Extra Costs

Flights:

Definitely the easiest place to fly into is Vancouver international in BC. Seattle and Calgary are also not too far if you can find a really good deal (remember to add on the land travel costs).

Insurance:

Insurance is absolutely essential. There are many good insurance policies available, the deals always change and individuals may get good deals depending on their house insurance but there are a few important things to look out for:

-long term travel insurance versus short term: (there are many supposedly cheap deals available for year long travel insurance, however almost all of these say in the fine print that although the insurance is for a period of a year the actual trip time is normally of a maximum of 14 or 21 days).

-check properly the winter sports coverage (nowadays a lot of insurance companies won't cover winter sports, some won't cover freestyle or backcountry with or without a guide. If you are into backcountry or freestyle look very carefully into this so that if an emergency does happen you don't have to ask yourself what is more important your leg or a 2 million dollar bill).

We recommend British Mountaineering Council's own alpine & ski insurance ( www.thebmc.co.uk ) which is a good deal and has good backcountry cover. If you choose not to take insurance you will have to sign a waiver to say that we have advised you to take it and you declined.