Welcome!

Welcome to our Sol Mountain Lodge trip. I'm looking forward to skiing with you!

If you have not booked a trip yet and landed on this page wanting to join one, please go to our Sol Mountain Lodge page to see what trips are available. Alternatively you can contact me directly for more information.

Please read the following information carefully. It should answer most of the questions you may have.

Click here if you are looking for a gear list.

If you get nothing else from this information package, please do the following:

• Read the Sol Lodge waiver carefully ahead of time.

• Have a look at the gear list and make sure you are able to bring everything on the list. Click here.

Booking and payment

Contact me to book a trip to Sol Mountain Lodge!

Included in the price:

• Helicopter transfer in and out of the lodge

• Lodge accommodation

• Guides

• Chef

• Food

• Powder skiing!

Important dates and times

All times are Pacific Standard Time

Day 1, 7.30 AM

One flight originates in Revelstoke, the rest start at a staging area near Cherryville, BC. If you are coming from the east and want to get on the Revelstoke flight please notify Sol during the booking process to see if there is space.

If coming from the west, you will meet in the morning at 7.30 AM at the River Ridge Golf Course near Cherryville, BC. Breakfast is available at the golf course. 

If you are driving yourself, directions to the golf course from Vernon are here. 

For guests flying into the Kelowna International Airport, Let’s Go Transportation at 1-778-821-0101 provides shuttle service to Kelowna, Vernon, and Silver Star. For groups of 3 or more A1 Bus Ltd provides full transfer from the airport, to a hotel, and to our staging area the next morning.

After breakfast and signing waivers, we drive to Cherryville and then turn left at the Tempo Gas and go 20 minutes north to our helicopter staging area. You will see the bright Sol Mountain sign on your right.  Directions are here. 

At the staging area we will do a helicopter safety briefing and then start flying into the lodge. This will all take at least a couple of hours.

FOR THE FLIGHT YOU NEED TO BE DRESSED FOR SKIING INCLUDING SKI BOOTS.

Once arriving at the lodge we will move in, have lunch, and then participate in a ski safety briefing and rescue practice. We normally are able to do some skiing before dinner.

Ski Days

Skiing! That’s about it!

Last day

Anyone who is not on the first flight out of the lodge should be able to get a run or two in on the last morning of the trip. If all goes well we should all be out at the staging area by early afternoon.

Delays

There is always the possibility of delays getting into or out of the lodge. Be prepared for this, especially on departure from the lodge. I don’t recommend you try to make a flight out of Kelowna that day. 

At the beginning of the trip, in the event it is unsafe to fly due to bad weather, the exchange will be postponed to the following day. If this occurs, you will be responsible for your own overnight accommodations.

Getting to vernon and the staging area

The nearest all-weather airport is Kelowna, with many daily flights from Calgary and Vancouver. 

There is no need to rent a car for this trip. For groups of three or more, A1 Bus Ltd provides full transfer from the airport to a hotel, and then to the staging area the next morning.

For guests flying into the Kelowna International Airport, Let's Go Transportation provides shuttle service to Kelowna, Vernon, and Silver Star ski area.

If you are driving yourself, directions to the morning meeting place at River Ridge golf course from Vernon are here and directions from there to the helicopter staging area are here. 

Pre-trip Accommodations

For local accommodations in Vernon our guest receive a discounted rate at the Vernon Lodge and Fairfield Inn and Suites. For accommodations in Revelstoke try the Revelstoke Gateway Inn, 1-877-837-8337, they offer reduced rates to our guests, or the Samesun Hostel, 1-250-837-4050. If you want a more personal stay, try the Mustang B&B, 1-866-837-4665, they have a great stay and ski package.

There are many other hotels in both towns and a Google search will get you the best deals. 

Safety

Safety is our number one priority, from the time we start driving up to the helicopter staging area to the moment we all head our separate ways at the end of the trip. There are a variety of ways you can help me and the other staff make this a safe trip:

• Listen to the guides’ instructions and if you are uncertain of what is expected of you please ask!

• Take an avalanche course with me! Click here.

• Take the online avalanche course at the Avalanche Canada website. Click here.

• Practice with your avalanche beacon prior to the trip – at the very least understand all of its functions and how to use them.

• Bring hand sanitizer to the lodge and use it often – this will help keep any bugs we bring into the lodge at bay and we will be able to keep skiing!

Skiing together as a group is all about trust. The more we trust each other the more fun we will have because that means that we can ski the most interesting terrain available to us with the current conditions. The more prepared you are, the more I will trust you and the more comfortable I will be to get us into the best terrain.

We have a lot of staff on this trip so there is plenty of back up in case of an incident.

Risk

It is important to understand that no matter how well prepared we are there is still an element of risk to backcountry skiing. To lower that risk, do the prep work I’ve outlined in the safety section.

You will all need to sign two waivers that will make you well aware of that risk. One is for the lodge and one is for the guides – you will sign them when you arrive. Please have a look at the waivers at the links above so you understand what the risks are and what you will be signing when you get here.

Food and medical issues

If any of you have food allergies, medical conditions or specific food requests I need to know about, please let me know as soon as possible. We need to know food issues well ahead of time so we can plan the menu.

