UKC

I'm heading to squamish for a few months as part of a bigger trip in july/august. Whats it like over there in terms of cheap accomodation?

looking to proper slum it! where do the long term climbing dirtbags stay? is it ok to wild camp or bivy?

any other usefull advice apreciated!

There is a provinical park: Stawamus or something, about 3km South of town. It is a mint camp area, but very popular over summer. You may need to get there early in the day to get a pad, otherwise just ask to share one w some friendly codger. Is about $10 / night for a pad (2m by 2m) but if you can share it obviously gets cheaper, we fitted 3 in our pad = cheap as chips.

Awesome rock, could spend a whole summer there and not get tired of the climbing. The Greek restaurant was the schiz-nit for cheap and cheerful.

In reply to markalmack:

I've wild camped in squamish with a couple of locals - we went a long way down an old logging road and weren't disturbed. It isn't encouraged at all though, and bears are bloody scary, even when they aren't really there...

"stawamus chief provincial park campground" was a nice place to stay, about 10 mins walk from bouldering, single pitch and multi pitch up to 15 pitches ish. Not that cheap, but everyone there was a climber. I got the impression this was the real place to be.

Email me using my profile and i'll scan + email you the accomodation pages from my guidebook.

BTW i am extremely jealous - only spent a few nights there, can't wait to go back.

In reply to markalmack:

Which styles of climbing are most prominent at Squamish ?? There is a mixture of trad and sport isn't there ?? Just wondered as I would love to go but a) i don't have a full rack and b) not sure I fancy dragging one around with me all the time.

Cheers,

In reply to markalmack:

Wild camping is ok as long as you are not visible otherwise you may find your stash mising, Be mindful of bears.

I believe there is a max stay at the camground.

One or both of these stores will store valuables for you.

http://www.squamishgear.com/site/
http://climbonsquamish.com/

You will want a full rack for trad routes, gear belays are the norm.

We have sport but we are not a sport destination, you are also here in prime time for alpine rock routes, you can check out the climb store and look at the alpine select guide.

Weather forecast here
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-50_metric_e.html

Squamish BB here if you have route questions

http://www.squamishclimbing.com/squamish_climbing_bb/index.php

anything else?

In reply to markalmack:


In town with mates would be my impression, but there are people staying all summer in the official campground (which is exceedingly well located).


Depends where ... locals may (rightly) not appreciate your creative campsite ideas if they threaten access:
http://www.squamishclimbing.com/squamish_climbing_bb/viewtopic.php?t=2401

In reply to stvey:

There are sport crags, but you will need a car to get to them. Cougar Canyon for example was pretty much all bolted, but is about 15 minutes drive.
Trad, naturally there is lots of that too

In reply to James_D:

Yeah there was a stray bear in Stawamus when I was there, ranger was on to it, but wouldnt want to be wild camping given the chances of meeting one when you are cooking or something!!

In reply to markalmack:

We wild camped, but only for about a week. There were obvious long term campers, though. It was a few kms north of town on the main road, then off to the right, maybe a half km from the main road. We were'nt disturbed by bear or man, but maybe we were lucky...

In reply to inzpired:

There are various Cougar Canyons with climbing in North America but none are anywhere near Squamish. The nearest is probably in the Okanagan valley - about a day's drive east!

You probably meant Cheakamus Canyon, where indeed there are hundreds of good sport routes. About 15 minutes drive north of Squamish.

In reply to markalmack:

If you are going to wild camp, or even if you aren't. there are certain rules regarding bears you will need to stick to.

Rule no.1 - do not store food in your tent.
Rule no.2 - do not cook in your tent
Rule no.3 - buy some pepper spray
Rule no.4 - buy some little bells which let the bears know you are coming
Rule no.5 - learn to recognize the difference between Black bear shit and Grizzly bear shit; Black bear shit is full of nuts and smells of berries, Grizzly bear shit is full of little bells and smells of pepper.

In reply to tobyfk:

Upper malemute where that problem with camps was is on the HIGHWAY dont do that, thats crazy.

Bears, really arent a big deal, couple cougars ate some small dogs last summer and tried to grab a kid. Just use common sense, dont go to bed with a steak type thing. There are no grizzlys down in the valley

http://climbonsquamish.com/squamish-beta.html

In reply to markalmack:
We had problems with a bear who wouldn't stay out of our campsite. Stupid campers weren't careful with their food. The rangers had to shoot the animal in the end which was a shame.