Banff Virtual Challenge COMPLETE February 23, 2024

Taking on the Banff Virtual Challenge was a short sweet escape from reality! 

I got to relive so many of my amazing adventures throughout Banff National Park!  

Of all the challenges I completed over the past three years, this one resonated with me the most, even more so than the Cabot Trail Virtual Challenge in my born and raised province of Nova Scotia.  Over the past few decades I spent so much time hiking, skating, scrambling, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and ice hiking in Banff National Park.  I am familiar with tonnes of nooks and crannies.  For these reasons, while I truly enjoyed this challenge, I did come away with some disappointments.  The major one would be a glitch of some sort with the app, or my devices or I don't know what, but my marker would not move off Tunnel Mountain Road to cross the finish line even though I completed the distance, received my finishers certificate and confirmed the information so my medal can be mailed to me.  This is a snapshot of what shows as my finish. I refreshed and refreshed and refreshed but I am stuck where I stand.

This was the final postcard I received.  

This is my photo from roughly the same location.  On this day, Banff just opened up with major restrictions during the height of the pandemic. Provincial plates were all that were permitted at this time.  I took this photo mid day while sitting on the street divider savouring a latte, the scenery, the peace, the quiet and sensing such a surreal feel.    

This is the route of the Banff Virtual Challenge.  The start is where you see my marker at middle left and you see the finish line at bottom right. I drew the red line over top of the blue route the app provided.  The actual virtual route is only a part of the red line and the parts are scattered here and there.  Much of the route was a grey broken line which went over mountain tops and along roadways, I do not believe those sections were counted as part of the distance but I am not positive.  

Another thing I was disappointed about was that I emailed The Conqueror Support Team with a question about this virtual route.  The automatic reply came back stating they would reply within 48 hours.  I sent that question on February 14th and I have still not received my answer. Previous to that, I penned a post to the private FB Conquer Community wondering if others who already started the challenge could answer my query but my post was declined by the admin staff.   

The start of the Banff Virtual Challenge was at the end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail near the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse.  I stood in that  spot many times.  This is one of my photos from when I did that hike in June of 2021.

This is my photo of where the virtual challenge finish line was. 

There were two major areas where the virtual route went. I broke it down and made a close up of each.  The blue lines are mine but I do not believe the entire stretches make up the distance of the challenge.   This first map shows the start and the route it went and ending along the Bow Valley Parkway.

This second map picks up the route along the Bow Valley Parkway and carries on until the finish.

Like I mentioned at the start, this challenge resonated with me!  I may be biased, but it had the best views the entire way, of all the challenges I completed.  I do wish the Team answered my question and I do wish my marker moved to the finish line.  It is now time to move on and continue making my way floating down the Colorado River.  I hope to complete the Grand Canyon Challenge in a week's time.