Mountain Rescue

In nearly thirty years of guiding we have only had three evacuations from the field for minor injuries or illness.

Mountain rescue on British Columbia provincial lands, such as at a backcountry lodge, may be performed in two ways:

• The guide calls outside resources directly for help. These resources may be a helicopter company or an adjacent guiding operation. This type of call-out is often the fastest way to get help in an emergency situation, such as an avalanche accident. If this occurs the group is responsible for all costs. These costs would be in many thousands of dollars.

• The guide calls for help from the local volunteer search and rescue team. This type of call-out takes longer to get a response, but may be used for non-emergency evacuations such as an injured knee. As a general rule this type of call-out (helicopter expenses etc.) is paid for by the provincial government but that may not always be the case. Whether a party is charged for the cost of a rescue is decided on a case by case basis by the provincial government (Emergency Management British Columbia); unfortunately it is not clear what parameters they consider when making this decision. Costs may run into many thousands of dollars.

You need to decide for yourself whether to buy rescue insurance for the small chance that we require a call out for outside resources and that you will be charged if those services are required. It may be appropriate to purchase mountain rescue insurance for this trip.

Here are some options for coverage. Research options carefully to make sure they are appropriate for your situation:

• American Alpine Club Global Rescue package. For the cost of a membership in the AAC (US$80) you get US$7,500 mountain rescue insurance. This would probably cover all or most of the cost for many incidents.

• Global Rescue. US$500,000 coverage. You need to be more than 100 miles from your home for this to kick in so it is not appropriate for clients on Canadian trips who live in proximity to Alberta or British Columbia.

• Tugo. This may be less expensive than the Global Rescue $500,000 package and may be appropriate for trips in Canada. You will need the optional adventure sport coverage.

Beware of regular travel insurance companies offering mountain rescue insurance. They may not cover the activities we will be partaking in, and may not include technical rescue services.

Sol Mountain Lodge also offers inexpensive helicopter evacuation insurance. This would cover a simple helicopter evacuation for minor injury or illness where outside resources are not called upon. It would not cover the cost of a technical rescue if one were required. You may buy this insurance at the lodge on the first day of the trip.

The schedule

The schedule over the week is simple: eat, ski, eat, sleep! There may be some drinking too but that’s up to you! Everything else is mandatory.

I’ve outlined the schedule for the flight days already. The ski days generally start with breakfast at 8 AM and we try to be on our skis and traveling by 9 AM. We plan to be back at the lodge by about 4 PM or so. Then there are après ski snacks, sauna time, dinner at 7 PM, a drink or two and then hit the sack.

Ski trips may be a series of shorter runs through the trees or in the alpine, or longer trips and tours in a variety of terrain, including the possibility of skiing to some summits. With more than one guide at the lodge there are options to split the group if some folks want shorter days and others want a longer one. Often we can do this by part of the group going home early or we can also have two separate objectives. It will be up to the conditions we encounter over the week combined with what you would like to do.

The Lodge

Not to be called a cabin or hut!  The three-story lodge was designed by backcountry skiers for backcountry skiers. Sol Mountain has comfortable private bedrooms, indoor bathrooms and hot showers, a toasty drying room, a wood-stove heated sauna, yoga and stretching studio, a full-service kitchen and bar, and high quality chef-made cuisine.

Communications from and to the lodge

We will have radio communications during the day between the guides, the lodge and the local helicopter and guiding companies. Radios are also available for guests.

There is a cell phone booster station at the lodge so you use data to message your family before and after the ski day. It is a backcountry connection though, so occasionally it will be slow, or will not be working. It is always best to tell your family that "no news is good news". Even if the internet is down, we will be able to contact the outside world via radio or satellite phone if required.

The Sol office may always be contacted at 1-250-674-3707 and info@solmountain.com.

The staff

I will be guiding, and there will also be several other staff at the lodge - more guides, cooking and cleaning staff, and a lodge manager. Sol has a very high standard when it comes to their employees and I can guarantee they will be excellent at their jobs. 

There are always plenty of staff on hand so this means we have lots of options as to how the group skis. We can ski as one group or split into more groups, depending on conditions and the desires of the group.

You can find out more about me at Mark Klassen - ACMG Certified Mountain Guide.

Booze

You can bring your own but there is a full service bar in the lodge (including wine). House wine is available by the glass at $2, or a half litre is $7, or 1 litre at $14. Local (Mt. Begbie) or import beer is $4/can or $5/ tall can. 

Remember, in addition to your skis and skiing pack, you are only allowed 20 lbs/9 kg of personal items - and a bottle of wine is about a kilo!

Luggage

For your incoming luggage please try to keep things to three packages:

• Your skis (strapped together) and poles.

• Your day pack with all your gear for the ski days.

• As small a duffle bag you can get away with to put the rest of the gear into (or two small duffles). Small bags are easier to load into the helicopter. The maximum allowed weight for this bag is 20 lbs/9 kg.

Some pointers on packing:

• We will not accept very large duffels (like hockey bags) or bags/luggage with hard sides or wheels. You need to bring smaller, soft duffel bags.

The bottom line

• Read the waiver carefully ahead of time. Click here to read the Sol waiver.

• Have a look at the gear list here and make sure you are able to bring everything on the list.

Questions?

If you have any questions let me know! Email me.