🚀 go-pugleaf

Alan Sausse wrote in message <6vdtap$52q$1@barcode.tesco.net>...

>I have been offered a very cheap flight to anywhere in Canada from London.
>The price is �100 return (US$170, C$250) which is very very cheap indeed,
>as I am sure you can see.  I have to take the flights between 11/1/99 and
>10/2/99.
>
>I went to Vancouver in winter a few years ago and loved the place.  I'd
>like to go back and one thing I'd really like to do is to explore some of >the country around Vancouver and/or Vancouver Island.
>
>Question 1: any suggestions as to where would be a good place to go?
>Question 2: am I barking mad to want to go hiking in Canada in the middle
>of
>winter?  I do know that the climate around Vancouver is fairly "British",
>i.e. the winters aren't particularly cold (I wouldn't be going hiking in
>Winnipeg in January) but that there's a lot of rainfall so it could be dull
>and damp even if I don't risk extreme cold.
>
>Has anyone had any similar experiences that they would like to share with
>me?  I'd be very interested.
>
>If it really is a stupid idea then I'll just go skiing in Whistler for a
>week.  It's a hard life, isn't it?
>
>If you are able to reply to me personally as well as by e-mail I would be
>very grateful.


"David Crowe" <dckb@direct.ca> replied:
>As an avid vancouver hiker I can tell you that what falls as rain here in
>the city is snow up in the mountains.  Almost all the mountain trails are
>impassable from November until April however snowshoeing is rather popular.
>Your other option is to hike a low elevation trail like the famous West
>Coast Trail, it is available all year.

To quantify "snow up in the mountains": The snowline gets down to about 
1000' in winter in the Sooke Hills west of Victoria. I often see snow on the 
hills when it's just raining in town, and there's often snow at Malahat 
summit overlook (1100') when it's simply wet down below on Saanich Inlet.

Also, the coldest average temperatures occur during the last two weeks of 
January and the first two weeks of February, just when you can get your 
cheap flight (if I read your dates correctly as dd/m/yy). It usually isn't 
all *that* cold, unless we get a big blast of arctic air over the Cascades 
from the interior of the continent. Look on the weather maps for high 
pressure systems over Alaska or Yukon as a forewarning of coastal cold 
snaps.

Personally, I'd say that you could happily hike along the eastern edge of 
Vancouver Island from Victoria north. It's rather built up -- you'd be 
going through rural and farming communities -- but that means that you are 
never far from warmth and food and a hot bath. You really don't want to go 
out in the bush by yourself; if you slip on a log and break a leg, you will 
be stuck and no one may find your remains for a long time...every so often 
someone stumbles across a skull or human bones just a few yards from a 
well-travelled trail...

The "dull and damp" of the coast is, btw, just as dangerous as Winnipeg's 
extreme cold, if not moreso because the clueless think "oh it's not very 
cold today" and don't dress carefully enough. You can die from hypothermia 
at 40F quite easily, esp. if your clothes are damp or wet. If you decide on 
a winter walking tour, I'd urge you to dress for dryness as well as warmth, 
and don't plan on sleeping in a tent. Plan a route that has a motel room 
waiting for you each evening. 

HTH

-- 
Rodger Whitlock