Help a fellow MTB'r from the East Coast plan his trip...

I'll definitely pick up that app. Is it pretty easy to navigate the basics of Pemberton and Squamish with the maps? Ideally we'd like to piece together a nice long day, say 5 to 6 hours, each day.

As far as the mountain goes I was planning on bringing my armor and DH tires to put on my AM rig, which will be a Knolly Chilcotin. I plan to do a bunch of park riding locally with this setup so we'll see how that goes. I probably have the most park experience out of everyone so I'll definitely put the rental idea out there.

The apps are awesome (you actually need one app per location I think). They map your current location against the trail map which also has topography so you can gauge whether you're at the correct junction. They are very easy to use.

The Chilcotin with big tires is a very capable bike but if you're only doing a couple of days in the bike park I think you'd have more fun on a rented big bike. It'll ride better and save your Knolly that horrifying wear and tear.

So they drop you off and you make your way back, is that how it works? How many miles, how long did it take you?

What does something like that run? Do you think we'd run into capacity issues going with such a large crew?

Disneyland ends in Brittania. So you park at Brittania and the heli parks across the street. They fly you up, and it ends by your car. Disneyland is super confusing. I don't think they'd let you go without a guide. That would be bad.

Rainbow ends on the west side of Alta Lake, just west of Whistler. You can ride 'A River Runs Through It' back to the village (or just take the valley trail). It's close. But you'd have to coordinate retrieving your vehicle from Blackcomb Helicopters, which is 13km north of town. Rainbow glacier is an easier (to ride and navigate) ride, but you still really need a guide. When you're that far out in the alpine it pays to not get lost.

As for 10-15 people. You'd need more passes of the heli to get your people and bikes up. They sometimes do a separate flight with just the bikes in a giant cargo net; not sure how many bikes they can do at a time this way. I've always gone in groups big enough for two people loads ([HTML_REMOVED]10 I think). You'd have to call BC Heli to confirm.

Humility and respect for the local scene will get you a lot farther than swagger and attitude. I don't want to paint all Americans with the same brush but we get tons up here and some make it quite clear why Americans aren't very well-liked outside their own country.

also we measure distance in kilometers and we're not in the PNW

Polite people of any nationality are welcome in this county.

BTW ive met tons of fellow cancucks who now think its fine to act like a totally douche in the US because they have this self rightous view that they are better due the the country they were born in.

Humility and respect for the local scene will get you a lot farther than swagger and attitude. I don't want to paint all Americans with the same brush but we get tons up here and some make it quite clear why Americans aren't very well-liked outside their own country.

also we measure distance in kilometers and we're not in the PNW

Was that comment really necessary?
So much for that friendly Canadian hospitality I guess. :rolleyes:

Woodyak - check your rep messages and PM me.

Humility and respect for the local scene will get you a lot farther than swagger and attitude. I don't want to paint all Americans with the same brush but we get tons up here and some make it quite clear why Americans aren't very well-liked outside their own country.

also we measure distance in kilometers and we're not in the PNW

Really? Not necessary.

I guess there's ugly Canadians as well.

How does Galby navigate? How many hours of riding? We're leaning towards making that our last day trip. Probably start out in the wee hours so we get back to Seattle to turn in the RV and get to the airport for our late flight back. Know of any good RV camping spots in Bellingham?

I stopped at Galby on my drive home from San diego over the holidays. Its easy to navigate, and you can get a map at the local bike shops in town. A lot of the free ride trails were closed due to logging. Not sure if they were destroyed or just closed for safety reasons. There is still a big network that was unaffected but its the more XC side of the area. You can get updates here http://www.preservegalbraith.org/ and here http://www.whimpsmtb.org/ (also has info on Bellingham camping under "Parks"). Boundary Bay Brewing Co in Bellingham has excellent stuff.

I hit up Duthie Hill and Colonnade on the drive back down. Colonnade is good if you've only got an hour. Duthie is good for a couple hours to a half day. If you have more time than that, hit some actual trails. Info on Duthie: http://evergreenmtb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trail:Duthie_Hill. About the RVs - you will have hard time getting one of them into the Duthie lot, nevermind 2 or 3. Oh, and don't try to cross from WA to BC on a Sunday afternoon or evening unless you have the urge to sit in a border lineup for ages.

I stopped at Galby on my drive home from San diego over the holidays. Its easy to navigate, and you can get a map at the local bike shops in town. A lot of the free ride trails were closed due to logging. Not sure if they were destroyed or just closed for safety reasons. There is still a big network that was unaffected but its the more XC side of the area. You can get updates here http://www.preservegalbraith.org/ and here http://www.whimpsmtb.org/ (also has info on Bellingham camping under "Parks"). Boundary Bay Brewing Co in Bellingham has excellent stuff.

I hit up Duthie Hill and Colonnade on the drive back down. Colonnade is good if you've only got an hour. Duthie is good for a couple hours to a half day. If you have more time than that, hit some actual trails. Info on Duthie: http://evergreenmtb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trail:Duthie_Hill. About the RVs - you will have hard time getting one of them into the Duthie lot, nevermind 2 or 3. Oh, and don't try to cross from WA to BC on a Sunday afternoon or evening unless you have the urge to sit in a border lineup for ages.

Thanks for this info. I've ridden the Colonnade and Duthie, both were great places to ride. I didn't think about the RV parking at Duthie, that sounds like a deal breaker. Good intel on the border crossing as well.

Really? Not necessary.

my bad, that did come across pretty harsh. I coulda worded that more positively.

woodyak, pm me when you're coming and I can give you directions to some quiet spots in North Van where you can park an RV overnight without any hassle.

my bad, that did come across pretty harsh. I coulda worded that more positively.

woodyak, pm me when you're coming and I can give you directions to some quiet spots in North Van where you can park an RV overnight without any hassle.

No worries. I'll leave my USA #1 T-shirt and my red, white, and blue fanny pack at home. I'm sure I can pick up some pro-Canada garb at one of the many Walmarts we see while we're there :)

Feel free to PM me if you have any unanswered questions about your trip, Im from Rockport, MA and have spent the last 5 years at UBC living in the vancouver and whistler area.

If you have any questions, I most likely have some answers

No worries. I'll leave my USA #1 T-shirt and my red, white, and blue fanny pack at home. I'm sure I can pick up some pro-Canada garb at one of the many Walmarts we see while we're there :)

REX KWON DO!!!

Don't forget to not be a jerk. It helps people not think you're a jerk.

Pro-tip.

And don't crash either. It can hurt.

Feel free to PM me if you have any unanswered questions about your trip, Im from Rockport, MA and have spent the last 5 years at UBC living in the vancouver and whistler area.

If you have any questions, I most likely have some answers

Small world. That's where I live. Most of the riders are coming from the Rockport/Gloucester area. Who did you ride with?