Hi everyone,
I'm a working professional/weekend climber. However, I happened to get the summer off and my lease happens to end in June, and I got this crazy idea to just put my stuff in storage and spend the summer in Squamish!! I was in Squamish for a total of 5 weekends last summer, but I've never spent more than 4 days in a row there so I have a few questions for anyone who might know.
1. Camping. I'm planning on staying at the climber's campground. Is there a limit for how long you can camp there? If so, how do I get around that? Would it be enough to move to a different campsite, or should I plan on getting a room in the hostel for a night every couple of weeks? Any other suggestions? I have a truck -- I could sleep in the back of that once in a while. I'm thinking of getting a camper shell, but I'm not sure I can afford it.
2. Showers. I don't mind going for a week or so without a shower, but I'm going to want one once in a while -- swimming in the lake only does so much. Will I have to get a room in a hostel to get a decent shower? Or spend that night at the Shannon Falls campground maybe? Is there another public shower I could somehow use?
3. Climbing partners!! I'm planning on doing this by myself. How hard will it to be to find people to climb with? I'm particularly concerned because I'm not the greatest climber. I can top-rope 5.10's clean, but I tend to be pretty slow. As far as leading, I can lead 8 sport consistently and only 7 trad consistently. I have lead Sally Five Fingers and a few other 8's in that area of Smoke Bluffs. They were really easy and short though and I wouldn't say I can lead 8's consistently -- I wouldn't be comfortable leading the 8 pitches of Diedre for example. I'm hoping that after spending a couple of months there, I'll be climbing much better, but at my current ratings, do you think it'll be difficult for me to find people to climb with? I will post in the partners section of this board as well as squamishclimbing.com, and probably put a note up on the bulletin board at the climber’s campground. Any other suggestions for finding partners?
4. Getting there. I live in Seattle and I'm an American. I'm planning on driving there. If I say that I'm planning on staying for a couple of months will that cause problems at the boarder crossing?
5. A job. Although I think I can cover the minimal expenses that go with living out of a tent, it would be nice to have some kind of part-time job for extra spending money. How hard would it be to find something like that as an American? Where should I look (the hostel, the climbing store, etc)?
6. Anything I'm forgetting? Anything else I should know about?
Thanks in advance!