An underwear tree, massages, dinner tours, and luxurious stays make spring skiing all the rave.
Riding up the Silverlode chair at RED Mountain last weekend, I chatted with my fellow lift riders, both strangers, about the ski conditions and the resort’s underwear tree.
For the uninitiated an “underwear tree,” is an evergreen tree close to a lift that people throw undergarments onto and it gets decorated like this as the season goes on. RED’s is just getting started as skiers flock to the mountains and strip off more than their winter gear and embrace spring skiing.
Later, at après hot spot Rafters Bar, my husband and I recalled the day’s highlights over beers and the thump of DJ music, packed in close to other skiers doing the same thing.
It was all very 2019. And it felt like a giant spring thaw.
With B.C.’s latest health regulations allowing full capacity at restaurants and fewer gathering restrictions, it seems like the winter of our pandemic discontent might be (finally?) nearing an end.」」
Couples and families that haven’t travelled much in the past two years are not only hitting the slopes in droves, they’re adding on to the holidays with post-ski massages, snow cat dinner tours, and stays at luxurious hotels and chalets.
It’s Western Canada’s oldest ski area and its namesake mountain has been operating a vintage double chairlift for nearly 50 years. This history and its Hot Dog…The Movie 80s vibe, combined with fantastic fall lines and some of the most diverse and challenging terrain in B.C., make RED Mountain a favourite.
“Part of RED’s charm is that nothing is roped off,” says Liz Day, who moved to Rossland five years ago and manages The Josie hotel. “There’s just so much terrain.”
The resort’s 3,850 acres includes four mountains (one of which is cat-ski access), and there’s skiing on every aspect, from double-black chutes down the north face of Granite Mountain to eastern facing alpine bowls on Grey Mountain.
“Spring at RED is so fun—sunny, slushy good times,” says Day. “Locals head up to the top of Granite and ski down with the last rays of the day.”
Stay: The Josie, located at the base of RED, has been named Canada’s Best Ski Boutique Hotel the past two years at the World Ski Awards. Stylish rooms and suites blend comfort with resort and valley views. And there is a dedicated ski concierge who readies your planks for schussing. After hitting the slopes there is après-ski cocktails at The Velvet Restaurant and Lounge that nod to Rossland’s rich mining and skiing history.
Elevated activity: I’d never had my feet dipped in hot wax or my eyelids massaged until I experienced a 75-minute traditional Indian foot, hand and head massage at SpaTerre at The Josie. Therapist Shatti Shatti from Shatti Esthetics Studio can either come to the hotel for the treatment, or you can visit her studio in downtown Rossland.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort
It’s been described as a “mining town with a skiing problem,” and that really sums up the juxtaposition of Revelstoke’s gritty industrial past (and the heritage buildings to match) with its modern residents’ obsession with carving turns.
When spring’s bluebird days illuminate the resort’s 5,620 feet of vertical, along with its varied terrain of steep open bowls and glades packed with an enviable alpine base, it’s an ideal time to ski by day and relax in a chalet by night.
Stay: Forget ski-in ski-out, in Revelstoke, you can heli-in and heli-out at a chalet close to the resort’s base. The Flying Moose Chalet, is a no-expense-spared eight-bedroom lodge complete with a chef’s kitchen, full gym and, yes, private heli-pad. The timber-frame lodge includes an outdoor sauna and hot tub, a well-stocked bar (drinks and food are included), and games around the wood-burning fireplace.
Elevated activity: Book the Flying Moose privately (it sleeps up to 17) and then take advantage of the chalet’s many amenities, says property manager Sally Robertson. It comes with two massage therapists on site in the spa, along with a dedicated chef who prepares breakfast daily and a three-course dinner each night, served by the chalet host.
source o.canada