I just wanted to say thank you to everybody at Canada West Mountain School for giving me the adventure of a lifetime.  I had an absolutely indescribable, awesome experience, which far, far surpassed anything I had imagined. Jen was an extraordinary guide, and this is definitely the start of a new life-long journey for me.

Looking forward to the next one,

John Beeckler
Vancouver, BC CANADA

Who says dreams can’t come true?

With the well planned itinerary, experienced guidance and leadership, Brian Jones and Canada West Mountain School turned my 17 year dream into an amazing, life altering adventure. You see, I joined Brian and John Furneaux (one of Canada West’s top guides) to lend support to two charity climbs of Mount Everest.

From the moment we touched down at Kathmandu Airport, till leaving almost a month later, everything on our Everest Base Camp Trek was organized carefully, leaving me to enjoy, learn and experience the wonders of Nepal and it’s marvelous people..
Brian and John also provided helpful tips for our free time to better explore the various towns, and understand the culture of the area.

There were too many “high points’ on this trip to single out any one.

But, what struck me the most about the leadership of Brian and John, was how well they accommodated 15 different personalities wants, needs and questions in an environment which many of us had never experienced. As a result, I felt, some lifetime friendships have been established, and my desire to keep looking towards new uncharted horizons has grown even greater.

I would recommend, and will use, Canada West Mountain School in the future wanderings of this slightly worn old “Baje”.

Namaste,

Paul Head
Toronto, ON CANADA

Linda,

We did enjoy it (our day of rock climbing) very much!!!  Thanks!!!!  Kristen is a great instructor!!  We learned a lot, and tried lots of different pitches!!  The Smoke Bluffs are awesome!!!  Thanks again!!

Greg and Liz

Brian,

I just wanted to say that I had such an amazing time in Nepal.  It was all that I expected and more! Thanks again for planning such a wonderful adventure in Nepal.  Your positive energy really made it even more memorable.

Cheers,

Louise MacDougall
Squamish, BC CANADA

Brian,

First of all we want to say “thank you very much” for the organization and for the Guide you’ve provided us. Richie has been really fantastic. Everything has been better as we expected.

Alejandro Magro Gonzalez
Madrid, SPAIN

Brian,

Thank you very much for introducing me to Canadian backcountry skiing last week.  I had a fantastic time, felt very safe and learnt loads!

I wish you and your family a fulfilling 2008

Best wishes

Richard  Campin
London, ENGLAND

John and I are extremely grateful and fortunate to be under the tutelage of Canada West for the development and training of our mountaineering education.  One of the many attributes that have impressed us is the diversity of instructors/guides and their varying expanse of knowledge and skills which they bring with them, as they teach us the skills of being and playing safe in the mountains.  We highly recommend Canada West to anyone who is interested in developing and or refining their mountaineering skills.

John and Elaine Yagi
Abbotsford, BC CANADA

Linda:

Just wanted to let you I had an amazing time on the Complete Mountaineering course in August.  Tim was great, very knowledgeable and always willing to share his skills with the group, attentive to safety and always willing to share a good story or two.  James was awesome too, always willing to help out whenever he could.  We were also very lucky with the weather, it was sunny the entire time except for the last bit on the hike out.  Even the group got along well too.  I’m definitely interested in doing a lot more climbing, especially now that I’m starting to forget how much hard work it was.

Thanks for your efforts in organizing things.

Andrew Jenko
Vancouver, BC CANADA

Dear Brian,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your entire team of certified guides for helping to make our equipment training and evaluation program a huge success.  As you are well aware, this program presented some unique challenges from the beginning.

Your organization was tasked with providing appropriate equipment testing environments for 30 US Marines who would be coming to the Whistler area to evaluate new climbing, assault and glacier equipment and to supply ample guides to provide “local knowledge” on the terrain.  Your expertise in the terrain, equipment and techniques was evident throughout the five day program and your help was invaluable.

The guides we required for the program needed very different skill sets for each of the environments:  glacier travel, ice climbing, rock climbing and obstacle crossing.  Each of the many guides that worked with us were both knowledgeable and professional (not to mention personable) in their areas of expertise.

My partner Chris and I couldn’t be happier with the support your organization provided to the success of our training mission and wouldn’t hesitate to both use you again and recommend you to others.

Sincerely,

Terry Steinberg
EVP – Provengo

Seven Wanderungers just returned from a Mountaineering Skills course with Canada West Mountain School (CWMS) and all I can say is that I strongly recommend taking a course of this kind to anyone who is interested in climbing peaks that require a glacier approach or negotiating steep snow slopes. In the course of 4 days we covered glacier travel, use of ice axe, self-arrest techniques, setting up snow anchors, multi-pitch climbing and rappelling and crevasse rescue fundamentals.

I would like to give praise to CWMS for the selection of their Guides – highly professional and competent, their instruction was excellent. If I had to recommend a mountain school to a friend, CWMS would be the one.

We all had a great time and learned a lot. We are keen on keeping it up and exploring our mountains past the end of a marked trail.

