MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2021

66 MOUNTAIN FRIENDS The next day I’m back inbounds. I’m told the best way to get acquainted with Panorama’s 134 runs and 1,300-metre vertical is to join a Mountain Friends group—local volunteers who know these trails intimately. Two German guys in our group have been coming to Panorama for 30 years. “We don’t tell anyone back home about it—this place is our secret,” says one, who is in his eighties. “We’ve got ourselves a bluebird day folks,” he adds. And with that, he points his skis into the bowl. I follow his swoopy line, pulling up beside the Cliffhanger Restaurant for a hot toddy. For dinner, a group of us exits the icy chairlift about halfway up the mountain just before the sun goes down. The wind is howling as the door swings open to the Elkhorn Cabin, releasing warm wood smoke and stinky-cheese aroma. The raclette, melted on a spatula then scraped onto bread, is gooey and fatty; it’s also an homage to the Swiss-born forefathers who started Panorama in 1962. Back then it was one run and a rope tow powered by a V8 motor. Hours later, I’m still sipping wine, and repeating: “No, I can’t eat anymore! Well, just one.” Heading back down, we cram inside a Monster X snowcat. The driver turns on the disco lights as the Chemical Brothers blare— everyone comes alive, pumping fists into the air. FAT BIKING + NORDIC After a late morning start, I’m on a fat bike riding alongside Toby Creek. The path is fluffy, yet slushy; our tires spin out. Switching onto the road, the tires scrunch and glide effortlessly on the hardpack. Mesmerized by the snow resting on the bows of the branches and the mountain range that looks like a city skyline, I don’t realize I’ve been riding entirely uphill for an hour, or that my new friends are yelling, “Come back! That leads to the ski hill.” The next day, I nordic-ski the same trail, stopping into the Hale Hut for a snack. The walls are full of memories: skiers in neon-green ‘80s suits, construction of the hut in various stages, and a plaque for Dennis Hale, the cabin’s namesake. Skiing back across Toby Creek, beside the Cliffhanger Restaurant again, I stop to order a couple tacos and a Corona from an outside stall. Taking a seat in front of the bonfire with some downhillers, we joke about nordic and downhill skiers, then clink our glasses, leaning back into the Muskoka chairs. SNOWSHOEING + SPIRIT SAMPLING The next day I’m set to snowshoe the South Face Trail. With only myself and two Aussie women in their mid-sixties, I assume it’s going to be slow until the ladies start pumping their arms like aerobics instructors racking up their Fitbit steps. I ask how they like B.C.: “Oh, it’s splendid; we had weed edibles last night with our husbands.” Splendid indeed. My respect for them grows. Before flying out, I spend the afternoon in nearby Invermere. Tasting samples from Taynton Bay Spirits, which made their way onto CBC’s Dragon’s Den , I sip a boozie blueberry rooibos and longingly look onto Lake Windermere Whiteway—where skating has just closed for the season. At 30 km long, it joins a handful of communities together during the winter and is the Guinness World Record holder for longest ice-skating loop. “Another sample?” “Sure,” I say, resigning myself to an afternoon of spirit-tasting. “You can’t do it all,” I add. panoramaresort.com Cross-country skiing at Panorama Mountain Resort. DESTINATION BC/STIRL AND RAE PHOTO