Rocky Mountain Bring-Your-Partner

Our dri­ver will greet you at Cal­gary air­port at 4:00 p.m. From there, we’ll enjoy the scenic 3.5 hour dri­ve to beau­ti­ful Fer­nie, British Columbia. 

After you check in to our lodge on the banks of the Elk Riv­er, we’ll head to a local restau­rant for our first of many fun dinners! 

We’ll start with a deli­cious break­fast at the lodge and a review of the weeks itin­er­ary, then the moun­tain bik­ers will head out to the local skills park for some quick drills and tips to get ready for an amaz­ing week. 

The Rid­ers will then hit the Ridge­mont trail net­work to get our wheels spinning. 

The Part­ners will get their rental bikes fit­ted and also head over to the skills park where they’ll talk basics before head­ing out for a pic­turesque intro­duc­to­ry ride around the out­skirts of town, fol­lowed by a beau­ti­ful hike to Fairy Creek Falls, in the shad­ow of mas­sive Mount Proc­tor. The falls are a semi chal­leng­ing half-hour hike each way, and a great place for a snack and a relax­ing cool-off. 

The Part­ners will make it back to the lodge by noon, then enjoy an out­door yoga ses­sion before the Rid­ers get back and lunch is served. Every­one will meet up and chow down on some deli­cious home­made cui­sine fea­tur­ing plen­ty of local, organ­ic ingredients. 

We’ll all enjoy a quick chill out and yes, then more biking! 

The Rid­ers will head out for a sol­id uphill/downhill kind of jour­ney, while the Part­ners take a more mod­er­ate approach. 

The Part­ners will com­plete the scenic town loop along the river’s edge and make their way into the begin­ner friend­ly Mon­tane trail net­work. Our friend­ly instruc­tors will include plen­ty of rid­ing tips and a grad­ual pro­gres­sion into some flowy sin­gle­track trails. 

After the rides, we’ll con­clude an amaz­ing first day with a cou­ple drinks on the deck of our lodge, or per­haps on the shores of the Elk River. 

We’ll head into town for a com­mu­nal din­ner at one of Fer­nie’s awe­some restau­rants and watch the sun set on the Rockies. 

Fer­nie Alpine Resort is one of North America’s pre­mier ski resorts; by sum­mer it’s a moun­tain bike par­adise, with over 50 trails for all lev­els of bikers.

The Rid­ers will hit the chair­lifts first thing and start accu­mu­lat­ing some seri­ous ver­ti­cal mileage. 

The Part­ners will start the day with some more lessons at the resort base, once again with our friend­ly, cer­ti­fied instruc­tors, before try­ing out some of the begin­ner trails (also accessed by chairlift). 

We’ll enjoy a group lunch at the resort base area, then we’ll all head up the Tim­ber Chair togeth­er for some incred­i­ble alpine views. 

The Part­ners will set out for some hik­ing way up in Tim­ber Bowl, and the Rid­ers have the option of join­ing the hike, or more down­hill action! 

The Rid­ers will check out some rad trails this after­noon that take us all the way from the ski hill back to town. 

This after­noon, we’ll all hop in the van for a 30-minute dri­ve to spec­tac­u­lar Sil­ver Springs Lakes, a chain of 3 small lakes just out­side of near­by Elko, with sap­phire-blue waters and fun cliffs for jump­ing, rang­ing from 4 to 40 feet. Now we’re get­ting into the sum­mer scene here! 

Time for anoth­er din­ner in town.

After break­fast, we’ll dri­ve up to Island Lake Lodge, 8km out­side of Fer­nie deep in the Lizard Range. This is a world-famous cat ski­ing resort set on the shores of a spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain lake under impres­sive jagged peaks. 

We’ll all start the day off with a hike up the sub­lime Spine­back Trail, high into the alpine above the tree­line, with spec­tac­u­lar views of the val­ley below. 

