Summer is a wonderful time of year to be in the mountains, when wildflowers colour the fields, birds and animals are in abundance, and hiking in the neighbouring Glacier National Park is at its prime. The summer of 2021 was no exception, but also challenged tourism businesses all across BC with a variety of elements completely our of our control.
As wildfires swept across BC this summer, Heather Mountain Lodge provided a helicopter refuelling station to the wildfire services who were out battling the fires from above. Since we host Great Canadian Heli-Skiing in the winter, we were able to provide a landing pad and fuelling equipment so that the helicopters did not have to fly further to Golden. Later in the summer, we were glad to have helicopters in our backyard again as we hosted a group of heli-hikers from all across Canada. The group came to trek through the surrounding Purcell Mountains, fundraising for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. You can read more about the great cause and the gruelling trek here.
Another group of hikers who visited earlier in the season were led by guide and writer Lori Beattie from Fit Frog. Lori spoke about her visit with us live on tCTV Calgary. Take a look at the great clip which features Heather Mountain Lodge as the perfect basecamp for three of our many surrounding epic hikes; Iceline Trail, Balu Pass and Helen Lake. Another news publication which featured Heather Mountain Lodge this summer was the Vancouver Sun, whose journalist Mark Sissons visited us along with his family. The article features many fantastic activities in our surrounding towns.
In July we were visited by another writer and adventurer Leigh McAdam of HikeBikeTravel. She wrote a wonderful article about her stay at Heather Mountain Lodge, which you can check out here. Leigh’s article provides a fantastic overview of what we offer here at the lodge, and gives great suggestions for nearby hikes in Glacier National Park: “Heather Mountain Lodge makes a wonderful basecamp for hiking in Glacier National Park. There are 18 day-use trails across a full range of difficulties, with most just a 15 – 25-minute drive west. What a treat it was to enjoy world-class hiking so close by – and then to return to a beautiful roof over our heads, a super comfortable bed, a large bathroom with fabulous Rocky Mountain Soap amenities and memorable food.”
For guests looking for a short hike right out of their inn room door, the Heather Mountain Lodge staff worked hard this summer on creating a lovely new walking trail right on the lodge property. The brand new trail winds through the woods and provides wonderful views of the mountains across the valley. Getting the chance to stroll through the woods on a great trail right on the property proved to be a welcome addition for our guests after a day of travelling.
This summer our kitchen staff were making some amazing creations in the kitchen. Chef Stephan Drolet launched our new Live Fire Restaurant, which was met with many wonderful reviews from our happy guests.
Now that the weather is turning cooler, and the snowline is creeping lower, we have closed the doors on our summer season and are excited to be preparing for winter and heli-skiing!