A Weekend in Squamish, British Columbia

Nestled halfway between Vancouver and Whistler, the co-hosts of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Squamish is part port town, part mountain town and part blue-collar company town. It’s also perfectly situated for taking in the Games. From downtown, you can head 45 minutes north and be at the base of the Dave Murray Downhill course in Whistler; head an hour south, and you’ll be standing in front of Vancouver’s hockey temple, General Motors Place. The 2010 Winter Games may be Squamish’s coming-out party, but the burg’s mix of ocean, peaks and people will keep visitors coming back well after the torch has been passed to Sochi in 2014.

From mid-November to mid-February, the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in North America (take that, U.S.!) nests in the trees flanking the Squamish River, eating the spawning salmon and generally looking regal. We arrived at Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park after the peak period of mid-January but still had little trouble scoping out these taloned wonders. For a private viewing, we ducked the flocks of chartered buses to find our own spot a few clicks away at the first bridge on the Squamish Valley Road.

Opening the curtains each morning in our room at the new Executive Suites Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort revealed a sunrise over Diamond Head Mountain and a dynamite view of the Les Furber-designed Garibaldi Springs Golf Course. The mountain-size rooms feature the comfortably ubiquitous West Coast modern palette (think copious wood and river rock) and no shortage of roaring gas fires.

When culinary grad and Brit ex-pat Greg Venables named his fish ’n’ chips restaurant after a stop on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, you could be pretty sure he wasn’t going to be panko-breading tiny portions of sablefish. The Wigan Pier Restaurant first fed hungry loggers, then hundreds of construction workers on Olympic infrastructure projects. Now it caters to those seeking hands-down the best battered, fried cod (halibut on payday) and fries in all of B.C.

It may be called Whistler Olympic Park, but Squamish residents have embraced the extensive network of trails criss-crossing the Callaghan Valley as their own. The site is anchored by an ultramodern timber-and-concrete lodge, where we were outfitted in the latest and greatest cross-country gear. Trust us when we say skate-skiing is harder than it looks.

The Howe Sound Brewing Company embraces the mountain-man ethos by only selling beer in one-litre bottles. (We made short work of a seriously hoppy Devil’s Elbow India Pale Ale.) But don’t worry: The brewery, on the edge of the working waterfront, has a 20-room inn attached in case you bend the elbow once too often.

The tuition (to the tune of $25,000 a year) may be the steepest thing at Quest University Canada, the country’s newest private non-profit liberal arts university, but the pristine campus also comes with a great ocean and mountain vista. Plus you get a gleaming modern architectural marvel of a campus, powered by geothermal energy. Currently in its third year, it houses 250 students as it builds towards its planned enrolment of 800, so strolling the grounds still makes for a peaceful retreat.

Photos: Tourism B.C. / Tom Ryan (Eagles); Golf Resort (executive Suites Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort); Tourism B.C. (Inukshuk); Jim Park (Howe Sound Brewing Company).