Canadian Mountain Holidays

Historic significance and modern comforts come together in the Bugaboos. Under Hans Gmoser, CMH began heli-ski operations there in 1965, and it remains our most established area.

Characterized by mighty granite spires, the Bugaboo Mountains offer immense variety in terrain, with plentiful ski runs both above and below tree line. Despite the draw of these world-renowned mountains, Bugaboo Lodge remains the sole base for skiing among these majestic peaks and glaciers.

The Bugaboo Spires are an anomaly of alpine beauty. They are made of granite, the stone that comprises most of the famous rock spires of the world, from the Himalaya to Patagonia, Yosemite to the Alps. It resists the carving power of glaciers better than most rock, so it tends to form smoother faces, as if the ice were a giant knife in the hand of a master sculptor cleaving great slices from the mountains to leave great cathedrals of stone. In the surrounding mountains, the glaciers shaped the softer sedimentary rocks as well, but left more rugged faces as if the carving force of the glacier were in the hands of a drunk with a bulldozer.

In all directions, thick forest and a morass of sedimentary rubble hide the spires from view. Hunters, loggers and miners all had their day attempting to pull something worthwhile from the area around the spires, but the difficult access prevented it from becoming a tourist destination. Loggers had somewhat better luck harvesting the thick timber in the area, but the next enterprise in the valley transformed mountain recreation and uncovered the real treasure hiding in the snow-covered forest and across the extensive glaciers below the spires.

Places like the legendary Mont Blanc massif in the Alps have similar climbing opportunities, but as a ski destination the Bugaboos have become known worldwide as a place to have an experience unlike anything else on earth. The tectonic intrusion that pushed the granite into the sky also lifted the surrounding area into a high plateau, creating deep valleys on all sides and ski runs that begin within snowball-throwing distance of the surreal rock walls and go for miles down rolling steep glaciers into uninhabited valleys.

From Bugaboo Dreams by Topher Donahue