Yours truly,
Level I Wanderung Mountaineers
The Wanderungs Club, Vancouver, BC CANADA

Brian,

The Waddington trip was the best and will be very difficult to top!!!!  What fantastic scenery and wonderful climbing experience. Thanks for getting us up and down the mountain safely and I look forward to another climbing adventure with Canada West Mountain School. Thanks again for another wonderful experience.

Wayne Browning
Truckee, California, USA

Hey Brian!

Had an awesome time with you (climbing the Blackcomb Buttress) on Saturday, and learned lots on Sundays Rock Climbing course with the group!
Just wondering how the pictures turned out? Id love to see them!

Thanks,

Jillian Duthie
Vancouver, BC CANADA

Hi Linda,

I wanted to thank you for the amazing mountaineering course. It was very informative and I enjoyed it so much. Chris Lawrence was great as he always is, very skillful and knowledgeable.

Ishihama Yoshinari
Squamish, BC CANADA

Hi Brian,

Wanted to thank you again for putting this trip together for us. We had a flawless trip and skied incredible lines. John Furneaux was not only a great guide but he totally understood what we wanted to do. He also makes a good quesadilla and tells a great story.

Look for the story to come out in the March issue, hitting newsstand in early February. Just in time for the spring touring rush.

All the best,

Jake Bogoch
Senior Editor – Skiing magazine
Boulder, CO USA

Hey John

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to thank you for the amazing job you did as our guide on Kilimanjaro. I know that the boys thoroughly enjoyed your attention to detail, your empathy, supportiveness and sense of humor as well as your accounts of the perils and thrills of heli-skiing and guiding.

Thank you also for your patience throughout the trip with my lack of experience in the outdoors and with the boys, their quirky, youthful nature and sometimes irreverent sense of humor. You are a great role model for these young men. By the way, the boys often recount some of your tales, falling latrines from the sky, etc.

I also really appreciated your support during the last few hours of summit which still seem blurry in my memory; the sunrise however was incredible. I know that our group wouldn’t have succeeded in reaching our summits without your energy, enthusiasm and encouragement.

Cheers

Alex Shum
Royal St. George’s College
Toronto, ON, CANADA

Hi,

I work down the street at Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC).  I took an AST 1 course from you in January.  It was very good as I learned a lot and the instructor was excellent.  Keep up the good work!

Is there any space left in your Mar. 2-5 winter alpine climbing course?

Cheers,

Cameron Nelin
Vancouver, BC, CANADA

Linda:

Could you pass on to Brian my sincerest thanks for a great weekend. Notwithstanding the rain on Sunday, Patrick and I had a great time and feel we really learned a great deal.

I can’t imagine how Brian could be any better at what he does and would love the opportunity to do another trip with him sometime in the future.

Cheers,

Guy Heywood
Vancouver, BC CANADA

Hi Linda,

I had a fantastic time on the course. I have since got a rope and some harness’s and I’m climbing!! I really appreciated all of your help. You went above and beyond!!!

Jeremy Christensen
Vancouver, BC CANADA

Hi Brian,

Just wanted to thank you so much for everything you did and all your help during the Mountaineering course. Your professionalism and attention was very much appreciated. There is no question in my mind as to what organization I will forever continue
to use for all my training.

Thanks Brian, Good Job

Cheers

James Schoenne

Thanks Linda!  I had a great couple of days with the school — as usual!

Both of the guides were excellent, particularly given that they were somehow able to control the weather during our outings. Craig in particular was very accommodating and kindly agreed to play the weather by ear on Monday — after checking-in twice with me on forecasts — plus he was willing to adjust our route to meet my own intentions for the day.

Talk to you in January for some avalanche and ski touring instruction!

Thanks again,

Michael Nadler

Hi Chris,

Our Spearhead Traverse was simply an incredible experience… the company, climate and scenery combined to produce a most memorable long weekend.  Many thanks for showing us the way and looking after me! We had a great trip!

Sincerely,

Chris Wilson

Hi,

I had a great time on the winter alpine skills course and I will be back for other courses. The weather was prefect and Connie made great adjustments to maximize our use of the conditions.

Dear Brian, Keith, Geoff and Linda;

I am writing this mail to thank your school for organizing great mountaneering program last weekend. The program far then exceeded my expectations and the weekend became the best weekend of my life in Canada. A lot was shared and plenty learned while having incredible fun. This would not be possible without the best mountain guide ever, Keith, who gave us all he had (time, patience, feeling of safety, knowledge, experience and of course amazing stories) and for me, the most valuable thing – perspective. He had done fantastic job. Thank you very much for everything and wish all of you good luck.

Svetlana Tkacova
Vancouver, BC CANADA

The course was awesome! I loved everything about it, except coming off the mountain early due to weather. The instructors were great, and i would not hesitate to do another course with your organization– the price was right, and the content and instructors were top notch!

Thanks for the experience… my heart is still up there!

Cheers,

Jamie Davenport

Dear Canada West

I did an avalanche course with Bruce Wilson (offered by CWMS) that was excellent.  He was very knowledge, calm and very approachable.  I look forward to having the time off (work is busy) to do another course.

Good luck this winter.

Best regards,

Russell Hobbs