping to from this course and would highly recommend others to take their AST2 course with the U of C...

My boyfriend and I rented 2 stand-up paddle boards from here (included was roller bag for the boards, air pump, hose, boards and size-adjustable paddles. Dry bags are an additional charge.) Price is ok, but still steep for the condition of the equipment ($38 each for the whole day) The foam on the boards was sun faded, picked at from previous customers, and overall showing its age. However, as we were starting to inflate them, we noticed that one of the hoses used to connect the air pump to the valve wasn’t sealing properly, so it constantly leaked air as we were trying to fill it. Fortunately, the other hose sealed fine so we used that to fill up both. Then, we noticed that on one of the paddle handles, the clasp that allowed it to be size adjustable was completely broken in half. I attached a picture to this review. The staff were friendly and apologetic when I returned the equipment at the end of the day, but I really thought they would inspect their returned gear more thoroughly before renting it out again. I would probably rent...