Olympic diversion

Coming to the Olympics in Vancouver will be an incredible experience, but all the cheering, partying and just being at such a busy and exciting time will be tiring. If you're looking for a way to relax during or after the Olympics check out three trips from Exposure Travel. The company organizes luxury adventure vacations from airport pick up to drop off. They have three great sounding Olympic getaways for up to eight people at very B.C. locales.

The first is aboard the Pacific Yellowfin, a luxury yacht (pictured at right). For four or more days it will be your all-inclusive home as you cruise the Sunshine Coast or Gulf Islands with a crew of 4 or more at your service. A chef prepares great meals paired with wine and spirits, while adventure guides help you decide on each day's activity.

Or rent a house on one of the Gulf Islands and make like a Vancouverite on a long weekend. There are boats and more at your disposal and a chef and guides to keep you pampered.

And the final trip Exposure Travel is offering is to a guest ranch. In February the snow will be deep, perfect for a true Canadian winter experience with horses and ice skating.

The highest hut in Canada

This summer Larry Dolecki, an internationally certified guide, built a hut on the Lyell Icefield of the Canadian Rockies. Sitting on a nunatak, an exposed chunk of rock amid the ice, it's a lonely spot within reach of some of the longest ski lines in British Columbia.

The new hut is an outlier to the main lodges of Icefall Lodge, a backcountry ski touring operation north of Golden, B.C. and a member of the Backcountry Lodges of BC. I visited Icefall last year and the skiing was unreal. (This is a picture from the main lodge.) There's tons of variety and the alpine terrain is limitless. The tenure covers 200 square kilometres; it would take a couple days to traverse the entire tenure.

It's a demanding day trip to access the hut from Icefall Lodge. The hut sits at 2860m (9400'), making it one of the highest huts in B.C. and as far as we know the highest privately owned hut. But once you're there the five, 11,000 foot peaks of the Lyell's can be skied in a day. Dolecki, the lodge owner, says there are over a dozen glacier runs right out the door and monster 7000 foot runs that descend from the summits of the Lyells into Lyell Creek are possible. Now that's a leg burner. I can't wait to give it a go.