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Ice and toasty

A cozy lakeside lodge in wintery Alberta hasn't the modern accoutrements, and that's just fine. This Canadian getaway offers solitude that calls to mind a bygone era.

By YVETTE CARDOZO and BILL HIRSCH
Published December 25, 2005

[Photo: Sunshine Village]

A skier heads down a run toward the Sunshine Village ski resort.

BOW LAKE, Alberta - We had driven the Icefields Parkway maybe 15 times but never noticed the red-roofed round building tucked among the trees on the north shore of Bow Lake.

Not a Parks Canada outpost, it actually is Num Ti Jah Lodge, a retro slice of 1950s vacation life: The guest rooms have no TVs, no phones, not even an alarm clock. No scripted hikes, no Internet connection, no cell phone signal.

But the beds have fluffy duvets and feather pillows, the lodge serves gourmet meals - and the place has a quirky history.

About 100 years ago, the second son of a rich British family set out to make his way while his older brother inherited the title and the estate. Younger son Jimmy Simpson headed to Canada, became a hunting guide and eventually wound up at Bow Lake.

A few decades later, when a road finally made it this far from the main highway, Simpson began building, and then expanding, a lodge. By the 1950s, it had 25 guest rooms and a reputation for quiet among the great outdoors.

Like well-known Lake Louise, the Num Ti Jah Lodge (Stoney Indian for pine marten, a small animal similar to a sable) sits by a lake nearly surrounded by soaring mountains still sliced by glaciers. The little lodge even has its own frozen waterfall in winter. The Simpson family eventually sold the lodge, and the new owners promptly opened it for cross-country skiers. It has become popular with novices who thrash their way across the frozen lake for a glimpse of dripping ice falls. Serious backcountry skiers return to the lodge and its hot showers after three or four days on the Wapta ice field.

The resort is about 25 miles from Lake Louise. Though it first appears round, it is actually octagonal because Jimmy Simpson liked that shape.

It's built of lodgepole pine. Peeled log walls on the interior are covered with heads of game animals. The floors are wood, and the lodge boasts two huge fireplaces.

Above the common rooms are 25 rustic guest rooms: plain wood furniture, old window blinds and exposed pipes in the bathrooms.

Manager Lee O'Donnell says his philosophy is that guest rooms are for sleeping - period. The rest of the time, folks are downstairs, reading in the library, chatting with fellow guests or outside enjoying the wilderness.

O'Donnell is responsible for the lodge's progressive dining experience: Appetizers are served in the library, around one of the fireplaces, then it's into the dining room for the main course (which can be duck a l'orange or rack of pork), then back to the library for dessert.

Guests often strike up conversations over a predinner drink, bond over post-coffee and maybe agree to go skiing together to a glacier the next day.

Guests bring their own skis, though snowshoes are available for rent. Although a staffer will offer advice, guests typically study the lodge's maps and plan their own routes.

As novices, we set out around the edge of Bow Lake, following earlier tracks that hugged the base of the mountains. At the end, we went up a short canyon, then ducked into woods and made our way up a steep trail through the trees. Reaching a ridge, we were rewarded with the panorama of a glacial valley and Bow Lake Falls, frozen solid into a rippling blue ribbon of ice. Mountains of gold sandstone rose around us.

Our last night, after the pistachio-encrusted halibut - but before the chocolate fondue - we walked a few hundred yards onto the frozen lake. Above us, on this clear night, the stars spread in a glittering blanket and directly over our heads, the Milky Way stretched in a glowing band.

Even without the moon, there was enough reflected light to see the mountains folding and leaning around us, their slanted lines of black and silver shimmering in the starlight.

Num Ti Jah was only part of our winter trip to Alberta. Our plan was to steer clear of downhill skiing. So we also rode snow bikes and traveled by dog sled.

Guests can try snow bikes at Sunshine Village ski resort, which is south of Lake Louise or about 110 miles west of Calgary.

The bikes look like those "choppers" kids used to ride: low, with banana-style seats and outsize handlebars. There's a ski in front and one in back and riders wear little skis on their feet. A rider steers with the foot skis and by turning the handlebar; braking is done using the feet.

"Turn right, turn right!" the instructor kept urging us. But we continued a series of left turns into the hill. Eventually, we made that right turn, then a left, then realized we had figured how to snow bike - helped by the mandatory one-hour lesson with an instructor.

The feel is like skiing, but not exactly. And IS it fun. By the second run, we were swooping and tilting the bikes over and having a blast.

We rode a dog sled near Lake Louise, and it proved to be a fine way to see the countryside.

We were surrounded by pine and spruce, with Bosworth Mountain looming before us. The two-hour ride was just far enough for us to get a feel for the trail. On the way out, we snuggled together in a down-filled "sled bag" and on the way back, our guide let us try mushing, or directing the dogs.

Running a team is demanding. You're leaning to guide the sled, stepping on a metal claw of a brake to slow the dogs down, bending your knees to absorb the bumps, and sometimes hopping a bit to recenter the sled on the trail.

The dogs seemed to love their work, yipping and howling.

Yvette Cardozo and Bill Hirsch are freelance photojournalists living in Issaquah, Wash.

GETTING THERE: There is connecting air service from the Tampa Bay area to Calgary, Alberta. Num Ti Jah Lodge is about 135 miles northwest of Calgary, or about 25 miles on Canada Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway, from Lake Louise. Sunshine Village ski resort is about 17 miles south of Lake Louise.

NUM TI JAH: Winter packages run $300 Canadian (about $266 U.S.) per person per night and includes lodging, breakfast and dinner, all taxes and tips. Snowshoes rent for about $8.86 U.S. Winter activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and sitting by the fire with a good book.

There is often an artist in residence, and once a month, there are fireside chats with a panel of locals on themes that range from mountaineering and park wardens to native history. Spring also includes avalanche watching, again with local experts. May is fairly reliable for avalanche activity, which is watched from a safe distance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Num Ti Jah Lodge at www.num-ti-jah.com 403 522-2167.

SNOW BIKES: At Sunshine Village ski resort, a full-day rental of snow bikes, including instruction, is about $36 U.S., half day is about $23 U.S. Contact the resort toll-free at 1-877-542-2633; www.skibanff.com

DOG SLED: The two-hour, 11-mile trip is about $204 U.S. per sled, which is able to hold two adults and a small child. Contact Kingmik Dogsled Tours toll-free at 1-877-919-7779; www.kingmikdogsledtours.com

[Last modified December 23, 2005, 09:59:07]