EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

BLAIRMORE is a scrappy settlement redeemed for the casual visitor only by the walks and four winter and night ski runs on the hill above it (Pass Powder Keg Ski Hill: tel 562-8334 for information). Largest of the Crowsnest towns (population around 1800), it has a handful of "historic" buildings, notably the Cosmopolitan Hotel - built in 1912 - at 13001-20th Ave (tel 562-7321; $40-60), but neither town or hotel are places to linger. COLEMAN is the place to spend the night if you absolutely have to, especially if you've always wanted to be able to say you've seen "the biggest piggy bank in the world", made from an old steam engine once used to pull coal cars in local mines. The town, battered and bruised by mine closures, amounts to little - the small Crowsnest Museum has interesting mining exhibits in the old schoolhouse at 7701-18th Ave (mid-May to Oct daily 9am-6pm; Nov to mid-May Mon-Fri 10am-noon & 1-4pm; $2; tel 563-5434), a single road, a dilapidated strip of houses, three garages and a battered motel , the 24-unit Stop Inn (tel 562-7381; $40-60). More appealing is the dubiously named ten-unit Kozy Knest Kabins Triple K Motel (tel 563-5155; $40-60), open from May to October and more scenically situated 12km west of Coleman on Hwy 3 beside Crowsnest Lake.

Beyond Coleman the road climbs towards Crowsnest Pass itself (1382m) and, after a rash of sawmills, the natural scenery finally takes centre stage in a reassuring mix of lakes, mountains and trees protected by Crowsnest Provincial Park . A rustic provincial campsite overlooks the lake at Crowsnest Creek, about 15km west of Coleman ($5).