[SA Chris]

ridiculous gold SUV.

Would Westwood have been proud of you? Sounds good. Are there board hire places?

[andyh]

Who did peeps fly with?  We are scouting around at the moment but the flights are all pretty expensive to Vancouver in Sept (ie/ £700)  even the 'budget' airlines - Zoom, Flyglobespan and Canadian Affair are of a similar price (plus crappy baggage allowance!).

Did consider flying into Seattle and driving north from there but the saving doesn't really make the extra driving and border crossing worthwhile.

try airtransat - me bird flew with them vancouver to manchester return a few weeks ago, cost her 850 bucks, so just shy of 500 quid.

think they only fly on fridays and saturdays, or something similar.

i did the seattle route over christmas, bout a 4 hour drive up to vancouver from there.

[dobbin]

We flew FlyZoom, and besides it going via Glasgow and hence taking 12 hrs instead of 8 it was fine. According to my friend who lives there, Canadian Affair are terrible. I dont know why but that certainly is what he said.

Yes to board hire places - loads, and wetsuits etc etc. Watch out for floating disembodied feet at the moment tho! (actually, thats not at tofino, thats at the other end). Westwood wouldnt have been proud of this vehicle :

Huge ridiculous vehicle - CHECK
Garish colour - CHECK
Double exhaust pipes - CHECK
2.7L 256bhp V6 - CHECK
3tonnes kerb weight - CHECK
NOT MADE BY SUZUKI - FAIL!
NOT BASED ON A GRAND VITARA - FAIL!

It was one of these :

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I've flown with AirTransat a couple of times. Found them pretty good. They have a free sports equipment allowance above normal baggage but can be quite specific about what is sports kit. Check the small print as this may have changed.

Tofino is amazing, we really liked it. Did the touristy thing and got a float plane to go whale watching (successfully) later saw a bear and cub cross the road in front of us. Went surfing, cold but amazing, several beaches, some sheltered for beginners, some truly experts only.

Couple of nice restaurants also. The drive across the island is lovely passing through 'Cathedral grove' or something, biggest redwoods in that part of Canada!

Squamish is amazing for windsurfing/kitesurfing but only if it is sunny (it gets a 20mph thermal wind, small speed, same direction every day) but not for beginners as there is a large shipping terminal downwind. Lots to do in Whistler in Summer, ZipTrek is good fun if a bit touristy, probably still worth doing in wet weather.

[Johnny Brown]

I went Canadian Affair, after being reccomended them by a canadian as the cheapest option. No problems, overlooked me being over the baggage allowance on both flights.

[dave]

both times i've been recenty we booked with canadian affair - cheap and the flights you actually get are generally with thomas cook or mytravel (thomas cooks ones are better if you can get em).

I ain't been air transat for about 13 years but back then it was shite, hopefully it's improved since then.

[SA Chris]

Cheapest we found, after searching everywhere including the above, was KLM Abz - Amsterdam - Vancouver. Flying on the 17th Sept!!!!!!!!!

Cheers for all the advice, better get back in training.

[AndyR]

Is sea kayaking popular? Have heard mutterings of surfing on Vancouver Island, is it worth doing, or only worthwhile if you live there (can't be worse than North Sea surely?).

Sea kayaking is very popular - now we've hit summer, every third car seems to have a kayak on top right now.
If you're based in squamish, the easiest way to go kayaking for a day is to head down to north van and rent a sea kayak from deep cove outdoors - if you get stuck, let me know, as we have a couple of sea kayaks and we live in deep cove.....

If you want a 'proper' sea kayaking trip, you should head to clayaquot sound or up around the sunshine coast - unbelievable multi-day trips in the wilderness to be had there - sunshine coast is pretty easy to get to from squamish - short 25 min ferry ride.
If you plan on hiring kayaks for multiple days, much cheaper to hire them from MEC rather than the outfitters.

[a dense loner]

i flew canadian affair a few years ago. if i go back it would probably be with them

[SA Chris]

Does anyone have a boudering guide they wouldn't mind lending me? Will definitely buy it when we get there, but would like to start compiling ticklists! And a bit dear to get the guide here. If not, can anyone tell me if it covers Pemberton too?

[andyh]

Does anyone have a boudering guide they wouldn't mind lending me? Will definitely buy it when we get there, but would like to start compiling ticklists! And a bit dear to get the guide here. If not, can anyone tell me if it covers Pemberton too?

yeah i can lend you a guide. based in manchester if you're around here, or can mail it to you.

it does cover pemberton but i think there's been a lot of development since then.

as a starter ticklist my favourite probs were superfly (v4), shots fired (v4) and the fly (v5), all 4 star. never got round to it but mantra was recommended as a great v8.