We’ll return to the lodge for a gourmet lunch on the deck.   In the after­noon, the Rid­ers will ride the amaz­ing new Lazy Lizard Flow Trail through old-growth for­est in the Cedar Valley. 

The Part­ners will stay behind to get pam­pered at the lodge spa, includ­ing a 60-minute mas­sage and some down time in the out­door relax­ation area and hot tub. Read on the dock, take a stroll around the lake, or go pad­dle a canoe, stop­ping for a chat with one of the local moose or elk. 

Tonight indulge in the gourmet din­ing at Island Lake’s renowned Tama­rack Restaurant.

We’ll load up the van after break­fast and head up the Rocky Moun­tain Trench for a 2 and a ¹⁄₂ hour dri­ve with no short­age of awe-inspir­ing views. 

We’ll stop for lunch in the town of Invermere. 

After lunch, we’ll head to Toby Canyon for a rolling cross-coun­try ride for the Rid­ers, and a beau­ti­ful hike along the canyon’s edge for the Partners. 

Lat­er this after­noon, we’ll go to a near­by lake for an after­noon swim, snacks, and drinks on the beach. If it’s a cool day, we can check out Radi­um Hot Springs instead. 

Once we’ve had our fill, we’ll all head to near­by Nipi­ka Moun­tain Resort, a seclud­ed back­coun­try resort on the edge of Koote­nay Nation­al Park. 

Din­ner, wine and a camp­fire under the stars await!

Nipi­ka has lots of fun, pri­vate trails from easy to hard for moun­tain bik­ers and hik­ers alike.   This morn­ing, the Rid­ers will hit the local singletrack. 

The Part­ners will start their day off with yoga in Nipika’s awe­some barn, and then bikes will be pro­vid­ed to explore this beau­ti­ful area by bicy­cle and foot. 

After lunch, we’ll all hit the water with an amaz­ing after­noon of pad­dling on the wild and scenic Koote­nay Riv­er. This trip offers spec­tac­u­lar scenery, great wildlife view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, and fun pad­dling (for all lev­els), using safe & sta­ble SOAR inflat­able canoes, with canoe­ing instruc­tion pro­vid­ed through­out the trip. 

After our trip down the Koote­nay, we’ll enjoy a great meal, more end-of-day wine and per­haps some horse­shoes, disk golf, and a late night wood-fired sauna! 

After break­fast at Nipi­ka, we’ll hop in the van for anoth­er beau­ti­ful dri­ve, this time to spec­tac­u­lar Banff Nation­al Park. Banff is one of the crown jew­els of the Cana­di­an nation­al park sys­tem, and one stroll down the main street will show you why: tow­er­ing, post­card-per­fect Rocky Moun­tain peaks in all directions.

We’ll have lunch and a bit of free time to explore the town. It’s great fun to join the oth­er tourists, shop for sou­venirs, and walk along the Bow River.

We’ll then get out of the crowds and head to near­by Can­more. In Can­more, the Rid­ers will sam­ple more beau­ti­ful sin­gle­track while the Part­ners head out for an after­noon stroll, tak­ing in more super-nat­ur­al sights and sounds on the trails around town.

Tonight we enjoy our final din­ner in the town of Can­more, and the always-live­ly end-of-trip party!

We’ve got some­thing spe­cial in store for the last day! Today, every­one heads up the spec­tac­u­lar Prairie View Trail, a sum­mit in the front ranges of the Rock­ies with awe-inspir­ing, jaw-drop­ping views of Bar­ri­er Lake, the front ranges of the Rock­ies, and the prairies off in the distance.

The Rid­ers will crest over the top and car­ry on to the awe­some Jew­ell Pass down­hill, while the Part­ners tack­le the out-and-back route by foot, push­ing for the same amaz­ing summit.

Every­one will meet back at the day use area by the lake, pack up, and enjoy a pic­nic lunch on the shore before head­ing to the Cal­gary air­port and hotels.