‘Tis the season to be riding fresh, world-class powder! Since you’ve been so good this year, gift yourself a guided backcountry skiing adventure from a luxury lodge in the heart of British Columbia. On this 5-day trip just before Christmas, you’ll step onto the untracked snow of the Purcell Mountains full of alpine meadows, sub-alpine basins, countless ridges, and fields of deep-powder terrain for every ski ability. The lodge itself is no ordinary basecamp: with three stories and 10 bedrooms, the building boasts a sauna, library, and plenty of wood-burning fireplaces for you, your friends, and family to get cozy. Have yourself a merry little pre-Christmas, with plenty of pow!
Unwrap a holiday ski trip of a lifetime
Christmas comes early with limitless champagne powder
Make merry in the world-class Purcell Lodge with some of the best skiing in Canada
Just open the door and step onto fresh snow. Backcountry skiing goes well with a cozy, luxurious lodge perched at 7,200 feet, deep in the Purcell Mountains. During this 5-day off-piste adventure, you’ll be riding big pow stashes and getting fresh turns on alpine meadows, basins and ridges. The deep champagne powder your skis will be gliding on are due to the area’s consistent cold temperatures and sheltered location. After a day out, retreat to the world-class Purcell Lodge. Its facilities ensure everyone’s enjoyment—whether you’re a boardgame geek, a bookworm, or a sauna enthusiast. Gift yourself five days of ski touring right before Christmas.
The day prior to your backcountry adventure at the Purcell Mtn. Lodge, you’ll meet your guides and your group in the town of Golden for dinner. You’ll go through details for the trip and the guides will tell you everything there is to know. Get a good night’s sleep for your pre-Christmas backcountry adventure!
Meet your guides and your fellow skiers at the Alpine Helicopters Base. Kick off the trip with a heli ride to the fairytale Purcell Lodge, your home for the next few days, perched at 2,200 m (7,200 feet) amidst the alpine slopes of Bald Mountain. The lodge offers top-notch facilities: it’s a 10-bedroom lodge with 3 separate showers and bathrooms, a large veranda overlooking the Canadian Rockies, a cedar wood-burning sauna, a quiet library, and an open log fire! Get settled in and head out for the day. Your guide will go through companion rescue training and then you’ll get onto backcountry skiing. After getting some fresh turns in, return to the lodge.
Brace yourself for a few days of top-notch heli-accessed skiing miles from Golden. Parked on the west slopes of the northern Purcell Mountains, the lodge and its surrounding area offer a wide range of both tree and alpine skiing for every ski ability. Sub-alpine basins, rolling alpine meadows, fields of deep champagne powder, countless peaks—limitless untracked powder is waiting for you to set new tracks. The backcountry guides won’t be there only to show you the best spots around the Purcell Lodge, but they’ll also customize plans for the day according to your skills and objectives—the perfect opportunity to challenge your abilities with help from your experienced guides. It’s up to you whether you want to stay in the snow for a while longer and extend your ski tour days or go back to the Purcell Lodge, where you can relax in a sauna or have a glass of wine next to an open log fire.
All good things come to an end, and so does ski touring in the fairytale setting of the Purcell Lodge and its surrounding vastness of trackless powder. Pack up and fly back to the town of Golden. However, if you’re keen to stick around for a few extra days, your guides have something else up their sleeve—you can do some more backcountry skiing behind Kickinghorse and the premier powder skiing location, Rogers Pass. If you’re interested in a few extra days, just let us know!
If you are ready to explore more of British Columbia’s powder, check out our hand-curated backcountry ski lodges.
What you get in this adventure:
What’s not included:
To enjoy the backcountry skiing tour at the Purcell Mountain Lodge, you need to have at least a moderate fitness level. The Purcell Mtn. Lodge adventure offers intermediate to expert levels of difficulty, which means that some previous backcountry skiing experience is required. There will be two guides on the trip and each one can team up with skiers on different levels. If you’re intermediate, your expert guide will help you improve your skills and coach you when things get a bit more difficult. Don’t worry if you’re on an advanced to expert level, the terrain is challenging so you’ll still have lots of objectives to tackle! For the latter level, you’ll need to be in excellent physical shape.
To participate in this guided ski touring adventure from thr Purcell Mtn. Lodge, you need to have at least some previous backcountry skiing experience. Levels for which this trip is tailored are intermediate to expert. Your guides will take care of the planning, oversee your technique and teach you how to manage the terrain. Whether on an intermediate or an expert level, you can be excited for some new challenges and polishing up your technique. If you’ve never backcountry skied before, we suggest joining one of our beginner-friendly backcountry adventures!
For technical backcountry ski and safety equipment, you will need to bring:
For the Purcell Mtn. Lodge, you will need to bring:
For personal items, we recommend bringing:
Keep in mind that no extra skis or baggage will be allowed over and above the ski level pack and 50L duffel weighing no more than 35 lbs (16 kg). Extra equipment may result in additional charges or exclusion from the trip.
All mandatory gear can be rented if you don’t have your own. You can rent an avalanche safety pack (transceiver, probe, and shovel) with your guide for $30 a day or $100 a week.
Other mandatory gear is available to rent from the following companies in the town of Golden: Higher Ground Sports or Tourism Golden. Make sure to make plans on time.
Purcell Mountain Lodge is a beautiful 10-bedroom lodge that sits at 7,200 feet overlooking the Canadian Rockies to the East and Rogers Pass to the West. There are numerous room options from 2 & 3 person private rooms to 5 person shared room.
Amenities include:
Group sizes and pricing:
Ski touring at the Purcell Mtn. Lodge can be arranged for larger groups. Contact us to make arrangements.
Min. age requirements:
If your group has skiers under the age of 18, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.
For this year’s dates, a $750 deposit is due upon booking. Final payments are due a hundred (100) days prior to the trip. Failure to make this final payment by the deadline will result in forfeiture of the trip and deposit.
Your guides reserve the right to modify or cancel a trip at any time due to unfavorable weather conditions, injury/illness, or other reasons without penalty. Clients will be notified as soon as possible and refunded less any sunk costs. If the weather doesn’t permit flying into the hut/ lodge, the client would not be refunded for the day. However, the guides would still take clients skiing somewhere. On the other hand, if the weather doesn’t permit leaving the lodge on schedule, the client would not be charged for the extra lodge day.
To get to the town of Golden, which is the starting point of your adventure, most people fly into Calgary International Airport. From there, it’s a three-hour drive to the town of Golden.
You’ll meet your guide in the town of Golden the day before your departure for dinner. You’ll discuss some details about the trip and you’ll meet the next morning at 8 am at Alpine Helicopters Base to fly into the lodge.
57hours is committed to providing safe outdoor adventure experiences. We require all guides using our platform to have a COVID-19 safety plan and to make the details of that plan accessible to travelers. In most cases, group sizes will be reduced, guides will avoid overcrowded locations, and other safety measures will be met depending on the location and activity.
We also expect clients to respect local regulations and take measures to protect themselves, guides and the communities they’re traveling to. For more information on COVID-19 measures in Canada, please refer to British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
Please contact us if you have any questions or require further information. We are happy to provide you with the most up-to-date information!
