Ski Canada Summer 2024 - Vol.52 #5

What kind of water baby are you? Whether it’s on a great big sea or one of Canada’s millions of lakes and rivers, a lot of us want to spend at least part of our off season (i.e. non-ski season) afloat. The only question is, are you a puritan paddler (or rower or sailor) or a motorhead on a jet ski? Few remember what Snackwell Day, then leader of the Canadian Alliance, had to say at his Lake Okanagan press conference almost 25 years ago, but his arrival on a jet ski made a strong (and noisy) statement. And much fodder for pundits and political cartoonists. In contrast, Pierre Trudeau’s aura was best projected in his Maniwaki buckskin jacket, paddling the silent, mirroring waters of the Laurentians. (It now hangs…

SHORT TURNS_ Looking to step it up a few rungs in the summer excitement stakes? Stretch your limits and your arms on Mt. Norquay’s via ferrata, the assisted climbing routes that dot the rock face high above Banff’s local ski area. Via Ferrata is derived from Italian for "iron way", part of First World War warcraft that provided for the quick movement of mountain troops in the Dolomites. In peacetime, it’s as easy as climbing a ladder. Norquay offers five different routes—with a choice of difficulties and lengths that vary between two to six hours—built with fixed iron rungs and steel cables that can hold up to 40,000kg, the equivalent of 80 moose. The cable is secured to the mountain with 12cm thick stainless-steel anchors drilled into the rock. Adventures…

ALOFT By Paul Zizka He’s hiked and climbed, summitted and skied countless peaks of the Canadian Rockies—and his photos have made us love them even more. Award-winning photographer Paul Zizka takes us on a journey to the skies with a softcover edition of Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photography. Climb aboard for a god’s perspective that, across more than 200 pages in colour and black and white, hops from the familiar shores of Lake Louise to Western Canada’s sprawling glaciers and braided rivers. $35; www.rmbooks.com _LW COOK IT WILD By Chris Nuttal-Smith There’s no greater end to a day than sitting down to a great meal outdoors, but campsite cooking can be intimidating. Chris Nuttal-Smith can help. The former food critic for Toronto Life magazine and the Globe and Mail newspaper…

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen…and cook outside. Rudimentary charcoal grills and soulless propane BBQs are last year’s models. And what better way to entertain a crowd than by popping out fresh pizzas every minute and a half? 1 Fact: No one needs a portable outdoor pizza oven. But 45 minutes after firing up Solo Stove’s Pi Prime, I knew I would struggle to live without it. Why such hasty devotion? For one thing, the 14kg puck-shaped unit could not be easier to set up. Attach its hose to a barbecue’s propane tank, slide in the two cordierite cooking stones, and the stainless steel oven is ready to ignite with a turn of its temperature dial. For another, the Pi Prime is easy to operate…

SHORT TURNS_ It was 100 years ago that artist J.E.H. MacDonald first travelled (comfortably) to the Canadian Rockies to capture a landscape in oil paints and help a nation define its sense of self. To mark the occasion, nearly 100 paintings by the Group of Seven artist have been collected for a show at Banff’s Whyte Museum. The works are on loan from more than 20 galleries and 30 private collectors and focus on the artist’s annual summer trips to the scree-and-ice-laced peaks around Lake O’Hara, one of the West’s most popular hiking areas. But the show’s secret sauce is the contribution of retired Calgarian geologists, Patty Cucman and the late Stanley Munn. Over more than 20 years, the Alberta couple researched, travelled to and identified the exact locations of…

Artist J.E.H. MacDonald’s first visit to Banff in late summer 1924 was a stylish affair. He made the nearly 4,000km journey from Toronto in a private train car supplied by the CPR, alighting at Wapta Station (near Lake Louise village), and trekking on to Lake O’Hara by pack horse. Today, an 11km gravel road runs up to Lake O’Hara, but it’s closed to private vehicles. Options: walk the road or reserve a seat on the Parks Canada bus. Guests of Lake O’Hara Lodge have their own shuttle; good luck finding a room at the splendid 1920’s booked-out retreat. For a classic view of Lake O’Hara and Mount Schäffer, head to near Seven Veils Falls on what is now Adeline Link Memorial Trail, also known as Lake Shore Trail.…