Blogs from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 2

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

Hi evryone - and yes Lynne S. I am getting your messages so you are not as daft as you think you are on the computer - say hi to all the Surrey/ London gals. The last day with Billybob and I dropped the girls off in Whistler so that they could do the seaplane adventure flight to Vancouver leaving me to drive Billybob. The weather was wonderful and I tried to persuade Suz to drive BB and I would take her place in the plane but she wasn't having any of that!!! And because the baggage allowance on the plane was minimal they kindly borrowed my rucsac repacked some stuff for the night in the hotel and left their cases behind for me . They are such sweet girls ...I tried making them feel guilty ... 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

15th July This will be the last entry until we get back to Guelph very early on Friday morning as we will be travelling all day tomorrow to catch the plane in Seattle. The day started well as I got all the laundry done and Amy got her her run before we set off to Whistler. What we had not realised was the road over the mountains was very windy and narrow so took a lot longer than we had anticipated. After a brief stop in Cache Creek (not a memorable place) and at Pemberton (up and coming due to the Winter Olympics in 2010), we arrived in Whistler at 4.00 pm. Amy was too late for a half day mountain biking which looked lethal down a hairy course and hired a bike instead for a ... read more