+1 to twhat 80-87 wrote
I have lived in the Calgary area for 35yrs and have flown here off and on for the past 20yrs.
Buy the charts.
I was flying the VFR route from Springbank to Banff to Golden to Invermere last weekend. I have flown this same route several times and I STILL turned down the wrong valley after Golden. Some intensive chart reading and cross referencing with my GPS put me back on track.
For $16 each why tie one hand behind your back?
Also, crossing the rocks from Calgary into the Kelowna area is a "pick your day" adventure. Clouds this time of the year will mean obscured terrain at higher levels. Strong westerly flow aloft will mean lots of turbulance.
Tip, check the winds aloft of Nakiska Ridge on the Environment Canada website. This is indicative of the winds aloft at about 9000ft in the vicinity of the Bow Valley.