From the moment we contacted Mountain Skills Academy it was easy and professional. We booked our first half day and had Maya as our guide. We took our 5 and 8 year olds and they were hooked! The first day Maya made it so fantastic that we booked to have another half day with her on our same trip. She is experienced, knowledgeable, so patient and helpful. I cannot say enough great things about her, and she has a wonderful sense of humour!

We booked this adventure as a group of 4 for one of our 30th birthdays! Victor was our guide on the Sea to Sky Via Ferrata and was fantastic and made the adventure so much fun! We were experienced in rock climbing so doing a via ferrata in rain, hail, and wind added an extra element of fun! Definitely would recommend and will be back!

Today a group us did the Via Ferrata in Whistler. I had no idea what to expect and it was so much fun! As someone who is pretty scared of heights I had great time and am so pleased I gave in and did it. Our guide Maya was the absolute best. So supportive, kind, encouraging and took me under her wing. Thank you Maya! The whole group really enjoyed the day, the views were beautiful and it was challenging but not as strenuous as I thought it would be. Phew! I felt very safe. Again, thanks to Maya for all her help.

My daughter is an experienced climber. She was excited to give us (her parents) the opportunity to have the thrill of mountain climbing, without the risk and extensive training generally required to participate in this sport. Our guide, Tache, was exceptional! He helped us feel safe and capable. His personality, knowledge and enthusiasm added to our adventure. There was never a dull moment ... Tache kept us moving upward and onward while sharing lots of information about the area, history of Via Ferratas and outdoor adventures. The views from above are even more stellar when you are up close. My husband and myself are both seniors (69 and 72) and had no trouble keeping up. You CAN do it! And who doesn't want to say they've climbed the face of a mountain? This is definitely an activity not to be missed - absolutely wonderful!!!

When I called Mountain Skills to learn about the difference between their two via ferrata courses at Whistler and Squamish, I was told that the Whistler course is more adventurous and much longer, lasting 4 hours versus only 2 hours at Squamish, which justified the significantly higher price. I asked about any differences between the morning and afternoon tours, and I was told that they are identical. Based on this information, I signed up for the 4-hour afternoon Whistler via ferrata. When I showed up at the designated meeting place, I was told that so many people had signed up for this tour that we were being split into different groups. As a solo traveler, I was told that a large group would head out first, while I had to wait for a tour guide whose morning tour ran late and wasn’t ready yet. Once he finally showed up, he said that a member of our group was stuck in traffic and hadn’t yet arrived. So instead of starting at 1:30 PM as scheduled, we didn’t actually begin until 2:15. Normally, I wouldn’t mind the delay, except that our guide then informed us that the ski lift that would bring us down after we finished stops running at 4:15, and if we didn’t rush through what was advertised as a 4-hour course in under 2 hours, we would be stuck at the top and have to do a lengthy hike to get down. As a result, we were extremely rushed and pressed for time during the entire experience, and instead of having time to take breaks and enjoy the experience, we went virtually non-stop the entire time. I don't blame our guide for this, as he did the best he could under the circumstances. And we did in fact get to the top just before 4:15, but I was extremely exhausted, dehydrated, and disappointed that what I hoped would be a highlight of my visit to Whistler was nothing like what was advertised and promised.

We did this as a private tour with our 11-year-old nephew and it was an AMAZING experience. The adrenalin rush, the conquering of fears, the feeling of accomplishment, the views. We want to give a HUGE shout-out to our guide, Rob: he was phenomenal! He was very patient with this old auntie ;) and a great teacher.

My partner wanted to do something outdoors, something challenging, and something that would provide great views of the surrounding area. We’ve tried a via ferrata route in Colorado before so we figured we would give the Whistler Via Ferrata tour a try. The weather was iffy but after speaking with Jonas and our guide, Jeremy, we decided to give it a go. It was definitely a good decision, the gondola ride up was cool, the hike to the start was a nice warm up and Jeremy shared a lot of interesting info on the area. After going over the safety information we headed up the mountain. It was challenging, beautiful and the weather turned out great! We felt safe and Jeremy did a great job guiding us.

A really enjoyable afternoon! Our guide was great and very informative. The glacier is small, but the views spectacular.

Great fun, Lorna our guide was brilliant and took time to share her knowledge of the flora and fauna as we made our way to the start. I always felt safe would recommend this activity.

Ollie was awesome accomodating my last minute booking, and Laura was an incredible guide - I would 100% recommend this for anyone! It was an incredible experience, and Laura was super supportive and friendly the whole way. Such a unique way to see the area, challenging enough to feel accomplished, and the views were stunning.

We did a half day introduction to rock climbing and it was an awesome experience! I can't say enough good things about our instructors, Anna and Dan. They were professional, knowledgeable and provided great support and encouragement.

My son and I did the Squamish Via Verrata tour during our two days in Vancouver before embarking on an Alaskan cruise. This was our first time doing Via Ferrata and it was the highlight of our whole vacation (including the cruise)! I would love to do it again (next time I would do the one in Whistler since it is more challenging). The views while climbing the rock face are absolutely stunning!

We're so happy we found MSAA! As a beginner-intermediate level hiker who has lived in NYC for the past 15 years, the idea of hiking around in bear country was... a little scary to me. Over 3 weeks, Glen guided us through 8 carefully-selected hikes (all of which had a wide variety of scenery, terrain... breathtaking views...) that I would have never attempted to hike by myself. Each trail challenged me beyond what I expected of myself (several technical sections... one of them was a black diamond level trail!... another was an 18km hike! I was SO proud of myself!)- Glen always calmly made me feel at ease about wildlife and what to expect and was patient, encouraging and friendly. He taught me several things that made me feel more confident on trails that I'll always carry with me on future hikes. If we're in the Squamish/Whistler area again next year, I'll absolutely be calling up MSAA again!

Really fun and informative weekend on a crevasse rescue course with a group of 6 and our guide Seb. I'm familiar with ropes systems but it was useful to refresh on glacier travel and crevasse-specific systems in preparation for some summer Alpine objectives. Seb was fantastic, extremely knowledgeable, approachable and shared several new practices and ideas to replace some of my outdated learnings. We spent the first day in Squamish, and the second putting some of the skills into practice on the glacier in Whistler. I'd highly recommend this course for anyone wanting to learn about crevasse rescue and glacier travel, bonus if you get Seb as your instructor!

We had an awesome time on the via Ferrata tour with our guide Ollie! He was very easy going and made sure everyone was comfortable and secure on the route. He also shared tons of fun facts about the forest and wildlife in the area. Highly recommend this tour for families. Make sure you are comfortable with heights because there are definitely some moments of exposed climbing up the rocks. It’s all very safe and not too difficult, even for kids.