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travel / travel magazine / nov08
Notebook
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
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