Mountain Spirit Resort & Spa

Many people know of Kimberley for it’s great golf courses, or the fun ski resort. Once you get to know Kimberley and the area around the city, you’ll discover a variety of beautiful lakes to enjoy. The selection below is not exhaustive by any means. These are a few of my favourites and all within a one hour drive from Mountain Spirit Resort in Kimberley.

Lazy Lake – this is a great lake for swimming, the rope swing, rock jumping, fishing, kayaking, canoeing and watching for turtles (45 mins away).

St Mary’s Lake – look out for beavers here. This lake is popular for fishing, kyaking and canoeing (20 mins away).

Wasa Lake -this lake is known for its warm water and sandy beaches (30 mins away)

Premier Lake -a beautiful large lake on the edge of the Rockies with superb fishing plus a swimming area and beach (55 mins away)

Lake Koocanusa – this lake is a very large body of water great for wake boarding, waterskiing and sandy beaches (60 mins away)

Moyie Lake – another large lake about 50km from Kimberley. Moyie is great for all water enthusiasts!

Jimsmith Lake – a smaller lake great for swimming and wildlife spotting (40 mins away).  There is even a rowing club on this lake – The Rockies Rowing Club!

If you decide on a real estate purchase in Kimberley, the condos at Mountain Spirit Resort will provide the ideal base from which to explore and enjoy Kimberley.

An exciting new Black Knight design by Gary Player has opened to golfers. Wildstone claims to deliver one of the finest golf experiences in the Kootenay Rockies. The course is laid out over gently rolling terrain and measures over 7,000 yards from the tips.  It is also home to an excellent practice facility and stunning views of the Rocky Mountains.  Gary Player’s quote says it all, “This is the most beautiful site I’ve ever had the privilege to design a golf course on.”

This ads another fantastic course to the existing range of great courses in and around Kimberley. Golfers visiting the area can enjoy Trickle Creek, Bootleg Gap, Shadow Mountain, Kimberley, St. Eugene, Way Lyn, Mission Hills, and now Wildstone.

Click here to read the story from the Cranbrook Daily Townsman

A sleeping giant will come to life this summer as Wildstone Golf Course officially opens for players. On June 1st, the Gary Player-designed course will welcome its first golfers – and general manager Chris Andrews said they are in for a treat.

“When it opens, the golf course is going to be exceptionally fun for everybody of all levels to play,” said Andrews.

The 18-hole course is the first course in Canada designed by South African golf champion Gary Player and his company, Black Knight Design. Player has designed more than 300 courses worldwide, but according to Andrews, Player has said that Wildstone is the nicest place he’s built a course.

Fisher Peak is the star of the show. The prominent mountain is framed at the end of the 18th hole, with the clubhouse in the foreground. The practice range – which includes a driving range, practice and chipping greens – faces Fisher Peak as well.

“When you come around the corner and look down the fairway at number 18, Fisher Peak is rising in the distance. That to us was the epitome of the experience here,” said Andrews.

Overall, the fairways are wide and the tree line is sparse, but players will find some challenges – especially on the 6th and 12th holes over water.

It may only look like 3cms overnight but it definitely felt like more when enjoying some turns on the runs in Kimberley Alpine Resort this morning. Fresh snow combined with warmer temperatures meant for a fun morning today. I tested out these runs for you today:

• Rung – felt a little windswept but not bumpy as it had been groomed recently
• Caper – floaty fast fun
• Dean Left – yummy; floatier faster fun
• Flapper – also groomed recently, no bumps and I found myself able to go extremely fast in one direction
• Dean Right – great as usual
• Flapper – had to do it again as it was so good the first time
• Magma – similar to Flapper, fast fun with one or two bumps forming
• Tramway – the base still hasn’t been skied out and with the warmer weather and new snow the bumps were all soft and move for you when you need them to
• Windfall – like Tramway!
• Twilight – there seemed to be more snow had fallen on Twilight, which made for lots of fun and some air time off those rollers (by choice!) – yeeha!
• Midnight – like Twilight (airtime wasn’t as big!)
• Lower Main – softening up nicely with the fresh snow and warmer temperatures.

What a super morning!

I also discovered last week (when it was about -16 degrees) that the outhouses at the top of the Easter Chair are now heated and extremely comfortable. They even smell great!

Get out and enjoy that fresh snow!

I’d heard more snow was in the forecast but didn’t expect 15cm of fresh snow on our back step this morning. We rushed up to the hill by about 9:15am and thankfully the car park was only one third full. As usual, up the quad and over to the Easter chair was the priority. First thing we noticed was more runs were open. Anton’s was a must. As a snowboarder (aka slowboarder) I am not a fan of moguls. Being able to ride down Anton’s before the moguls are formed for the season was a pleasure… spotted with a few head-over-heels tumbles. All’s good – it’s fresh powder!

Anton's: people were laughing aloud, shouting "wahoo" between tumbles into the powder!

Rumours were rumbling in the small crowd of locals gathered at the top of the Easter – the Black Forest area might be opened. By the next circuit of the Easter, it was! Patroller Gord Towers had the pleasure of taking down the ropes by Dean Left and opening up all the runs across to Vortex. I’m thinking they’re saving more fun on the far runs for next weekend! We hit Magma first. It was powdertastic. Taking long sweeping turns floating above the snow I managed to stay on my board for most of the run. Next run, Twist. Awesome! It was rapidly becoming an epic powder day, the like of which I’ve never experienced this early in the season. It was so good, we did another loop round and hit it again. I say “we” today as I managed not to be ditched by my husband off the first chair, and he showed his true gentlemanly soul by both waiting for me AND pulling me along the couple of slow spots on the Ridgeway (he skis and I board, you see?).

Anton's Run, Sunday 12th December 2010 (Preview Weekend at Kimberley Alpine Resort)

I check my watch as I’m feeling exhausted. It’s 10:35am. Time to head around to the front via a secret new favourite run I’m not even going to mention. You have to come and discover the  best runs for yourselves. It had me hooting an a-hollering yet again – what an amazing season preview weekend. If this is the preview, this season is indeed going to be epic at Kimberley Alpine Resort!

Here’s another great place to hike and to cross country ski (for free) if you’re in Kimberley. It’s just a short drive to Bootleg Gap Golf. You can explore this area from Bootleg Gap itself or from a little further outside Marysville. If you keep going past Bootleg Gap’s entrance you’ll see a pull-in on your right. These trails are accessible from this pull in. You’ll cross the rails to trails paved path. Keep going and walk through the meadow to reach the top of the hoodoos, with views of the St Mary’s River, Bootleg Gap, and of course, the hoodoos themselves.

If you have vertigo don’t get too close!