A backcountry lodge between D’Arcy and Bralorne is hoping to attract more guests from around the world this summer after another successful ski season.
The McGillivray Pass Lodge is a rustic cabin in the mountains with five outbuildings. Groups of up to 15 can travel by helicopter to the lodge to get a proper break from the world and enjoy B.C.’s natural beauty. Chefs also cater meals for lucky guests before they embark on once-in-a-lifetime guided tours around the property.
Owner of lodge operator Whitecap Alpine Adventures, Lars Andrews, grew up around the lodge and is excited to bring it into a new era.
“It’s where I learned how to ski,” he said. “I’ve spent a huge part of my life in the mountains.”
Built in 1972, Andrews’ beloved home away from home has a unique history. There were originally plans for the area to become a ski resort big enough to give Whistler a run for its money.
“The property for the lodge was actually purchased in the late ’40s, early ’50s by an Austrian couple,” said Andrews. “They were trying to build a family homestead there and potentially a ski resort.”
Helmet and Christa Weinhold were living in Bralorne when they discovered the breathtaking beauty of the McGillivray Pass. Helmet was an engineer in the Pioneer mines, and both were avid skiers. Sadly, the young couple was killed in an avalanche in 1965.
“The estate went up for sale,” said Andrews. “It was bought by a group of investors with the intent of building a ski resort there. This was long before Whistler existed. All the access to the coast mountains was through the Interior.”
Growing up, Andrews noticed little signs the couple had big plans for their homestead. “When I was a kid there was lots of stuff around that indicated that it was planned to be a large operation, that there would be lifts, etc,” he said.
However, these plans would never come to life. McGillivray Pass would become a different kind of tourist destination, a retreat people use to escape the huge crowds at ski resorts. When the lodge was first built, it was surrounded by booming mining towns like Bralorne and Gold Bridge. By the ’70s, things were starting to stall out.
“Whistler had been built. The appetite for building a resort was gone,” said Andrews. “The mines in the area were being shut down. The price of gold was diving so it didn’t make sense to mine there anymore. It just became a family retreat with the commercial component. People would rent the lodge and bring groups there for hiking in the summertime and skiing in the winter.”
The Andrews family fell in love with the lodge in the mid-’70s.
“We would go up there on family vacations and things like that,” said Andrews. “We subsequently over time established ourselves as the primary shareholders. The primary business was the winter business, skiing. I finally committed full time to the lodge in 2003. I’ve been there ever since. There has also been a summer component. People have rented the lodge and enjoyed the valley in the summertime. About seven or eight years ago, we started to operate trips from June through early October.”
The guided tours over the summer mostly get interest from residents of the Sea to Sky corridor, Vancouver and Seattle.
Andrews stressed the lodge’s summer activities are suitable for all ages and abilities.
“In the winter, it is ski-touring we offer so the demographic is pretty narrow. Hiking and sauntering around the alpine is something that almost everyone can do,” he said. “The age demographic is quite broad, too. I’d like to expand the summer business. The winter business is already full. We have operations in Japan, in Europe and in Norway during winter. I would love to see summer here attract more traffic, then see if we can expand globally.”
Read more about the lodge’s story here.
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