The hot and dry weather has cleared out much of the remaining snow in short order, allowing great access to all the spectacular hiking and backpacking destinations in Southwestern BC. […]
April 28 Covid Update
The Sea to Sky communities of Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton have requested that visitors from outside the Sea to Sky corridor postpone travel to this region until after May 25th. […]
Covid-19 update – Nov 23, 2020
Winter is here in full force with snow in the mountains, ski resorts are opening and Canada West Mountain School has completed our first series of AST-1 courses under our […]
Canada West Virtual Classroom
We are very excited to announce the Canada West Mountain School “Virtual Classroom” will be launched in November! Our newly developed E-Learning site will support our robust offerings of practical, […]
How to choose mountaineering boots?
One of most common questions we get is “how to choose mountaineering boots” and this is also one of the most challenging questions to give a simple answer to. Footwear is […]
Arc’terycx Climbing Academy 2021
The Arc’teryx Climbing Academy is back Aug 26-29, 2021! Canada West Mountain School will once again be hosting all the Climbing Clinics, registration opens July 21. Check out all the […]
Win an AST course!
Win an AST-1 course! Join us at MEC Snow Fest on Saturday, November 18! We’re looking forward to a fun day at the MEC store on Broadway in Vancouver. Visit […]
Rope Rescue Systems for Skiers and Climbers
A common question from our students is “how many times have you had to perform a technical rope rescue?” Though technical rope rescue systems are rarely used by most recreational […]
First Aid in the backcountry
I have been having a lot of discussions about Wilderness First Aid lately. Many folks wonder what distinguishes Wilderness First aid courses and training from other traditional First Aid courses. […]
Argentina 2014
On January 14th, 17 Canadian Army Cadets from across the country converged on the small mountain town of Bariloche in the Patagonia region of Argentina. Their goal? To complete a […]
Winter 2014 Guides and Instructors pre-season training session
Changing seasons is always great. I look forward to the winter snow season because I get to head out again with all the Guides and Instructors I haven’t seen during […]
Getting ready for winter
Here we are at the beginning of November, winter is just around the corner! Time to check out the weather forecasts and get the skis and ice climbing gear out […]
Kluane: A tribute to Canada’s National Parks
Canada West Mountain School owner and IFMGA mountain guide Brian Jones has joined Canadian landscape artist and documentary filmmaker Cory Trépanier on his quest to paint Kluane National Park. Brian will […]
Wilderness First Aid course updates
Our Summer and Fall Wilderness First Aid courses are now scheduled and listed on the website – http://www.themountainschool.com/info/first-aid-wilderness.html. The next 20-hour intro WFA course will be in Squamish on July […]
Alpine Skills courses starting soon
Our first Alpine Skills course of the summer season is starting up this Monday, June 17 and there are still a couple of spaces available on this program. We are […]
Success on Mt Barbeau, Nunavut
A successful climb of Mount Barbeau on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut! While we have all been soaking up the sun and enjoying great spring weather, John Furneaux, Darrel Ainscough and Mike […]
Summer 2013 Update
Mountaineering courses starting soon! Weather has been great lately in Squamish and we are starting to see summer condition in the mountains as well! We have been running some fine […]
Down safe in Everest Base Camp
Most of our Everest 2011 Expedition Team members have arrived safely in Base Camp after a successful journey to the top of Mount Everest, Nepal. Congratulations again to Bill Borger […]
CWMS gets Team to the summit of Everest
At 6:44 am, local Nepal time on May 12, Canada West Mountain School Team Climber Bill Borger stood on the South Summit of Mt Everest, along with Then Dorjee Sherpa, […]
CWMS Team heads to the summit of Mt. Everest!
Our team has arrived safely to the South Col (Camp 4) after a 6 hour climb up the Lhotse Face from C3. Then Dorjee Sherpa, Dawa Finjo Lama, Phurbha Bhote […]
Moving to Camp 4
Bill and Then Dorjee Sherpa are heading up from C3 to C4 today. This is the highest camp on the Southeast Ridge route of Mt Everest at 7,950 meters. After […]
Summit bid underway!
The Team is moving up the mountain today on their summit bid! John and Bill have left Base Camp and are heading up to Camp 2 for today, May 8. […]
Camp 3
April 30 saw John and Bill back up to Camp 2 for a 2nd round of acclimatization. They spent 4 days there, with one day a climb up to C3 […]
Climb to Camp 2
John and Bill have had a chance to get up to Camp 2, now that their Puja ceremony has been completed on April 17. On April 22 they managed to […]
Training climb on Lobuche
John and Bill had a great time on the approach into Base Camp, no issues with health or safety.They arrived on April 8th. After a couple of days they headed […]
Mount Everest 2011 Expedition underway!
Our Mt Everest team for 2011: Bill Borger, team Climber; Bill is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bill has climbed extensively in North and South America, as well as Europe. This […]
About Mt Logan – 2010
Join us on this journey to Canada’s highest peak, Mt. Logan at 5,959 meters. Canada West Mountain School has been leading mountaineering expeditions up the Kings Trench for over 15 […]
Team summits on Mt Logan, May 26th, 2010
The CWMS team has climbed to the summit of Mount Logan on May 26th. Weather cooperated enough, though it was very cold and there was some wind. Everyone is back […]
Logan Expedition starts – May 8th, 2010
Our Mount Logan – Kings Trench expedition met in Whitehorse on May 8th and were met with clear skies and a great weather forecast. Team Members: Rich Prohaska – Lead […]