At present, many mixed climbers are embracing the new "sport" philosophy, focusing on pushing the standards on single-pitch, sport-style routes. New "sport areas" like Haffner Creek, The Gulag and Waterfowl Gullies are being developed at a rapid pace. Simultaneously, the overall technical level of the community is soaring with M8s being on-sighted regularly and a handful of M9s established. Steep cave climbs like Thriller (M9-), Svoboda (M9), Power to Burn (M9), Caveman (M9+) and Animal Farm (M9+/M10-) are among the hardest in the world. "Locals around here are getting really good, really fast," points out Will Gadd, World Cup ice climbing champion.

Hard but not that hard, these routes are only the beginning. The next few years will definitely see M10s and M11s established as well as on-sights of increasingly harder routes. However, the future of Canadian Rockies mixed climbing is not short cragging routes. The future is once again changing the perception of what is possible: multi-pitch M10s, traditional M9s, serious run-out M8s. When interrogated about the huge potential that these mountains contain for mixed climbing, Gadd instinctively lies to protect the secret, "The Rockies are cold, inhospitable and have no good climbing. Stay away!"

Local mixed maestro Raphael Slawinski sums it up best by saying, "Think of how many fat waterfalls there are out there. Now think how many walls of snowed-up rock with the occasional drip hanging off..." The Canadian Rockies has unlimited possibilities for those with vision. The future is only limited by one's imagination.

—Sean Isaac, MountainZone.com Correspondent
Isaac, a resident of Canmore, Alberta, gets psyched for hard mixed climbs in the Canadian Rockies as well as alpine rock and mixed climbs in Patagonia, Pakistan, Peru and Kyrgyzstan.