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.

At the Canadian Rockies International Airport on June 15th, Integra Air’s first flight on the new scheduled service from Edmonton arrived. The flight from Edmonton takes just one hour and five minutes. Passengers on the inaugural flight included a guest bound for Mountain Spirit Resort. This is no surprise and the first of many, as Mountain Spirit Resort is located just 20 minutes from the airport.

Brent Gateman (left), President of Integra Air, and Dave Macfarlane, Director, are pictured in the cockpit of Integra’s Jetstream 31, at the Canadian Rockies International Airport Tuesday. Integra’s regular air service launched out of Cranbrook on June 15.

Integra comes across as a fun airline offering Wine Wednesdays and Beer and Pizza Fridays on board. The guys at Integra also know how to provide excellent service, distinguishing themselves from other larger airlines. Free parking is available to Integra’s passengers at the Canadian Rockies International Airport, as well as at Edmonton International. Unsecured boarding (meaning passengers won’t have to go through security), is also offered – for the convenience of passengers who are flying into Northern Alberta for work.

Flights are scheduled to run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays leaving Edmonton in the late morning and arriving in Cranbrook in the early afternoon. The second flight of the day will leave Cranbrook at about 3 p.m. arriving in Edmonton at about 4:20 p.m.

Integra Air will provide commuter services to northern Alberta tourists and workers to the East Kootenay region via Edmonton and on to Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie in Phase II of the project planned for the fall of 2011. This schedule has been designed to provide optimal connections to key connecting flights to locations such as Fort McMurray and Grand Prairie. Prospective purchasers of real estate at Mountain Spirit Resort are scheduling visits from both Edmonton and Fort McMurray following the launch of this new service.

Click here to visit IntegraAir.com and click here to read more on the DailyTownsman.com

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.

If you’ve ever golfed at Bootleg Gap, you’ll be familiar with the natural beauty of Bootleg Gap’s golf course. Once a year in February, the golfers are replaced by dog sledders… and the crowds gather to watch as they race their way around the beautiful championship course at Bootleg Gap. February 5th and 6th 2011 saw the Third Annual Bootleg Sled Dog Races just down the road from Mountain Spirit Resort.

It’s quite a day out for the family. In addition to watching the races and meeting the dogs, there is a silent auction and food available, including a Dinner in Bootleg Gap’s club house on Saturday night. Races are started every hour, with the racers being set off one minute apart. Categories include: 6-Dog Purebred & Open Classes, 4-Dog Purebred & Open Classes, Skijoring and Junior Classes.

I joined the crowds at the finish line to cheer the sledders and their dogs over the finish line.

What’s different about the Bootleg Gap Sled Dog Races is the objective of raising funds and awareness for East Kootenay Friends of Children. Click here to visit the website for Bootleg Sled Dog Races.

Coming across the finish line…

A big part of the fun was seeing lots of beautiful dogs enjoying a rest in the sun.

Click on this link to check out an amazing short skiing video from Kimberley…

Skiing Kimberley Alpine Resort on a Powder Day, January 13th, 2011.

Three words: freshies every run!

That was yesterday.

Apparently today was every bit as good, with another fresh dump (some of us have to work sometimes…)

Nevertheless and in all honesty, I really, very much enjoyed Wednesday boarding in Kimberley Alpine Resort. This enjoyment even though I didn’t get the first chair. Heck I didn’t even get up there till about 11:45am. I still enjoyed fresh tracks every run right to the last run at about 3:45pm.

It must have snowed 20cm between overnight and during the next morning - 20cm at least. I had a meeting at 7:30am and opened the back door to lots of snow. During the meeting I found myself distracted, staring out the window at the beautiful big fluffy fat flakes of snow coming down. It was definitely worth the anticipation.

The snow was that good I even descended the Anton’s run. Not just once, but twice!

Did I mention that some parts of the ski hill had waist deep pow!

Shredding the powder!

This chap was definitely out enjoying the conditions.

Gnarrrrrr!

Guess what, there’s even more snow in the forecast!

We thought it would be fun to invite Craig Ainsworth of Adrenaline Dog Tours to Mountain Spirit Resort on New Year’s Day. Not just because Craig’s a nice guy but he also happens to have teams of adorable pure bred huskies!

One of Craigs team of 16 huskies at Mountain Spirit Resort today.

At 4:30pm Craig started to unload the dogs to meet our visitors. It was fun for all the family – with groups of people lining up to see the 16 huskies – yes 16!

