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The West Coast Wilderness Lodge in Egmont, on the Sunshine Coast.
A great place for a wedding or a romantic get away. Enjoy hot tubbing under the stars, gourmet dining, kayaking, fishing, the list goes on…
This dynamite destination has all the fixings of a luxury hotel & spa in the middle of gorgeous nowhere.
Next Up…
The Largest (And Most Exclusive)
Ski Resort On Earth
If you think you’ve earned an adrenaline pumping, out of this world, big mountain ski vacation, (somebody in this country does, the way our economy’s ripping along like an Arctic blizzard), you don’t have to head to Switzerland or France, look no further than Blue River, British Columbia.
Never heard of Blue River? Neither has the rest of this country.
But all over the globe, wherever people ski, the name Blue River is dropped by only those privileged few who have the means (and guts) to ski the deepest powder on some of the steepest mountains in North America.
You think Whistler-Blackcomb has terrain? Blue River is home to the largest ski resort on earth.
Blue River is home to the largest ski resort on earth, 3000 square miles; every ski resort on the continent combined is still smaller than the skiable area hidden behind the majestic Monashee and Caribou Mountains surrounding the little rail stop town half way between Jasper and Kamloops on the Yellowhead Highway in B.C.s interior snow belt.
There’s just one catch;
if you want to tackle the mountains around Blue River you have to love flying– there are no chairlifts or gondolas anywhere in sight.
This is helicopter country, home to the largest, single location, heli-skiing operation on earth; Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing. (Pronounced Wiggly).
They don’t call it Wiegele World for nothin’. For the last 30 years Mike Wiegele and his ski-crazed staff have re-worked an historic old railway town into a fantasial dream-world of stone-lined log chalets and lodges, reminiscent of both old-world Bavaria and pioneer Canada at the same time. The globes wealthiest and most famous ski patrons are regular visitors to this dreamland of powder euphoria. Guests come mostly from Europe and the U.S. for week long ski packages.
But don’t be deceived, just because you may have a mountain of money in the bank doesn’t mean you have what it takes to ski the steep and deep back country bowls and glaciers that have made Blue River a world leader in extreme off-piste skiing adventure.
While the resort is just about as upscale as it’s gets, offering all the creature comforts you may expect from a high end resort, get ready for some serious vertical.
It seems every time I’ve checked into Wiegele World it’s been during or immediately after, a raging blizzard. I think it snows here all the time! Snowdrifts around Blue River are so high they blot out the 10,000-foot mountains behind them. (Legend has it that Mike checked with the old trappers in the area some three decades ago to confirm the snow fell “big and straight”, they were right!). The village is at about 2200 feet and is en-circled and enshrined by mountains..
The first activity upon arrival, (after a relaxing soak in a soothing jet tub which every room is equipped with) is the avalanche awareness seminar, this is very serious stuff.
The first couple of times I watched the video and heard the horrendous stories of snow-tsunami’s that’d bury Sky Reach Centre, I was about ready to head back to the jet-tub for the rest of the week. Snow accumulations around Blue River are, like the resort, other-worldly. Before Atomic invented fat powder skis it was not unheard of to ski with diving snorkels extended above your ski mask, neck deep.
Super dry powder is what makes this resort so well known.
Once when I leaped out of a helicopter on a mountain top I immediately sunk up to my chin, only my out-stretched arms kept me afloat. Mr. Wiegele shouted to me from the machine, “Feel around with your feet until you find something solid then stand on it and put your skis on quickly.” Easy for him to say, I thought at the time.
The guides at the resort are tough skinned, tanned, lean and mean, ski machines (but otherwise entirely lovable) life savers who know the risks and take them very seriously. They conduct the avalanche seminar and safety orientation which includes complete instruction in the use of the Ortovox avalanche transceiver or locator beacon; it’s the little blue box you’ll be wearing around your neck for the duration of your stay, (I usually take mine off before hot-tubbing).
After you’re grouped according to skill level (which you lied about at the front desk) it’s off to the Powdermax for food as legendary as the skiing. Mike Wiegele boasts one of the largest and most exclusive wine collections in BC. After a great nights sleep in a fabulous pine scented chalet under a thick duck-down comforter, it’s up and atom(ic) at the crack of dawn.
After breakfast, again in the Powdermax, it’s on with the snow clothes, and out to the heli-pad. But first a little more mind frying instruction on how dangerous this sport can be, (for those who don’t pay attention to the guides).
First everyone is given individual then group instruction in the use of the avalanche beacon, then the first of a dozen helicopters comes rumbling in whipping up clouds of powder before gently touching down. The pilot shuts off the engines then he and a guide once again drill into everyone’s head how important it is to be alert at all times. By now any newcomer’s heart’ll be headed for Texas.
First of all, this isn’t a casual game of gliding up to a warm fuzzy chopper with it’s rotor idle while you leisurely meander into your seat as you adjust your discman headset; oh no, if the bird isn’t at the bottom of a run, (with it’s rotor blades whizzing around like the little knives in a food processor), when you get there, get ready for something that takes a lot of getting used to.
The guide will hunch down about ten feet from the rest of the group who are told, “Watch the pilot, and stay very low” while the ten ton machine descends thunderously out of the heavens, directly overtop of you, and lands between you and the guide.