[dave]

Viper is a superb V5 , but to be honest i wouldn't worry about a ticklist, just find whatever looks the best when you get there - things like Superfly and Viper and some of the first problems you get to so are pretty obvious. I saw some good looking stuff on the north walls boulders, superb lines, but it was we when we were there.

[a dense loner]

development in pemberton? you must mean they've found other boulders surely? there were only a couple of hard projects left to be done

[rowena]

Did anybody hire a campervan when they were there or do most peeps just hire a car and stay in a hostel/motel?  I know New Zealand is really geared up for campervans but wasn't sure about Canada (although I have found some pretty decent deals) and would give us a bit more flexibility with escaping the rainy spots?! 

[AndyR]

you don't see many campervans on the roads apart from those that are privately owned. If people are hiring, they usually go for RVs, which are not cheap to hire, and certainly not cheap to run (gas at $1.50 /L right now).
It's shaping up to be a good summer, and projections are for warmer and drier weather than normal. If you look like you're going to run into a prolonged damp spell, just head east towards the okanagan - you will not get wet there in september.
Camping is the way forward in BC - absolutely oodles of cool campsites in all areas, and cheap tarps in MEC for shade/rain pro.

[andyh]

development in pemberton? you must mean they've found other boulders surely? there were only a couple of hard projects left to be done

yeah, i think some new areas were developed, but i can't remember any details

as a starter ticklist my favourite probs were superfly (v4), shots fired (v4) and the fly (v5), all 4 star.

and i dont know where the fly came from, i meant viper

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

which are not cheap to hire, and certainly not cheap to run (gas at $1.50 /L right now).

=76p/litre.  UK average currently 119.1p/litre, but probably gone up again in the last minute.

After saying that I agree with the camping suggestion. We looked into hiring a camper and it was very expensive. Take the opportunity to rent a SUV in a region you arguably actually need one! When we were there 2 years ago the main (and only) road into Tofino on the island was a 4 lane dirt track for about 100miles!

[AndyR]

which are not cheap to hire, and certainly not cheap to run (gas at $1.50 /L right now).

=76p/litre.  UK average currently 119.1p/litre, but probably gone up again in the last minute.

At least everything else in the UK is really cheap........

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

which are not cheap to hire, and certainly not cheap to run (gas at $1.50 /L right now).

=76p/litre.  UK average currently 119.1p/litre, but probably gone up again in the last minute.

At least everything else in the UK is really cheap........

It's lucky we all get paid huge salaries to make up for it...wait...a...minute....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! 

[SA Chris]

Thank fuck we didn't end up Zooming it (the only reason we didn't go with them was their crap baggage allowance)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/29/theairlineindustry.oilandgascompanies?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews

[AndyR]

Thank fuck we didn't end up Zooming it (the only reason we didn't go with them was their crap baggage allowance)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/29/theairlineindustry.oilandgascompanies?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews

Aye - my mum was meant to be flying out with them next week - thankfully our credit card covers the cost.......

[SA Chris]

Had a good trip.

Got stuck into a lot of the moderate crack climbs and made the most of the generally good weather (too hot a couple of days, especially when stuck on a belay on Diedre by very slow moving parties) so can't complain. Didn't do any biking as on the days that it rained it Really rained, and didn't get to the Island either. Sea to Sky highways is currently a clusterfuck due to upgrades for olympics but will be great when done.

Did a day of bouldering; Easy.. is OK, not worth the hype and soft. Superfly good, Sloppy Poppy wierd. Viper hard, not my bag.

[andyh]

Sea to Sky highways is currently a clusterfuck due to upgrades for olympics but will be great when done.

you've clearly been in squamish with that kind of language

i just hope you gave her stink and didn't get short-dicked. sounds like it was a gong show on diedre

[SA Chris]

Sea to Sky highways is currently a clusterfuck due to upgrades for olympics but will be great when done.

you've clearly been in squamish with that kind of language

i just hope you gave her stink and didn't get short-dicked. sounds like it was a gong show on diedre

Word. Props for the guidebook btw, will return it soon.

[Grubes]

I am looking to plan a trip to squamish for next september/october time (after kids are back at school and flight prices drop). Just wondering if this is a good time to go. The plan is for bouldering and roped stuff.

Need to work stuff out now so I know how much I need to save each month.

Any advice on where to stay will be three of us. There will be there for a week+ in squamish.