This motto defines Selkirk Mountain Experience. It is all about guiding guests and sharing our great enthusiasm for the snow-covered mountains, the
forested steep valleys, heavily glaciated alpine peaks and the, in summer, lush blooming meadows with jade alpine lakes and wild waterfalls at Durrand Glacier
in the Northern Selkirk Mountains of BC. It's the world's very best high mountain play-ground for powder-snow skiing, summer mountaineering and alpine meadow
hiking .
It all started in the Swiss Alps, in a narrow and steep valley with the name Glarus. Its highest peak is the Toedi with nearly 13.000 feet in elevation. This
is the place where I (Ruedi Beglinger), the founder of Selkirk Mountain Experience, grew up, in a family where mountaineering and skiing was the norm. My father
was a well known mountaineer and a respected specialist in avalanche rescue. While my school-friends spent their family holidays on the beaches of the
Mediterranean Sea, my father took us into the mountains, to a rustic cabin from where we climbed beautiful peaks and observed alpine wild-life. In the winter our
family went ski-touring and I learned at a young age about the joy of powder-snow, its excitement and also invisible hazards. It was important to my father
that I learned to accept the mountains not just as a never ending playground, but also as a part of our planet which is filled with delicate life and a
deep serenity. My foundation towards becoming a mountaineer in summer and winter was carefully set.
At age 14 I started to venture into the more extreme terrain of the alpine and soon after I began my fascination of the famous alpine faces of the grand
peaks of the Alps. Each climb fueled my ambition towards the next climb and more committing alpine faces. Already as a teenager the only activities of any
meaning were climbing and ski-mountaineering. When I was 20 years of age I passed all exams as an Aspiring Mountain Guide for winter and summer. Two years
later I finished up all full guide exams and the Swiss Mountain Guide Association gave me the certification as an international fully certified Ski and Mountain
Guide.
In January 1981 I started a job as a lead-guide for one of the larger Canadian helicopter-skiing companies. Initially I felt a deep excitement towards this
exclusive sport, skiing long runs with the powder-snow flying over my head. But, already during the first winter I began to miss the mountaineering part of
guiding in the high winter-mountains. Homesick for climbing mountains, reaching outstanding peaks, enjoying the large unfolding panorama and experiencing the
rich reward of skiing down all these superb powder-slopes, unspoiled by old tracks that cut their pristine and elegant shape into many parts.
I realized that the Northern Selkirk Mountains outside of Revelstoke, British Columbia are the world's finest mountains for ski-mountaineering and for deep
and reliable powder-snow. My yearning for these mountains kept growing. To find an unspoiled and far remote part of these mountains became my biggest dream.
Just somewhere in the Northern Selkirk Mountains I had to be able realize my dream: steep treed slopes flanking the narrow and deep valleys, long and wild
glaciers above and many interesting mountains that crown the entire area. I bought all maps of the entire Northern Selkirk Mountains, spent days gazing at
them. With the pencil I was marking routes, highlighting interesting high-alpine areas and simply making an incredible mess on every single map. There was
one area which quickly got all of my attention, it was the Durrand Glacier, 45 kilometers north-east of Revelstoke... a vast area of over 80 square kilometers
with 14 massive glaciers and 26 rugged mountains. Its water drains into four major streams, the Woolsey Creek to the south, Carnes Creek and Downie Creek to
the west and the Tangiers Creek to the east. The only access is by helicopter from Revelstoke.
Now I had to convince the Government of British Columbia to grant a permit to start a professional non-mechanized skiing, mountaineering and hiking company
in this area. I also hoped to receive the permits to build a lodge at tree-line and close to the glaciers. After 17 months of anxiously waiting I received these
permits, in June of 1985.
Summer of 1985 was filled with heavy construction of a mountain lodge. Every stick of wood and every single nail had to be flown by helicopter. I bought a
book, Canadian Wood-Frame Construction, and although I had no experience in building a lodge, let alone building that far in the remote wilderness of the Selkirk
Mountains, I survived the construction. The building was finished the in time for the winter season. I named this first class lodge the Durrand Glacier Chalet,
located at elevation 6360 feet / 1960 meters. In 1988 I received a second permit to build a second lodge, a one day walk north-east of the Durrand Glacier Chalet,
across long glaciers and high peaks of up to 9080 feet / 2800 meters elevation. This second lodge, the Mount Moloch Chalet, is situated on a scenic rock-knoll,
at elevation 2230 meters, in the center of a large glacier-cirque of wild glacial serac-labyrinths and steep granite faces. My big dream became reality.
Selkirk Mountain Experience was the first ski-touring company in the world to establish two privately owned lodges amidst spectacular glaciated alpine terrain
and on an exclusive land tenure. At that time I did not realize that I had started the foundation of what was to become a large ski-touring industry in Canada.
|
