Vista Lodge at Golden Alpine Holidays – Overview | Sharon and Lee

March 31 – April 7

Overview

Link to Ski Photos

We have skied with Neil Warren Ski Guiding before, most recently at Sentry Lodge in 2020, so when an opportunity arose to join him at Vista Hut we couldn’t say no. Having just been to Sentry again, we knew the conditions would be good despite heading into spring.

Before heading to Golden Alpine Holidays (GAH) staging we spent two nights in Revelstoke at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel and skied one day at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The Coast has become a favorite for us due to its comfortable rooms and two restaurants that serve great breakfasts and dinners.

Coast Hotels even prepared breakfast for us before we drove to GAH staging. It took one hour to drive from Revelstoke to GAH Staging. Mind the Time Change. The turn comes up quick if you go this way.

Video – Vista Lodge April 2023

Vista Hut, unlike Sentry, is more quaint. The sauna is smaller and this is where you bathe. There are 6 rooms upstairs based on double occupancy and two rooms downstairs for the Guides and custodian. There are no indoor toilets, but there is an RV pee bucket for nighttime relief that the custodian gets to empty each day. There are two pee tree areas, one for the girls and boys and two outhouses for other business. They have one room with a sink in the main area with a pump water bucket that needs to be filled regularly for hand washing and teeth brushing. Each morning we had to haul water from the lake which is a short distance away and requires 10 minutes of work if the whole group pitches in.

At Vista we were also guided by Dylan Chen. Our cook was Jeremi Buzolitch-Roy, our custodian was Brian Tress.

Other guests included Kris, Karen and Heather from Calgary. We formed a group with them. The other five at Vista Lodge were Brits experiencing their FIRST hut trip ever in honour of one of theirs 50th birthday! While their learning curve was steep, this was an experience they won’t soon forget and I don’t think it will be their last. Despite the faffing they had a great time. We present Team UK! Paul, Phil, Gordon, Stuart and Richard.

What we skied;

Day1 – Solar Eclipse, Cariboo Basin area, 380m, 2.5hrs
Day2 – Red – Caribou Basin, Heartbeat, 1600m, 8.5hrs
Day3 – Yellow – Lunar Eclipse, Sundance, Hasta La Vista, 1050m, 6:10hrs
Day4 – Pink – Trundle, Col of the Wild, Pleasure DomeX2, Great Scott, 1215m, 8hrs
Day5 – Teal – Headwaters, Cappuccino bowl to Sunbeam Lake, off the Cuff, 1300m, 8:30hrs
Day6 – Blue – Vista Ridge, Sunset Bowl, Eclipse, 700m, 5:40hrs
Day7 – Green – Little Cherub Heli Drop, 1275m Climb, 700m Descent, 7:30