Click here to see the fun events you can be part of, commencing Dec 27th…

If there’s a job to be done the spirit does like to do it well. That includes keeping you posted on the conditions for skiing and boarding at Kimberley Alpine Resort. The official opening day for 2010/2011 was held two days ago, on Friday 17th December. I made sure to be there to snap some shots of the conditions. Knowing some folks who work in ski patrol and others in outdoor ops at Kimberley Alpine Resort, I had already heard that the Tamarack Chair was going to be opened on Friday. On preview weekend the Main quad chair and the Easter chair were both open, and not all the runs off the Easter were open. With all the lifts open… this would mean runs would be open that haven’t been skied on yet by the paying visitor (only by the patrol on their safety checks). As I realised this, I thought I should really have made it up the hill earlier. The pace I was on, I’d be getting to the lift line up at about 8:43am.

The clock at Kimberley Alpine Resort was not wrong.

We arrive at the ski hill and there are only two rows of cars in the main parking area…. interesting! I head up the steps past the new conference centre and towards the North Star Quad lift. There’s nobody there yet. Can this be true? Opening day for Kimberley Alpine Resort and I’m getting the first chair again? This should make for a good morning.  My ski-fanatic husband was working today and unfortunately a blog is not part of his work so I stood alone waiting.

Some people start arriving. First is Dan “the Tan Man”, well known in local ski circles. Dan is the reason why Cominco Gardens look so good all summer. Ryan Peterson is next, a local skier who is regularly at the head of the line up any day the conditions are good. Ryan had booked off opening day months ago to ensure he didn’t miss out! As more people trickle in, I see Liana, the latest addition to our team at Mountain Spirit Resort. We’re both working in the office from 12pm and clearly had the same intentions – to enjoy the best part of opening day first!

The "Main" looking pretty nice.

9am rolls around and there’s maybe 40 people waiting in line. Pretty different to opening day at Fernie, when apparently some chap actually slept overnight in a tent in order to bag “first chair” rights!

W’re off. The conditions look amazing. We’ve had 20-30cm of fresh snow in the past 5 days since preview weekend. Usually I feel in a rush to get first tracks on the first runs but today is a little different. It feels like the ski hill has been hired out for my friends and my exclusive pleasure. There is no question about which direction to head in after getting off the quad. We all head over to the Tamarack. “Wahoo!” it’s first tracks for everyone all the way down the “tammy”.

The Tamarack run from the Tamarack Chair.

Second run – let’s do the same one, it was so good. By this stage I’m in a group of half a dozen local skiers and boarders including my mate Dave who works at Kelsey’s. That’s him enjoying the view from the bench at the top of the Tamarack.

Third run, let’s take Upshot. It’s the run skiers left of the tammy and has been totally brush cut over the summer. Last year I rode it there were plenty of alders but this year it’s a different story. The bottom half was total dreamy floaty movie style skiing and boarding for all. Thankfully only Ruth, the British liftie at the Tamarack chair, saw me fall when I transitioned from the deep floaty stuff onto the groomed flat track to the lift (don’t tell anyone)!

At the top of the Tamarack chair, our path crosses with Dan and Ryan. “How’s the back side?” I ask them. “Awesome and there’s nobody there” they reply. Sounds familiar. I should point out at this stage that RCR had originally planned the official opening day for 18th December and then changed it, bringing the opening forward by one day to Friday 17th. This happened about a week or two ago so for people visiting from outside Kimberley, it might have been hard to change schedules and work plans in order to arrive on a Friday. For locals living in Kimberley who knew about the change and could get out and ski on Friday, it was much appreciated – thanks!

Anton's run, formerly called the Easter, from the Easter Chair.

After meeting Ryan and Dan I suggest we head over to the Easter chair and hit up the untouched runs past Vortex. I nip over onto Runt and take it down to the Easter. Our “posse” meets up and we ride together across the Ridgeway towards Geneva. We’ve been told the only run not open is Notre Dame so that means 5 untouched runs between it and Vortex.

The Ridgeway can sometimes be slow for snowboarders. I had made sure to have my board waxed with the correct was for the temperatures, down at ski repair in the Rental Shop. I made it the whole way along the Ridgeway without having to unstrap my board, which is nice. There’s still about 6 of us at the top of our chosen run – the Tramway. I drop over the edge and this snow is even better than the snow on the tammy! And it looks like only 6 people have been here before us. Fresh tracks for everyone AGAIN! Yeehaw!

I don’t even need to turn. It is effortless. I look behind part way down and I only see Liana. Our buddies took the right hand option one third of the way down and are now enjoying their fresh tracks on Tramway. Liana and I meet at the bottom of the Easter Chair where we see our buddies again and a couple of other people. We don’t even need to ask how everyone is as the answer is the same, “FANTASTIC!”.

Let’s head back to the front, it’s time to go to work!