Your first thought is,”If a blade doesn’t take my head off I just know I’ll get blasted off this damn mountain” but somehow, somewhat miraculously it seems, the pilot almost effortlessly, (at least judging by the smug expression on his face from inside his warm helicopter) touches down exactly on target.
After the snow-hurricane created by the rotor-wash subsides, everyone jumps in, then heads to the top of a 10,000 foot summit for one hell of a hair raising roller-coaster ride, (depending on air turbulence and pilot playfulness). There’s no question’ choppers are the best ski lifts imaginable; the high altitude terrain they open up is so vast you’ll start slobbering like a St.Bernard when you see endless glaciers and powder snow in all directions.
After you and your group pile out of the helicopter it takes off in a blinding wash of skin piercing snow crystals and ice pellets, temporarily blinding everyone, (except the guides of coarse who were skiing in their mothers womb). Once, in just such conditions, a guide grabbed my shoulder as I was bumbling around trying to get my bearings, “You don’t want to do that” he casually but sternly intoned.
When the snow had settled, I looked around in astonishment only to realize we were precipitously perched on a pinnacle about 1000 feet above anything solid. Tim, (my guide), turned me around and said, “One more step in THAT direction and it would have been game over for you my friend, follow me,” and down we went into some of the most ethereal alpine magic imaginable.
Safety is stressed because there are risks involved with extreme back-country skiing, but as the always jovial yet rock solid Mike Wiegele likes to add, “They are calculated risks, in skiing as in life and business, if the benefits derived are worth the risk then go for it, but manage the risk.” Mr. Wiegele was one of the founders of the Canadian Ski Guide Association (and heli-skiing); skiing safe and smart are the key, he says, to the best skiing on earth.
All his guides are not only mountain safety experts but top notch, level three, ski instructors. Did I mention they were tough? Even Mr. Wiegele’s Innsbruck trained general manager, Andy Aufschnaiter, a spry, tall, agile and impeccable host, spends most of his spare time mountaineering. Andy’s scaled Mt. Robson, (highest peak in the Canadian Rockies). He’s been taking the guides course on the side, just for fun he says? “It’s a hobby,” he says non-chalantly as if every resort manager has aspirations of trekking to Tibet, (which he fully intends to undertake someday.) Andy’s grand uncle Peter Aufschnaiter was a famous Austrian mountaineer who escaped to the Himalayas in World War Two only to be captured by the British and falsely imprisoned as a spy in India. He escaped and with companion mountaineer Heinrich Harrer spent the next seven years on one of the most formidable and persevering journeys of survival in human history. It became a movie last year called “Seven Years in Tibet”, starring Brad Pitt.
Apres ski at Wiegele World? A smorgasbord of delectable cuisine awaits worn out skiers every night, then over to the Silver Buckle Lounge for endless stories of dramatic descents down perilous slopes. Elite skiers who manage (in more than one visit) to master 1,000,000 vertical feet of skiing are awarded a sterling silver belt buckle.
New to Wiegele World this year is unlimited vertical for those tireless powder hounds who never know when to quit. Be warned, this is an addictive sport. There’s just nothing that compares with it; no lift lines, never a run skied twice, clean air, unbelievable vertical decent, sometimes 6000 feet in a single run, and rugged, uninhabited ,majestic, awe inspiring, snow capped mountains as far as the eye can see.
Prices for a ski package range from $3600.00 for three days to $7600.00 for seven days including unlimited skiing, meals and deluxe accommodation. Non-skiers are welcome, rates are $280.00 per day for deluxe accommodation, meals and use of extensive fitness facility which includes stretch-yoga gym, Nautilus exercise equipment, huge hot tub, skating on a frozen lake, snow shoeing and cross country skiing.
Personally I think the non-skiing packages alone are worth a visit. The remoteness and tranquility of the village are a rare treat in this age of high speed everything; there are no fast food outlets or shopping malls in Blue River and cells phones don’t work here.
The facility is both isolated and accessible, the main reason 50 U.S. Senators, Vice President Dick Cheeney and 50 Canadian MP’s chose Wiegele World as the site of the 2001 annual high level inter-governmental conference. They arrived at the resort on a first class private train on the Canadian National Mainline.
Private, corporate, and business groups can also be arranged. From as few as 4 guests to as many as 200, the resort is geared for deluxe private retreats. The main resort is 25 multi-room chalets and heli-pads spaciously encircling the “Guides Hause”, Thunder Ridge Centre and Powdermax restaurant. But the piece de resistance of the resort is the private and exclusive 9000 square foot Bavarian House and 4000 square foot Cabana facility across Eleanor Lake from the main resort. This is where the stars, nobility and royalty generally reside during visits, (management at the resort make it policy not to divulge the names of high profile guests). Bring your own private chef and staff (or hire the resorts), to the Bavarian House, every possible amenity is at your finger tip, including private heli-pad. Use of the Bavarian House can be arranged for an additional $12,000.00 per week. All prices are in Canadian funds.
Access to Blue River is via Kamloops airport or Calgary then a bus shuttle service. The Yellowhead is a great highway but if you drive there be prepared for serious winter conditions.
Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-661-9170.
Their website is www.wiegele.com
Keith A.E. Thirkell
SociallyConsciousSMS
