Mountain News

Mount Washington Alpine Resort hosts the Kokanee DH and XC races this weekend as part of the 2010 BC Cup.  The province’s best up and coming downhill and cross-country racers will be on hand along with buttery-smooth announcer Brett Tippie!  As an added bonus, for the second year in a row, it looks like the weather will be picture perfect.

“The weather forecast is bluebird,” explains Race Director Mike Manara.  “And the Monster Mile is now clear of snow, which downhill racers will be happy to hear, plus we have a new section on our XC loop for Cross Country racers.”

They should have posted a cougar warning for the Lake Louise alumni weekend. With more than 600 people reportedly coming in for the first annual event, a few of the lovelies were clearly set to relive better days. We always say everybody we know who is cool is 60, and we should in this instance, have added knows how to hit the liquor.

Lake Louise is as quiet as I could imagine, and even the ice rink is now closed as the thaw to summer begins. I suspect that is why I have a room with such an incredible view at Deer Lodge. It is some few hours sitting and watching the spring set on the snow and ice of the mountains as the sun goes down. With a few more days like this it won’t be long before all but the glacier is gone.

The light and the enormity are almost beyond comprehension from the balcony in the room. The Rockies stand up so high and the formations are so large, I am convinced the mind won’t actually let you comprehend the depth with so much to absorb. It takes time to sit and focus. And as the shadows change, your breathing slows and the wind takes on new and distant voices, then you’ll find pockets of lonely alien landscape, that are filled with light and movement, much in the same way as in a coral reef. It’s like the best sites are hiding from the disturbance, and allow themselves to settle back to life as you relax and find a way to fit yourself inside of the space. And a lot of space it is in the Rockies.

The hotel is a little spooky, it being so old and empty. But the internet connection is good and the view of the mountains is truly unreal. I’m told some rooms are only $99 a night on occasion and even at high times just $300. That truly is well worth the lesser comforts (no TVs and the place has clearly been lived in since it first opened in the 1920s). At the Chateau Lake Louise, just two minutes walk away, I heard one man complaining of $600 price tag for even a simple room. “Not sure I’ve ever slept in a $600-bed,” he half-jokes.

The deck at Deer Lodge faces the mountains in parts, as do the balconies from many of the rooms and that is great during both sunrise and sunset. And even without the finer touches of the Fairmount, it is pretty much a priceless perch. Upstairs is a hot tub on the deck, itself with spectacular views and I could see how it could turn into a serious social experiment at the right time.