A rainy day in Squamish

Squamish left us wanting more, so we drove up to Garibaldi highlands for a couple of rounds on Half Nelson and some of the other trails as well. It had been raining heavily for a couple of days so the trails were more muddy and slippery. Squamish in rain was a challenging experience but all the more rewarding. The weather cleared up later in the day and we actually got some sunshine as well. We got several runs each before settling in at Sea to sky hotel for the night. 

Mt. Seymour

Since we are staying in Vancouver, a trip to North Shore is inevitable. We had to try some trails in this legendary place. After our Whistler trip we decided to check out Mt. Seymour. It`s possible to shuttle up many of the trails, and Corkscrew was the pick of the day. The ride down was rough and a bit humbling. Specially after the smooth machine made trails in Whistler. The mountain was harsh and after three runs I was exhausted, our evening was spent in the awesome downtown area of Vancouver. Mt. Seymour is amazing and very technical. The trails in the North Shore area are some of the first freeride trails and the trail network they have built here is something to be envied.

3 days in Whistler

After a days rest in Vancouver we were ready for Whistler Blackcomb bike park. We arrived early and after a quick orientation of the village we headed for the trails. First up was the flow trail "Crank it up" and it got us pumped. It was a nice change to take the chairlift up instead of riding up. We got to ride a lot more and push ourselves more for each run.

We quickly decided to spend a couple of nights here. On the second day I bought a ticket for "top of the world", a trail that runs down all the way from the peak down to the village. An insane experience! The third day we were pretty sore & tired, but decided to rent a big bike and enjoyed the day to the fullest anyway.

 

Squamish

We spent two days in Squamish. The nature and bike trails here definitely live up to their reputation. We stopped at Tantalus bike shop to get trail maps before heading up to the Garibaldi Highlands. Half Nelson is an amazing flow trail, and the perfect choice for our first ride. Many of the trails in Squamish area are only accessible by strenuous uphill climbs but some are possible to shuttle by car. Of the many trails in Squamish, we rode three; Half Nelson, Pseudotsuga and Angry Midget. Angry Midget was the hardest to get to and only after a 45 minute climb and some bike portaging through a totally foreign forest you would find the entrance. The videos does not do justice of how steep the terrain is, Angry Midget has a gradient of -28%. We will definitely come back here once or twice more before heading home.

Back to Vancouver

Our starting point for this trip was Vancouver, BC. This is our third time in Vancouver and we know the city quite well now. We arrived after a long and surprisingly comfortable flight and spent the first days in the city hanging out, getting over our jet lag, picking up our rental car and getting our bike gear ready at the North Shore bike shop. We got some great tips for the best places to ride from the friendly guys at NSBS. We are going to use Vancouver as our base, and take day trips to BC interior and Vancouver Island. First out, Squamish.