MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2020

64 words & photos :: Kristin Schnelten Side plates and pint glasses litter the table, helmets and mitts pile in the corner. Steam rising from base layers and après toques, your buddies slide down to make room for the couple you met on the lift, your new best friends. The snow was deep. The sky cloudless. High- fives and fist-bumps abound. Positively beaming, everyone raises a glass: Can you believe how perfect today was? Skiing isn ’ t a sport, it ’ s a culture—and apr è s-ski is as important to that culture as the mountains we ride. As long as humans have been skiing for pleasure, we ’ ve found a way to share a post-turn toast to the day. In North America the immigrant Austrians, with their Arlberg technique and ski-instructor bravado, ramped up the après scene when they arrived in the 1940s. The charming fire-warmed lodges that followed, touting winter-long afternoon parties with rosy-cheeked revelers, set the standard for decades. As après continued its arc of evolution, pubs developed their own character and time-honoured traditions. With coordinated plans laid months in advance, après at Ontario ’ s private ski clubs isn ’ t a time of day, it ’ s an event—or a series of ten or more high-volume events, every Saturday afternoon, all winter long. Themed parties abound, with activities for all ages, live music and an endless supply of fresh, hot food. Wings, nachos and fries are staples of après-ski, and the clubs are no exception. But when chefs have just a few hours a week to strut their stuff for more than a thousand, they venture beyond the boilerplate, too. When chefs have just two hours a week to strut their stuff for more than a thousand, they venture beyond the boilerplate. FOOD/DRINK APRÈS THE CLUB WAY Ontario’s private clubs curate ski culture’s crowning glory RIGHT PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Keith Hagedorn, Beaver Valley. Matteo Gironi,Toronto Ski Club. Rob Saunders, Roadrunner Foods, Osler Bluff. Mike Sarlo, Georgian Peaks. Jim Hockley, Devil's Glen. Adam Kwiakowski, Gregory Klomp, and Rebecca York of Men With Knives Catering,Alpine Ski Club.