I've heard all kinds of horrible stories about people comeing back to a BC TH parkinglot to find their vehicles vandalized, stolen, robbed...
This is such a general question - of course these things can happen anywhere...
I don't have a redwings, avs, or bruins bumper sticker, but the Oregon plate is a dead giveaway...

Is this a bogus concern?

never happened to me....

don't leave valuables in the car. The times I got broken into, they professionally got it (no damage) discretely rifled through everything, took a portable cd player and then locked the car back up. (polite canadian thieves concerned for my gear)

In bellingham, they smashed the window for a couple of cd's. real lame!

I have heard of cars getting torched in canadian TH's. very uncanadian like!

That's what i'm talking about - maybe it IS canadian like.
Where in canadia; and under what circumstances was your vehicle burgluralized?

My sophistimacated security syestem -

Canadians will break into your car for cigarette butts, steal your tent from a campsite, siphon your gas, scam your fancy Arcteryx jacket from the front seat of your car, smoke your weed and steal your girl. They are the lowest of the low...

We will also rape your dog, so watch out for that security system of yours.

Seriously? It is not any more of a worry than anywhere else in North America. Use common sense, etc., but hey, when you leave a car in a desolate spot with no one around for days at a time, full of $$ shit, it is always possible you will get jacked. Of course, same goes for leaving your car virtually anywhere in most cities.

not so much worried about theft as i am vandalazation.

i musta heard some news story a while back about a rash of vadalazations - specifically targeting vehicals with american lps. I didn't really care then cuz i was in colorado. now that i'm near i'm wonderig how deep (or if at all) the current anti-american sentiment is up there.

most people were extrordinarly nice the last times that ive been up there; definetly a place i want to return to.

My car was broken into twice in squamish. Never a trialhead in canada. I have seen lots of broken glass in american TH's. My guess is that your odds of damage are greater in the states, especially that we have been in the iraq thing for so long. (Which was the start of the uncanadian behavior towards vehicles) I think everyone (except the families of folks over there) has forgotten about that place.

Fellas, IMO anti-American sentiment in Canada is directed toward U.S. political figures and foreign policy, not the American people. Thefts and vandalism occur everywhere. Don't worry about getting stuff ripped off in Canada. Thieves and vandals are as likely to target a vehicle with U.S. plates as they are Canadian plates. Use common sense and 'fly under the radar'. If your gear is in your vehicle do your best to hide it. Don't advertise the fact that you're a climber or skier by plastering your vehicle with stickers - you'll attract attention. The only thing I've ever had stolen from my car was a pack of cigarettes that were on the dashboard while parked at the Grand Wall parking lot in Squamish.

In Egypt they took my spare change from my pants pocket, I was still wearing them. In Puerto Rico they took the lighters from the rental car. In Taiwan they took my credit card numbers. In China they took my money and ran out the door whilst I was showering (long story, found the girl in the same bar next night). In the US they took my stereo system, cash, cd's and drugs twice but left the radar detector?, the third time they just took the entire car. In Canada the bastards took my beer and left everything else (clothes, mostly). Moral: Canadian vandals have no ethics whatsoever, so whatever you do, do not leave beer in plain sight !

IMO cars with BC plates are less likely to be broken into in Squamish. The only time I saw a car that had been broken into it had Ontario plates amongst a sea of BC plates.

Canadians are scary, violent, evil people. They will break into your car, and then draw a picure of you fucking a sheep on the unbroken window. American climbers should stay home and climb local.

and the ravens are worse!

But you guys love doing that, I thought bumper stickers were the rage in the US ?

I would say that any cars that look like tourist cars, whether they are rentals or from abroad, have a higher risk than locals cars. I would geuss that it has more to do with the amount of loot you can score from a traveller as opposed to a local who problably has minimal gear in the vehicle.

Follow the usual protocols and I am sure you will be fine, out right vandalization is rare.

I've not had any trouble in Squamish. Last summer, folks I was climbing inadvertently left the hatch door wide open to the back of their Subaru in the Bluffs parking lot--when we returned to the car in the evening, seeing the door open, we expected to find the car cleaned out. Not the case. Everything, including packs, computers, gear, etc all still there.

I'd like to hear the story... I got the time.
I wonder if it was anything like my "massage" in Saigon...

The massage from the girl who wasnt?

This behavior is limited to residents of the Fraser Valley. You'll know you're there when you smell shit and hear dueling banjos.

I've seen more Confederate Flags and Monster Trucks in the Fraser Valley in the last year then I've seen in my entire life.

They're all fleeing north from south of the 49th parallel to escape Obama.

Nah thats just the British Columbia flag

Other way around, Rob. The girl who gave a massage that wasn't...

Just the unhappy ending, eh?

Can you tell me where you are going to be parked, and how much valuable stuff you plan on leaving in your car?

I'll pay your gas if we can split the booty!