Available meteorological, dendrochronological and glacier area change data are reviewed for the central Canadian Rockies. Limited glacier inventory studies indicate a loss of ca 25% of glacier area (greater for smaller glaciers) since the Little Ice Age maximum 130–150 years ago. The few available long climacte records are from widely spaced, valley floor sites, well below treeline. Available gridded or regional climate data sets similarly contain no high elevation sites. The five long (75 yr) station records contain a strong common signal but show differences in the relative amplitude and timing of temperature variations indicating links to either prairie or pacific stations. However the station network is too sparse to define the spatial extent of these patterns. Tree-ring chronologies from a network of Picea engelmannii (21), Larix lyallii (17) and Pinus albicaulis (2) treeline sites are presented and reviewed. Residual chronologies show stronger intercorrelation than standard chronologies and the larix chronologies are more highly correlated than picea, probably because of the narrower range of sites sampled. Many standard chronologies show a strong common regional signal of above average growth in the late 17th, late 18th and mid-20th centuries and reduced growth in the early 17th, early 18th and for most of the 19th centuries. However, examination of individual chronologies shows strong local or sub-regional divergence from this pattern that reflects smaller scale climate or non-climatic influences. Differences in the density and location of sites between the climate and tree-ring networks will create problems in resolving climate variation at the sub-regional scale.