A trip to the Rockies

With stops in Radium Hot Springs and Invermere

By Prestige Adventures

January 31^st, 2018

a stunning drive

The drive through to the area they call "The Valley of a Thousand Peaks" was both stunning and a little tense. Stunning due to the incredible mountains that border the highway to Radium Hot Springs and tense due to the weather - a mixture of wet snow, slush and ice, which I hadn't expected to come up against. It was well worth my 5 and-a-half hour drive through the mountains to get to some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine.

My first stop in the area was to Radium Hot Springs, a small town located on the "warm" side of the Canadian Rockies.

A lot of people I spoke to in my first visit to this area were from the Calgary, Alberta area. They told me about the drive through the awe-inspiring Kootenay National Park on the Banff-Windermere Highway in order to get to Radium, home to the world-famous mineral pools.

One trucker, nursing a glass of red wine, with a double order of pizza in front of him, said he looked forward to leaning his head against the side of the hot pool, looking up at the natural rock walls and soaking away his worries before the drive ahead.

He's not the only one - about 260,000 visitors hit this area yearly - and I could see why with the natural surrounding beauty, the winter activities including snowmobiling and skiing, and special events the communities in the area have devised in order to draw in tourists.

I was hooked the moment I turned south off Hwy. 1, leaving the thundering trucks behind headed for Radium Hot Springs and a day and a half of new adventures that lay ahead.

The river and mountains of Radium Hot Springs

It's a quick trip

I crashed early, going to bed after the drive, and fell asleep in my luxurious king-size bed. Waking up early, I hoped to catch breakfast in the newly-renovated restaurant at the Prestige Inn. The BC-based hotel chain is constantly investing in their properties, and there are many renovations going on, but it didn't disrupt my short visit. The hotel was updating with new carpets, wall coverings, window coverings, beddings and re-doing all the bathrooms. I'm told the renos will be done this spring and I can't wait to see the transformation on my next visit. Thankfully, work didn't start until after 8 am, so it didn't disturb my sleep at all.

The setting of the hotel is gorgeous. At the crossroads of Highway 93 and 95, it's situated in a panoramic mountain setting at the edge of the breathtaking Kootenay National Park.

As I sat with warm coffee mug in hand, digging into French Toast (not my normal breakfast, but I was going to be outside most of the day and I figured I needed the calories!) at La Cabina Ristorante I just sat and watched the sun slowly peek over the mountains, warming up my car and melting the ice that had formed on the windshield the previous cold evening. It was a good start to the day.

The newly renovated La Cabina Ristorante

an early start

The big draw in this area are the hot springs in Radium. It's believed that the history of the hot springs date back before the 1840s when the First Nations people considered the hot springs a spiritual place, and used the water as a source of rejuvenation and healing.

In the late 1800s the first permanent settlers came to the area and the springs became more popular - and to this day it's still one of the biggest attractions.

Panorama mountain resort

I was excited this morning as I headed for Panorama Mountain Resort. Friends of mine had been here in the summer and talked about the incredible golf vacation with stunning mountain views.

The history of the mountain resort stretches back to '59 when local ski enthusiasts joined together to establish a small operation consisting of a warming hut, a top tow and a small parking lot. Naturally things have grown and improved since then.

A father gets his young daughter on the slopes at an early age.

Mountains stretch as far as the eye can see.

panorama "pure canada"

As a 'proud BC'er' I was impressed with its growing reputation as one of the best places to ski in North America. In fact, Panorama is amongst North America's Top 10 mountains with the most vertical. There are more than 120 trails, as well as one gnarly bowl, along with quite a few ridges and chutes.

The mountain rises a full 4,265 vertical feet above the village, but it's not until you slide off the Summit Quad that the true scale of the terrain becomes apparent. All around, as far as the eye can see, are snow covered peaks including the world-famous Rocky Mountains.

the snowflake festival

As the afternoon was closing down, I headed off the mountain, driving back toward Radium Hot Springs with the intention of stopping off in Invermere, about a 20 minute drive from Panorama.

Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake and is a popular summer destination for visitors and second home owners from Calgary.

It is also home to a vibrant list of winter activities, mostly surrounding the frozen lake. On this day, it was also the location of a popular local event - the Snowflake Festival.

It was a calm, late afternoon as I stood unsteadily on the ice patches, photographing a couple pair-skating tenuously on a small rink while families skated down the long trail of ice that makes up the longest ice skating trail in the world, the Lake Windermere Whiteway. The naturally frozen trail measures 29.98 kilometres (18.63 mi).

Turning away from the skaters I wandered over to a group of about a hundred people who were gathered together on the ice near the shore. For the festival, organizers built 8 sheets of curling ice, where it appeared half the town was out, throwing rocks, laughing and gently ribbing their opponents, wearing a variety of uniforms and headpieces. It was nice to see their town spirit and what can be more Canadian than holding a curling tournament in an outdoor location?

The final shot

As the sun disappeared behind the mountains and the stars came out, everyone stopped what they were doing (listening to a live band; throwing curling rocks; standing by the fire pits) to gaze up as fireworks exploded above our heads, signalling the end of the day and the end of the festival.

My visit to this area was too short. I've made a vow to myself to return again soon, maybe even this summer to check out the hiking and golf that is sure to be among some of the best in the country, if not North America. I figure that after a long day of swinging a club about 120 times, or taking a 10k hike through the mountains, I'd at least have quite a few places available to me to sooth my sore muscles in one of the many hot springs in the area.