iaink

Dont STOP, you were on a roll!

MikeUK

I just have to disagree
As somebody who hiked and climbed and paraglided in the UK all year round
I'm surprised by this statement and also consider it slightly misleading

just how many outdoors sport are done at +30deg C (Current temp Kamloops)

Judy in Calgary

I believe the fact that you don't have kids makes it easier to enforce that policy.

If you had kids and stuck to that policy, you’d have to live with the knowledge that you were Ghenghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Hitler and Mussolini all rolled into one.

R I C H

The facilities here mean that most sports are year-round. I'm not aware of any sports that stop due to summer heat, and certainly many (eg watersports) are far more accessible or pleasant to enjoy here than in the UK.

Equestrian, athletics, all court/raquet sports, soccer and many others have indoor facilities here, so the heat or cold doesn't matter.

Dryland ski training started this weekend - I couldn't live within 45mins of slopes in the UK, nor could I have pretty much unlimited immediate access to trails for horse riding, dirt biking, ATV'ing, hiking etc.

+30's nothing (there's almost no humidity here) things only slow down at +40

R I C H

Oi, I resemble that remark

rabrol

Well said that man! Might quote you to the wife

live to ski

Hi GILDOC

We considered NZ and Canada - I don't fancy Oz. I generalise and liken brash Americans with Ozzies, and the friendlier Canadians with Kiwis!

Anyway, totally agree with you about the alcohol fuelled "living for the weekend" mentality of the Brits these days. I have always lived in cities (London, Manchester and Leeds), and every Friday & Saturday night everyone just went binge drinking, then spent their weekends recovering from hang-overs or buying consumer items on credit cards!

Whereas here, we're generally in bed by 10pm latest so we can go skiing or moutain biking at the weekends.

We live in downtown Vancouver, and although everyone finds cost of living high we think it is good value (although still not cheap) compared to UK, especially London where it looked like we would be forced to live due to my career if we stayed in UK.

Salaries (OH junior, me intermediate engineers) are same as Manchester or Leeds, rent a bit cheaper, eatting out so cheap!, groceries a bit more expensive, flights very expensive. Generally we are better off financially and quality of life is a millions time better.

Only get 3 weeks of annual leave, but make the most of all the bank holidays we have here and go away camping etc. I miss being able to go to Europe for the weekend etc as you have to go miles here for anything to be different, but still we love all the activities we can do here.

But then again, we had to go skiing in English filled French ski resorts one week a year, or 2 if we were being extravagent. Whereas here we can go every weekend for just the cost of the lift ticket. So we don't need as many holidays.

Don't have kids so can't help out with that, but I when the little Live to Skies do come along I will much rather raise them in Canada than the UK. Although we are working on having some alternative grandparents types to fill the baby sitting void!

PS - one bit of advice about using the Canada forum - Canada is massive, so it's hard to make generalisations. Therefore if asking a question about cost of living for example, try and ask about specific areas or provinces. If you don't have any in mind, at least acknowledge that there are differences - people seem to get a p1ssed off otherwise!

GILDOC

LOL, I noticed they were getting peed off! Dont really know what area we would consider, tbh dont have a clue what we are doing, now talking about viewing a house in the community we already live in! We'll make a decision one day!

live to ski

I don't know R I C H - there are nearing 100 Dry Ski Slopes in the UK, plus all the Snow Domes, so chances are they you would live 45 mins from some sort of "slope" in the UK.

That said, you could spend 45 mins sat in a traffic jam on the M4 / M25 junction trying to get to High Wycombe.

And of course you have to use tow ropes and drag lifts instead of chair lifts.

It's a hard one - (insert irony) Whistler / Big White / Silver Star etc or Dry Ski Slope????

dbd33

But then, unless you live in Vancouver or Calgary, it would be cheaper to go skiing from the UK than from Canada and you'd have more holiday time to do it.

iaink

I dount it, if you read the original post they live on an island in the far north of Scotland. And dry slopes have about as much relationship to real skiing as crazy golf has to real golf anyway.

live to ski

dbd33, I'm afraid I am going to have to disagree with you on that one - what about Kelowna (Big White), Kamloops (Sun Peaks), Oliver (Apex), Veron (Silver Star), Fernie, Blue Mountain, Banff, Lake Louise, Red Mountain, Horseshoe, Kicking Horse, Kimberly, Whitewater, Sunshine, Mount Washington (and these are just off the top of my head)?

When we were in Quebec in June we went to a Provincial Park, and everywhere there were signs for their ski resorts, ready for the winter. They are a 2/3 hour drive from both Montreal and Quebec City.

Not to mention local hills like Cypress, Seymour and Grouse in Vancouver. Even Saskatchewan has local hills.

There is no way that I would go back to skiing in France for one expensive week a year, compared to being able to go every Saturday here to a big resort, and one night a week to a local hill.

Even if we go further afield to an interior resort, it's a realtively easy weekend trip, and cheaper than crossing the channel. We did Apex, Big White and SilverStar last season for weekends.

We tried to do a weekend to France once - nightmare, and not feasible for consecutive weekends.

JonboyE

Saskatchewan has hills??????? I was told it is the one place on earth that it's impossible to lose your dog.

Steve_P

Yes Saskatchewan has hills.

http://www.cypresshills.com/cypresshillssask.html

http://www.skiblackstrap.com/

Judy in Calgary

Saskatchewan's Cypress Hills are the highest point in that part of Canada that is east of the Rocky Mountains.