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Sky Camp on Crystal Lake offers the best of both worlds

The view from the top of Whistler is truly spectacular and for many summer visitors just looking is enough.
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"We leave the forested valleys and glacially-rounded lower slopes far below and enter a sparkling world of ice and granite."

The view from the top of Whistler is truly spectacular and for many summer visitors just looking is enough. But if you're one of those people who long to venture beyond the roads and the chairlifts – if you yearn to visit a remote mountain valley where wildlife is more abundant than tourists – if you imagine yourself drifting in a canoe past loons and nesting ospreys and casting your line into a pristine mountain lake where fish still abound – if that is the sort of wilderness experience you are looking for then Sky Camp on Crystal Lake may be the answer. You don't need to be a rugged mountaineer to get there and you don't need to rough it after you arrive.

Earlier this month I was invited to join Vanessa Caarrington, of Tyax Air, Brian Niska, the owner of Whistler Flyfishing, and Kevin Kish, who guides for Whistler River Adventures, on an overnight trip to Sky Camp – the first of the 2006 season. We met Dale Douglas at the Green Lake floatplane dock in Whistler and climbed aboard his immaculate red and white DeHavilland Beaver. Dale, an airline rated commercial pilot, operates Tyax Air and Sky Camp is his creation – a labour of love where families can share a true wilderness experience.

After giving us a short safety briefing and taxiing downwind to the end of the lake Dale opened the throttle, coaxed the Beaver onto the step, and within seconds we were airborne and climbing west into the Coast Mountains. The roar of the engine is muffled by our headsets, and we are able to talk to one another on the plane's intercom. The scenery is breathtaking and Dale is a wealth of information about the mountains glaciers and volcanoes around us. We leave the forested valleys and glacially-rounded lower slopes far below and enter a sparkling world of ice and granite. These towering peaks were once islands of rock (nunataks) in a sea of ice. And off to the west the Bridge River ice cap, dotted with modern-day nunataks, is how the world looked during the last ice age.

Out the right window of the Beaver I can look straight down into a gaping crevasse in one of the thousands of alpine glaciers that still cling to the upper slopes. Between the terminal moraine and present nose of many of them a brilliant emerald-green lake is set into the freshly scoured rock. At the snout of giant Bridge Glacier the lake is large enough for Dale to land and later in the year, after the icebergs have melted, he takes visitors there for a hike through pristine meadows crowded with alpine flowers, and a close look at a major glacier.

Our route takes us across the northern end of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, an extension of the High Cascade volcanoes of Oregon and Washington. During the last ice age, this zone of "fire and ice" spawned some of the world’s strangest volcanoes. Lava erupted under the ice and piled up in melt-water depressions to form flat-topped circular volcanoes called tuyas. Others, like Meager Mountain, erupted violently after the ice was gone, sending a plume of ash all the way to southern Alberta.

"Watch for mountain goats out the right window," Dale tells us on the intercom as he starts his descent into upper Lord River valley. Below us the river meanders in and out of shallow lakes and the surrounding wetlands are laced with game trails. But before I can spot a goat or a moose we are on final approach and I get my first glimpse of camp, almost hidden in the forest on the shore of Crystal lake.

At the dock we are greeted enthusiastically by Bella, the camp's affectionate watchdog, and welcomed to Sky Camp by Claude, her owner and companion. By the time we have unloaded our gear Claude has set out nachos and dip on a table in front of the lodge. Dale produces a cool beer and while we are relaxing he tells us a bit about the history of the camp and his vision for its future. When he was granted tenure in the summer of 2004 and started clearing a space for the camp the dense forest of spruce and pine was choked with deadfall. He flew in a portable sawmill, and with the help of his friends, went to work. Some of the trees were milled into lumber, others used to build the main lodge, but many were left standing to provide a canopy of shade for the camp. From the very beginning he visualized creating a luxury camp in harmony with its wilderness setting. What couldn't be built on the spot from local material was flown in on his Beaver. The nearest road is 50 miles away.

The main lodge has a broad covered deck that faces the lake. Everything inside – the big dining table, the kitchen counters and cupboards, even the inside walls – have the warm glow of freshly milled wood. And a solar panel provides enough power for light in the evening. Behind the lodge, in separate buildings, are washrooms, showers, and a composting toilet. A wood-fired sauna is located near the boat dock where those brave enough can cool down by taking a quick plunge in the lake. We were still admiring the sauna when Claude announced that dinner was ready. And what a meal it was – grilled steak, steamed spuds with sour cream, corn on the cob and tender green beans, red wine, and bumbleberry pie with whipped cream for dessert.

In the evening the wind dies down, the lake turns calm, and it's time to go fishing. We have our choice of canoes, kayaks, belly boats, or U-boats. For those not familiar with the paraphernalia of fly-fishing the belly boat and its streamlined version, the U-boat, are ingenious contraptions that transform an otherwise ordinary human into a bipedal amphibian. Wearing chest waders and scuba fins, and seated comfortably in his inflatable craft, a fisherman can paddle about, duck-wise, with hands free to cast his line. With expert help from fishing guides Brian and Kevin, Vanessa and I got set up with the right lines and lures and all of us caught our share of feisty rainbow trout.

Before turning in for the night we went back to the lodge for a cup of herb tea laced with honey. It was late when we finally headed for bed but a bright half moon lighted the way from the lodge to our tents, each tucked into its own private nook in the forest. The camp has accommodation for 10 to 12 people in tents with either two or four beds. But these are no ordinary tents. Built on wooden platforms each spacious safari-type tent has its private front deck and a picture-window view of the lake. The floor is carpeted and the comfortable hand crafted beds have warm, feather-light comforters. As I settled down for the night I was aware of the stillness. Many urban dwellers have never experienced the profound silence of the wilderness at night – no traffic, no sirens, nothing but the whisper of a distant waterfall – and then I was asleep.

I awoke to the haunting sound of loons calling from across the lake. The water is glassy calm. The chatter of a Douglas’ squirrel announces that it's time to get up and as I walk past the hollow tree where the resident woodpecker has her nest I can hear her brood clamoring to be fed. The sounds of a new day have begun.

Bella, a sponge for affection, nuzzles my knee. Claude pours me a cup of coffee and we talk for a while before the others rouse themselves. Originally from Montreal, Claude is a certified chef with 25 years experience. He could work anywhere but this is the life he chooses and he is a wealth of stories about his wilderness experiences. Kevin, already in his chest waders, breezes in for a swig of coffee before heading out onto the lake. "Now's the time they're biting," he tells us as he rushes out the door. He claims to have caught and released at least 30 fish while the rest of ate breakfast.

Before heading back to Whistler Dale and I took a canoe across the lake and walked back to camp on one of his trails. Like everything else about Sky Camp the trails reflect his meticulous attention to detail. Where there is a side hill the trail is carefully hand graded, where there is a stream to cross there is a tiny bridge, and where the ground is spongy there is a boardwalk. This is just one of a whole network of trails to explore from Sky Camp but that will have to wait. We didn't have time on this trip to take out the mountain bikes, or challenge one another to a game of horseshoes or bocce ball, or climb up the trail to timberline where the mountain goats hang out. We'll do all that next time – because once you have been to Sky Camp you are bound to return.

For further information visit www.tyaxair.com or e-mail: info@tyaxtours.com