[crowash]

Hey there, similar to other threads a group of mates and I are headed to our first ever trip to BC from Australia, arriving mid August (just after crankworx). Our accommodation is for 7 nights in Squamish and 9 nights in Whistler. We've pretty much sussed out our transport options to and from here when we arrive and are good for shuttle etc between the two.

We have been hoping to do a day trip or two of riding on the Sunshine coast but so far have had no luck find a shuttle operator that might take us there. I've looked at car rental options but carting 7 bikes on/in hire cars is going to be a nightmare unless we can get pickups or similar somewhere in Squamish or Whistler. Plus I don't know if you've noticed but you guys drive on the wrong side of the road which is a complete headache.

While I've got you we have also been saving up from a heli-trip and it looks like Pemberton of the top of Whistler are the options, any recommendations here.

So looking forward to this trip of a lifetime.

 

[rockyuphill]

Honestly, if you can avoid needing to take ferries in the peak summer months, you will have a much more relaxing/enjoyable trip. They always seem to have broken ferries at peak travel times. It will burn up a fair bit of time to get from Squamish down to Horseshoe Bay and on a ferry to get to the Sunshine Coast (you can tell when their promo material says the trip is part of the adventure). At Horseshoe Bay you can do a walk on for the ferry to Gibson's Landing (Langdale) with bikes, but to go beyond that to Powell River is a fair commitment of time and scheduling. It would be easier to make the commitment to take the ferry to Vancouver Island (i.e. Nanaimo) and pick a spot like Cumberland to ride for a couple of days and spend less of the adventure on ferries and in ferry terminals, and more on the trails.

https://sunshinecoastcanada.com/plan-your-trip/getting-here/

As for which side of the road we drive on, along the Sea-to-Sky highway to Squamish and Whistler, far too many people in expensive SUV's seem to drive ignoring the fact that there is a proper driving lane, crossing the centre line on blind corners is just another adrenaline sport. The road is regularly closed because of accidents.

 

[kevin267]

For the sunshine Coast, contact the park themselves, their site says they can arrange ferry pickups. https://www.coastgravitypark.ca/plan-your-visit/ they are a super nice crew of people that run that place.

Getting *to* the ferry from squamish or Whistler would be the tricky part I guess.

Whistler Connection is one of the big transportation companies in Whistler, could get a quote for a charter or find out if a regularly scheduled shuttle could take you. If it's just a day trip you'd need to get out of whistler at like 5am to get the first ferry to get to coast gravity park when it opens.

I've seen friends link to this new company, I don't know anything about them though https://www.approachangleshuttle.com/about-us you could fire them an email.

Otherwise try to pre arrange pick up truck rental from Avis in Whistler, I think if you break down all the costs it might be the best option, at least gives more flexibility. You would need two, and they are not always available so book as far in advanced as possible, but I have rented a full size pick up truck from their whistler location before. Would throw some cardboard or towels on the tailgate I guess.

Renting your own vehicles would make it possible to ride other trails and do shuttles outside of coast gravity park too, if you were to spend more than a day trip and wanted to see other trails.

Sunshine coast is fun and more low key than other spots. The suggestion of going to Vancouver island to ride is one worth thinking about, but the ferry is longer, more expensive (pay each way, sunshine coast ferry is free to return), depending where you want to go the drives are longer between the riding areas/towns. Also shuttle options would be harder to figure out, I would only go to the island if you decide to rent your own vehicles and have some time to explore. Like if you want a day trip or 1 night maybe sunshine coast, if you're going for 4 days or more explore the island.

All this being said, you can see how the companies that arrange all the logistics for you can be valuable too like
https://www.ridebig.com/

And you'll also appreciate whistler where you can just ride your bike to everything haha.

For heli drops, blackcomb helicopters is the company that does it,so email them. The two main options are rainbow mountain (short steep pretty gnarly) in Whistler (you can ride back to the village at the end) or mt Barbour in Pemberton (longer, little more of an adventure, I guess you'd figure out to/from Pemberton but they have their own shuttle vehicles I think)

 

[crowash]

Thanks guys, some great advice that I hadn't found anywhere online. Given the time to get to Sunshine coast, we may rent some pickups and head to North Shore areas instead. Mt Barbour sounds like our kinda run for the helidrop.

Thanks again.