Blogs from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, North America

Hello all! It has been a busy weekend and week so far for me and I have plenty to write about in this blog! After passing my CASI on Saturday it was all go to try and get my job and staff accommodation sorted out in time for me to avoid being homeless on Tuesday night! To sort out my job and then accommodation I had to get a Social Insurance Number (SIN) which meant going to a little town about an hour out of Whistler called Squamish. I got a coach to Squamish on which I met a girl who was doing a degree about sustainable development and specialising in 'rural stoves'! Yeah, weird! It is amazing the people you meet here and how chatty everyone is! It really helps when you are in a ... read more

I feel I should maybe set the scene a little for this chapter. On July 15th I flew from London to Vancouver with a 12 month working visa ready to be issued when I touched down at the airport. On my back I carried 24.5KG of bright yellow climbing rope, shiny new draws, a tent, camping gear, a couple of changes of underwear and a book. I had a plan that involved staying in Vancouver for one night at a friend of a friends sisters place (cos the original plan fell through) then getting a ride with another friend who was heading out to Squamish. Squamish is 60 mins North of Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway, with ocean to the left of you and mountains to the right. There lies the Stawamus Chief. A ... read more

Our return trip back through the Yukon Territories and British Columbia was relatively uneventful. Crossing the border from Alaska into Canada was somewhat anticlimactic. Preparing for the worst, we expected the cavity searches and incessant interrogation that highlighted our first encounters with border crossing personnel when we were northbound. Rather, we were dismissed to venture through the wilds with little more than a look at our passports. We drove hard with few stops and little sightseeing other than to boil water for coffee and Ramen. Just before Watson Lake we turned off onto highway 37 (if I remember correctly) which led into the more populated areas around Prince George. From there we hastened down towards the Vancouver area, hoping to get in some quality climbing as we passed on through. Our first night we camped at ... read more

I have left a few South American entries out in the desire to write in the present tense again. At first I was thinking I would put entries up on the last couple of weeks in south America, but I really do not think they warrant that much attention. Soon after Kate and Ruley left us, Jono and I came down with the worst flu come chest infection either of us had had in years. We cancelled the hike we had been planning with Laurence and Phillipe, headed North to Arequipa and planned to meet Laurence and Phillipe again there to do a hike in the Culca canyon (climbing Mount Mismi to see the source of the amazon river). This plan, too had to be aborted. So, the last few weeks featured us shifting hotels in ... read more