I was in Victoria the other day visiting all the great outdoor retailers, climbing gyms etc. that have been so supportive of what we do here at Island Alpine Guides. On one of those visits with Brian Henry at Ocean River Sports we got to talking about a project that Brian has been working on called “Shop Local Victoria”.

It’s no coincidence at all that we got on to the subject of “shopping local”. Since it’s inception our goal at Island Alpine Guides has been to serve Vancouver Islanders. To show them what they have in the beautiful wilderness in their own back yards and to give them the skills to explore that beauty. Indeed we have made no efforts at all to promote what we do off Vancouver Island. It has been our contention that Islanders love their island and want to explore it and also that vacationing close to home is becoming more and more appealing to people for a long list of reasons from environmental to ethical not to mention convenience and aesthetics.

The chat that I was having with Brian and with all the people whom I visited on that trip down island was really illustrative of what the folks at Shop Local Victoria and at local shopping initiatives all over are trying to do: encourage people to shop locally to create collective prosperity, sustain their community, give back and put their money where their heart is, here in their communities on Vancouver Island.

It is our affinity to these concepts that made us write a bunch of tag lines for Island Alpine Guides back when we started. These ranged from “Think Globally, Adventure Locally” to “Looking for Adventure .... it’s right here in your back yard” to the somewhat flippant (hence it never made it on to one of our posters!) “There’s no place like Vancouver Island to get high”. All that aside the point is we support shopping local initiatives and support all those great outdoor retailers, climbing gyms, coffee shops, film festivals, mountain clubs etc. etc. who support us and we hope that you will do the same!

Looking forward to seeing you in the mountains this summer.

Jan and the team at Island Alpine Guides.

While I have your attention here are a few things coming up that have space on them and which may interest you:

Introduction to Rock Climbing 14/15 July

Nootka Trail 27 July - 01 August

Learn to Lead on Rock (trad) 28/29 July

Introduction to Rock Climbing 28/29 July

Augerpoint Traverse 11-14 August

Mountain Skills Helicopter Access 25-27 August

And Remember that we can post a trip or course for any dates that suit you. Just get in touch and we'll get them up on the site so that others know that they can join in on those dates.