Squamish: More than just looks and recreation

By JENNIFER THUNCHER Discover Squamish Editor

The Squamish waterfront. Photo: David Buzzard

HAVING picked up this edition of Discover Squamish, it is likely you already know how breathtaking the mountainous landscape is here and how stunning our ocean views are.

Perhaps you have climbed our rocks, ridden our world-class biking trails or have been up the Sea to Sky Gondola for a breathtaking snowshoe followed by a locally-crafted beer at one of our several breweries.

But Squamish is much more than its looks, recreation, and hotspots. The true awesomeness of Squamish is most evident in its unique culture.

It is different here than in “the city” as Squamish residents call Vancouver.

And we are different from the resort town of Whistler to the north.

Squamish residents pride themselves on being more “unscripted” than our neighbours.

What that means is we are a little bit more rugged and down to earth.

Pop into any of our grocery stores or cafes and you are likely to see happy, smiling people covered in mud from an exhilarating hike, or bike ride, or still wearing their snow gear from a trip up the mountain for a day of snowmobiling, snowshoeing or guiding others through our backcountry.

And don’t mistake us for a homogeneous little town. We have neighbourhoods with their own personalities such as Valleycliffe and Brackendale (pages 16 &20).

People here take their sports to the next level and that means we are a town of elite athletes, some of whom are featured in these pages (pages 28 & 36).

In this winter edition of Discover, readers will also see we are a little quirky and cutting edge, as is evident in our willingness to try container-house living and make our weddings uniquely Squamish.

We welcome the world to come play here with many of our favourite activities accessible to people of all abilities (page 50).

In putting together this edition, we tried to ensure that with every article there was something within it that even locals might not know.

We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it. •