Meet Mark and his lovely pup named Sitka. Mark is a trainer at House of Pain Innovative Fitness. Mark led a few of us press-type people through a one-hour circuit training this morning, followed by a snowshoe hike through the woods near the Cheakamus River. If you say it all fairly fast it sounds easy…and granted, the snowshoe through the woods was beautiful and pretty low-key. We could barely hear each other over the roar of that gorgeous river.
But that circuit training? Holy Smokes; ’twas a grim reminder that perhaps I’m not in quite as good shape as I had deluded myself into thinking.
Innovative Fitness has just opened this new location in partnership with the gorgeous Nita Lake Lodge. Nita Lake is a short distance off Hwy 99 on the way to Whistler. Instead of turning right into Creekside, you hang a left on Placid Lake Road and come upon this lodge sitting on the edge of the frozen lake.
I arrived yesterday afternoon around 4 pm. As soon as I entered the solid silence of the room with the snow swirling outside my window, I felt the need for a nap. There is something about snow silence that is so different from anything else. And I think the solidity and sheer mass of the mountains adds another layer to muffle that outside world.
Is that the reason? Or was it that, between the fog on the drive up and the snow once I hit Whistler, that the day never really became illuminated? It was one of those wintry days of perpetual twilight. Whatever the reason, the nap was a really great idea to get me ready for a brilliant dinner in the Aura Restaurant.
Chef Tim Cuff (formerly of West) transforms food into something ethereal, food that gods would eat. I’m serious, the food is out of this world…(Mia Stainsby just picked this as one of her top ten restaurants for Vancouver so I feel like I’m in pretty good company with my opinion).
And now, I’m sitting in the softly-lit lounge after a 75-minute spa treatment at Nita Lake’s Ashram Spa. I am sure that this little mini-vacation is exactly what my doctor would have ordered.
I’m sure she would have said, “Take two-nights at Nita Lake Lodge and call me in the morning.”
