Kyle Dow and His Catered Road Trip Company Hedon Rock Tours

Hedon Rock Tours is a new company that provides an all-inclusive tour of Western Canada’s premier climbing destinations, from Canmore to Squamish. If you have never been out west and don’t want to worry about transportation, camping or food logistics, Hedon will take care of it. The brains behind the rock climbing tour company is Kyle Dow, originally from Sudbury, and we recently touched base with him in the Rockies.

How long have you been climbing and what do you do for road trip funds now? I’ve been climbing for about eight years. It’s one of those things that I got progressively more into and, before I knew it, it had taken over my life. To fund my adventures, I’ve often worked serving tables or various seasonal jobs like installing Christmas lights. Yes, that’s a thing. It’s mostly been about maximizing time in the mountains.

What is Hedon Rock Tours? Hedon Rock Tours is my vision of the ultimate Canadian climbing road trip. It’s Canada’s only all-inclusive climbing service – we provide all transportation, gear, accommodation which is mostly camping, and meals twice a day. Our guests only need to worry about climbing. We visit the best climbing locations in Western Canada. Once we get our guests to the climbing destination, it’s a self-guided operation so the climbers are in control of their own climbing. And if our guests want a guide for a larger objective, we can certainly arrange that.

What motivated you to start a company like this? I recognized the difficulties of climbing in a foreign country when I travelled to Europe. There’s a lot of different things to coordinate and you can waste a lot of time on logistics instead of climbing. I want it to be easy for people coming to Canada o climb. Most people don’t have a lot of vacation time to spare, this is perfect for them. They see all the best places in a time efficient manner. And we make it more affordable than people can do on their own. These tours would also be ideal for groups or families. Imagine getting back to camp after a long day of climbing, everything is already set up and you sit back and have a beer, maybe pick out a climb for the next day, while somebody serves you dinner. I think the climbing in Canada is incredible and a lot of the world doesn’t know about it, it’s sweet to share my favourite spots with people.

Can you describe a trip? We have three different tours to offer, but they all pretty much work in the same manner. The evening before the first climbing day everyone meets at a hostel for a meet and greet, beers and introductions. Then we’re off climbing! We take people around in a big passenger van and exploring different crags at every location. The crags are selected based on the abilities and wants of the group. Groups are small, only eight people so we can accommodate everyone. Different shuttle times are arranged for people that want longer or shorter days. At night we all convene at camp and eat delicious food that’s prepared by our chef. Then we kick it around the fire, talk shop and get to know our new friends. Standard climbing trip stuff. This pattern pretty much repeats itself as we work our way west to different locations, exploring some of the best parts of Western Canada. Guests are welcome to take a rest day whenever they want and we’ll try to sort out something fun to do.

The smooth granite at the Smoke bluffs offers not only classic crack climbs, but also bolted slabs that'll keep you guessing, and unbeatable views of the Chief and Howe Sound! #hedonrocktours #climbing_pictures_of_instagram#climbing #squamish #sending #goodtimes#getoutstayout#rockclimbing #adventurer#smokebluffs #thechief #howesound #goodtimes#classic#explorecanada #explorebc #liveclimbrepeat#mountainculture #getoutside #lovelife #livesimply#mountaincultureelevated#climbinglife#climbingisbliss #climbing_is_my_passion#grippedmagazine#mammut#epictv#blackdiamond Photo: Toomas Meema

A photo posted by @hedon_rock_tours on Mar 6, 2016 at 9:44pm PST

What is your goal with Hedon? My goal is to bring together climbers from all over the world, show them my favorite climbing spots, and create an amazing and fulfilling experience. Ultimately I just want people to get psyched on this road trip. These places have given me so much and it’s really cool to pass that on to other people.

What are you plans this summer and how can people sign up? This is the first year that we’re in full operation so we have tours running for most of the summer – it’s going to be busy! On my down time I’m going to get out on the rock and do what I love. There’s a lot left for me to explore, I have an incredibly long tick list. Check out our website here to sign up. Any questions can be sent directly to me at kyle@hedonrocktours.com. Don’t forget to hit us up on Instagram and Facebook. Get out on the rock wherever you are and have a great summer!