Canada Sea to Summit — Squamish

Overview

Climb from tidewater to alpine in a single morning on Squamish's Sea to Summit Trail — about 7.5 km and 900 m of ascent from the shore of Howe Sound, past the spray of Shannon Falls, up staircases, roots and fixed-chain scrambles to the Sea to Sky Gondola's summit lodge, where you download by cable car with jelly legs and the whole fjord below you. Next door stands the Stawamus Chief (702 m), one of North America's great granite monoliths: hike its three summits, or watch climbers inching up the 600 m walls that made Squamish a crack-climbing mecca. Then get on the water. A half-day kayak on Howe Sound — North America's southernmost fjord — puts you beneath those same walls at sea level, with bald eagles in the estuary cottonwoods and seals and porpoises breaking the surface off the Squamish Spit. Vancouver is only 60 km down the Sea to Sky Highway, which is also the catch: start the trail before 8am on summer weekends or queue at the chained sections. Around £600 covers four days of hostel beds, gondola download, kayak hire and a celebratory brewery stop — and pack a proper shell, because this is a coastal rainforest whatever the forecast promises.

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Prefilled for 1 June 2027 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.