British Columbia looks better from a horse on a guest ranch vacation

Earlier this year I wrote an article on the advantages of a horseback vacation. Dozens of British Columbia ranches leave the gates open to visitors who come to experience a taste of western life. These range from working holiday style cattle drives to uber relaxing and life improving spas that offer trail rides. But regardless of the amount of time spent in the saddle everyone I talked to for the article agreed spending time with horses changes your outlook on life.

Read the article Life is different aboard a horse
and find your perfect guest ranch experience by exploring the BC Guest Ranchers' Association website.

BC wins big at Canadian Tourism Commission Northern Lights travel writing competition

Articles and photos from British Columbia's wilderness destinations won big at the Canadian Tourism Commission's Northern Lights Awards in San Fransisco earlier this month. Backcountry skiing at Sol Mountain Touring, The Great Bear Rainforest and the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park were all honoured.

The New York Times' Ski Guide 2010 included an article by Mark Sundeen about his ski trip to Sol Mountain Touring, a member of the Backcountry Lodges of BC. Back and Beyond in BC won first prize in the Independent Journalist: Newspaper category.

B.C. freelance writer and contributor to Be Wild in BC, Andrew Findlay won in the Magazine category for his article Howl in the Mist: BC's Marine Wolves, which appeared in Westworld Magazine. In the article Findlay went island hoping in the Great Bear Rainforest with environmentalist Ian McAllister. Other ways of seeing this remote coastal wilderness and the grizzly bears, spirit bears and wolves that inhabit its rainforest is with Maple Leaf Adventures, Bluewater Adventures, members of the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC, fishing resorts and many sea kayak companies like Kingfisher Adventures, Ecosummer Expeditions and Coast Mountain Expeditions.

A photo taken by Chris Harris in British Columbia Magazine of the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park won first prize for a Photograph. The mountainous and very remote park is on the western edge of the Chilcotin Mountains and is best reached by horseback. Try the BC Guest Ranches for operators in the park.

The Northern Lights Awards are given to journalists who wrote or captured images about Canadian travel destinations and is awarded every year at the CTC's annual international conference the Canadian Media Marketplace, which brings together writers, editors and photographers and tourism representatives from across the country.

Give sustainability

It's two weeks until Christmas, which means it's almost time to start panicking about what to get people. Instead of hunting for a bunch of gifts that my relatives might not even use I've decided to give gifts that give back this year.

One of the easiest ways is to donate to a charity in someone else's name or buy a gift with a pay it forward mentality. For instance the World Wildlife Fund has a large range of animals up for "adoption." These are great gifts for kids. Buy the caribou and you'll get a high-quality cuddly toy, a personalized adoption certificate and a report detailing the work that your symbolic adoption will support. In B.C. the mountain caribou is in serious trouble and a donation to the WWF will help the species survive. A leopard frog is another good choice to help support B.C.'s environment. Once commonly found in British Columbia, the Northern leopard frog is now limited to the extreme southeastern portion of the province and has been designated as endangered in the region - loss of habitat is the most significant cause of the decline. The WWF has lots of other gift options where proceeds go to conservation work.

Another option is to give to specific causes. The WTA and its members are working for and donating to a number of causes that support wildlife and wildspaces including Save Our Wild Salmon and Adopt-a-Fry.org. Cash donations are a great way to further their work. You can also ask your favourite resorts and lodges about causes that are close to their heart. Or if you want to make it as easy as possible donate to the WTA's own Wilderness Stewardship Fund. Donations can be made in any amount. The money in the fund is used to help organizations and companies complete worthwhile sustainability and stewardship work throughout the year.

Ski films go to the Last Frontier

Two of this season's top ski movies include footage from Last Frontier Heliskiing, the largest heli-ski tenure on earth. Both Matchstick Productions (MSP) and Teton Gravity Research (TGR) spent time at the remote heli-ski operation last season filming athletes skiing crazy lines in big mountains.

Re: Session, TGR's new ski title, includes footage of pro skier Seth Morrison. It was his first visit to Last Frontier and he was impressed. "The skiing is very similar to what I have skied in Alaska, but it has many more options for down-day type skiing (bad weather skiing). Many tree runs with tons of features in them; cliffs, pillow walls, pillow poppers. And with a tenure a quarter the size of Switzerland, we barley scratched the surface."

I watched MSP's new movie, In Deep, and the footage was impressive. Check out this picture by Randy Lincks from Last Frontier.

Last Frontier has two bases in northwestern B.C. One is the remote Bell 2 Lodge on the Cassiar Highway. The other is in the town of Stewart on the Alaska border. Each accesses different part of Last Frontier's massive 9,000 square kilometre tenure.

Besides their usual four, five and seven day heli-ski trips, Last Frontier is offering two new programs for 2010:

A Lodge to Lodge Heliski Safari: a tour which has guests staying half the week at one lodge and then skiing with the helicopter to the other lodge. Bags go by ground.

Heli Access Ski Touring: for the purist. Start the week with 4 days of helis access ski touring. 1st run of the day lifted out by helicopter. Stay with you guide all day ski touring. Could be short tree runs, a long traverse, or one big climb and a descent, but you'll certainly be earning your turns! Then the final 3 days of the week are "regular heliskiing".

Redeem your Aeroplan points for turns in the biggest heliski tenure

Aeroplan points have always been great, but they just got a whole lot cooler. Bella Coola Heli Sports, a B.C. heliski company, recently signed an agreement with Aeroplan, an air miles reward program, which allows collectors to trade points for skiing or fishing with Bella Coola.

The exclusive offer in the heliski world applies to two programs: a $1000 gift certificate towards a three day or five day all inclusive heliski package in the Coast Range near the central coast town of Bella Coola; or a five day, guided fly fishing trip for one person on one of the world class salmon and steelhead rivers near the Bella Coola valley.

Bella Coola's snow cred runs deep. The heliskiing company hires excellent guides and runs small groups into some of the biggest and snowiest mountains in Canada. This winter they've formally amalgamated with their sister heli-ski company Pantheon to form the largest heliski tenure in North America and one of the largest in the world. There is now 1.1 million hectares, that's 2.64 million acres, of mountains that range from the rugged coast to the light powder of the Chilcotin.

WTA members leading the way to carbon free energy

Members of the BC Wilderness Tourism Association are working towards a day when they will be carbon neutral with funding from the government.

The Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund, announced by Premier Gordon Campbell, provides $25-million to off-the-grid businesses and communities to develop innovative, clean energy projects.

“Developing renewable energy projects is not cheap or easy,” says Evan Loveless, WTA executive director. “Funding like this is exactly what our members need to find solutions to their energy needs and achieve their clean, renewable energy goals.”

The money supports the BC Energy Plan and the government's goal of electricity self-sufficiency by 2016 and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. The B.C.'s premier says the ICE Fund will showcase B.C. technologies to the world and drive solutions to climate change.

Already many WTA members are leaders in the use of renewable energy projects, their remote locations forcing them to look for solutions to wean themselves off expensive and carbon emitting generators in exchange for harnessing the wind, sun and water before it became trendy. Strathcona Park Lodge runs almost entirely off a small hydro system with a back up generator only kicking in when a series of small dams run low. Near Golden Hydra River Guides uses solar panels to power their office on the banks of the Kicking Horse River.