Along British Columbia's western edge from the Alaska panhandle to Vancouver stretches a vast alpine wilderness that ranks as one of the largest and least known on earth. Hidden in the mists beyond the head of long, dark inlets, this sea of mountains is so isolated that hundreds of major peaks remain unnamed and much of the territory was unexplored until the closing decades of the twentieth century.
The name "Bella Coola" refers to the valley, village, airport and First Nations people (most recently they call themselves the "Nuxalk Nation"). While the BC Coast Mountains have been home to these First Nations people for nearly 10,000 years, the alpine regions have seldom been explored in any season by anyone.
For most of their length, the Coast Mountains rise abruptly above a coastal strip, facing the Pacific Ocean with rugged slopes and tremendous relief, most extreme where glacial action cuts fjords up to 192 km long (one of only four such occurrences in the world). The inlets are home to our boat tours, and the Bella Coola village and valley are home to our hotel-based tours. The Bella Coola Wharf is at head of the South Bentinck arm.
The Bella Coola Valley is home to some 2,000 people, living in small villages and on rural properties. At the head of the valley is Tweedsmuir Provincial Park and the "hill" that takes one to the Chilcotin Plateau (elev. 4,500').
Bella Coola is 400 miles north of Vancouver by air or 475 km west of Williams Lake by road (Highway 20).
