Q:
A: Hiking or mountain climbing, i.e. just with boots and perhaps a stick or requiring crampons, ropes, etc? For the former there are lots of possibilities really close to Vancouver in Canada and just south in Washington State. Whistler and the area near it has some stunning hiking trails, many of them in Garibaldi Prov. Park (http://www.elp.gov.bc.ca/bcparks ). For mountain climbing you will have to go a little further out. Probably the closest is Mt. Baker in Washington, but there are other challenging peaks all over BC and in Washington. There is also a great deal of rock climbing near Vancouver. Stawamus Chief at Squamish is, I am told, one of the most popular rock climbing sites anywhere.