squamish trip

So I'm planning a trip to Squamish in early July. I'm planning to fly into Vancouver, take a Greyhound bus into squamish and stay at the climber's campground. I will not be renting a car. So I just have a couple logistics questions:

How easy is it to obtain a spot at the climber's campground? Also, seeing as I won't have anywhere else to store my stuff, how often does stuff (i.e., gear) get stolen from campsites? Like, could I leave my rack in my pack inside my tent for a couple hours and expect it to be there when I come back?

Also, how easy is it to hook up with other climbers?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Cheers.

well, I didn't stay at the climbers camp when i was there, but for what it is worth, I found the people there to be some of teh coolest around. climber's paradise, in the shadow of whistler ski culture. make sure to bring your rain jacket. i remember the guidebook had special ratings for routes that used to be good, but were now overgrown with vegitation.

also, the climbers there and the community were top notch. food and drink are good and cheap (not sure about american dollar strength these days, but i got a kick out of going into the 7-11 wiht a 20 spot, and walking out with drinks, snacks, and 25 canadian bucks!), girls are cute, there's even a lake close by for swimming and cleaning up...i bet you have no problem finding people to climb with.

have a great time, get up the cheif, and get on "rock on" for a good 10a warmup!

awsome place with good mix of multi and cragging area. one of the areas by the train tracks had some great cragging.

there's also a good little skate park there too.

man i'm jelouse.

Great, thanks for the responses.

There is no limit as to how long I can stay in the campground, right? I'm thinking 3 weeks.

vegastradguy: that guy must have been pretty bummed. I'll have to figure out a way not to be in that situation...

Also, didn't the info for Squamish at this site say a 20 minute walk to get food/groceries from the campground? I assumed that meant into town but I guess not.

Tradcragrat,

There are actually small lockers at the cooking shelter at the campground. Theft is actually a big problem in Squamish, but its mostly smash-and-grab and seems to be confined to the parking areas. I havent heard of anything getting stolen from the campground, probably because there are always people around.

The campground is sometimes full that time of year, especially on weekends, but most of the people who stay there are climbers and I've never had any problems asking someone to share their spot for a day or two until I can find my own.

Town is a long walk, but you will have no problem catching rides to/from the campground if you need to stock up on food, etc - its very common.

There is a message board at the campground, and it seems that there are often people looking for partners. That is the time of year when most folks from farther away (aside from the usual Vancouver/western Washington crowd) plan their trips, so I'd be surprised if you didnt meet up with a few people who are doing the exact same thing you will be doing.

Enjoy!

Cool, thanks for the help and advice. I'm very psyched.

tradcragrat wrote:Also, didn't the info for Squamish at this site say a 20 minute walk to get food/groceries from the campground? I assumed that meant into town but I guess not.

I just measured and it's just over 3km (2mi). As someone mentioned, once you're at the site, getting rides to the store should be relatively easy. The great thing about that camp site is that it's about as close to the good climbing as you can get (if you're a trad climber). If you could get a beater bike it would be ideal.

What sort of routes and grades are you interested in?

I was up there today and it was pretty nice. I noticed that that there's an new walking trail from the chief parking lot to the Apron parking lot. Changes are happening fast and furious with the highway construction.

Peter Spindloe wrote: What sort of routes and grades are you interested in?

I think mainly trad with a bunch of sport and bouldering mixed in. I have a tick list of the bigger climbs (Angel's crest, squamish buttress, sherriff's badge, and hopefully grandwall if I feel up to it).

I have one other concern. I understand several of you have said that it is pretty easy to hook up with other climbers, but I talked to a good friend who was out there last year and he warned me that it may not be quite that simple; i.e., it might be hard to find partners for the long trad routes, which is what I want to do there mainly. While I'm sure it's easy to hook up for a day of cragging, I'm sure less people would be willing to do longer stuff on the chief. I'm little worried seeing as I'm going to be shelling out a lot of cash and I don't want to be stuck for 3 weeks in the coolest granite playground ever without getting to do any of the bigger stuff. That would be a major bummer.

I think that there's certainly an element of luck in what you're hoping to do, both in finding someone and finding someone you're comfortable with. You can make some of your own luck by:

- trying to arrange a partner ahead of time via this site and others

- post notes on the message boards at the campground and at the Smoke Bluffs parking area

- when cragging, stick to areas with harder trad routes, like the base of the Chief, Penny Lane, Nightmare Rock and the Malamute

- be willing to drag someone up something they feel is a little beyond them -- there are big challenges with this, like whether you're up to it, whether they are up to it, etc., but it could work

I imagine that it's more likely than not that there will be people in your situation at the campground.

Peter,

Thanks for your advice; I'll be sure to do what you say.

Cheers.

Hey there,

I'll be heading to Squamish around July. I'm not sure how long i will be staying out there because I just started climbing trad. I'll have a car and gladly make supermarket runs with you. I'll definately be interested in doing some longer routes as long as you don't mind leading them :) I can't give you an exact date of when i will arrive because i'm roadtripping for two months, but we can keep in touch via this site or e-mail...

Elan

Elan,

Sent ya an email a couple days ago if you're still interested.

Cheers.

I am planning on being in Squamish and Washington during that time period, no partners as of yet...have a car, rack, climb about 5.12 sport, V5/6 boulder, 5.11+ trad, I mostly just do the longer routes, if you can lead/top rope stuff like the Grand Wall and Free Way that would be awesome! If you're intested shoot me an email with some contact info!

later

scott