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Winter wonder lodges

IN THE SUMMER OF 1906, Arthur Oliver Wheeler led a group of 100 men and women, in the formal dress of the times, across the Continental Divide for the inaugural trip of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC). With gear loaded on pack horses, they traced dirt pathways through forests and skirted mountain streams. Although he could not have known it at the time, Wheeler was clearing the way for three-year-old twins Maggie and Daisy Rubinstein to build snow bunnies at his eponymous cabin in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, with all the necessities for a weekend trip hauled in not on pack horses, but on their parents’ backs.

The club that Wheeler helped establish more than 100 years ago was born out of the belief that the mountains are to be enjoyed by all, and more and more, that means families with young children. That inclusive sentiment has led ACC to membership ranks approaching 10,000 backcountry skiers, mountain climbers and many, many families looking for enriching weekend getaways at the club’s 28 bare-bones and affordable alpine huts across Canada.

“Anybody can be a member,” says Channin Liedtke, ACC’s facilities manager. “There’s no easier way to introduce your family to the backcountry. And in a world that’s increasingly difficult to get away from, it takes so little effort to escape.”

If you’re like me, however, you realize that some things are worth the occasional splurge — especially in winter. Indoor plumbing, for instance. Gilbert Rioux has transported urban luxury to the wilds of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, where his Chic- Chocs Mountain Lodge serves up the three “S’s”: “sport, sauna and sofa”.

Where there’s snow, there’s often a roaring fire to be stoked in Canadian backcountry lodges. And you’ll find as many winter vacation options as there are mountains in Canada. We hope this package of winter lodges will inspire you to let loose your inner snow bunny and, like Maggie and Daisy, become one with winter.

By Patricia D’Souza