Tantalus Range

ACCESS

Unless you are going to fly in (boooo!) you'll have to get yourself down to the Squamish River at the right place. To get there, turn left off highway 99 at the Alice Lake intersection, just north of Squamish. This road takes you back down into the vall (in fact it was part of the original highway). Keep your eyes peeled for a bridge over the cheakamus river. Just past the bridge, keep left at an intersection. The side road to the river is 2.1km past the cheakamus river bridge. It's also the third road on the left after the intersection.

Canoe

An excellent crossing method. Faster and less gear intensive than the tyrolean, but requires a canoe and some paddling skill. Difficulty depends on how high the river is. It's easiest to paddle upstream on the east side of the river, and then ferry across to a beach on the west side. The beach landing where the trail starts is marked with flagging tape, and some sticks buried in the sand, but it's difficult to spot from downsream.

Tyrolean

The cable for the disused Water Survey cable car can be used to cross the Squamish River as described in Kevin McClane's book Alpine Select. If you choose to do this consider the following suggestions:

WARNING: THIS PROCEDURE IS POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS METHOD YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

(figure courtesy S. Durocher)

• Use work gloves to avoid damage to your hands
• Suspending yourself from a bike U-lock instead of a large caribiner works well, but back it up with a caribiner
• Suspend your pack from a separate line on the cable, and pull it using a long length (e.g. 5m cordalette). This stops the pack swinging like a pendulum which impedes progress
• Use a short length (e.g. 30cm sling) to suspend yourself from the cable as pulling with straight arms is difficult
• Secure yourself to the towers when setting up the Tyrolean
• The two weighted caribiners used by this procedure become quite worn and should be retired from climbing after use

Helicopter

This is how the ACC got their nickname "Airborne Climbers of Canada". Recommended for those who want to fly in coolers full of wine to the Tantalus Hut and then lock everyone else out.

Dharma style

Only champion swimmers need apply. The river is about 100m wide, fast flowing and cold.