Skoki Lodge 2006 - Notes

Skoki Lodge

Lisa and I skied into Skoki Lodge on April Fools Day for a stay of 3 days. The ski starts at Temple Lodge for those who stay at Skoki. For those just skiing in for the day, the ski starts at the Cougar Creek parking lot. On the ski out, one gets to ski the Temple Lodge to parking lot bit. It is on the Lake Louise ski-out so is fun to ski down; less fun to ski up.

Lake Louise and Skoki Area Small Medium Large Ref: map

The lodge has undergone major renovations since our last visit. Visually, it is much the same as before their renovations except for the addition of a drying room. Structurally, it is now on solid foundation, without rotting logs, and with insulation! You can see the new logs on the right side of the building in the picture above. Because it is a heritage site, care was taken during the renovation - the floor boards were numbered, removed, and replaced in their original positions. The ceiling boards were handled similarly after insulation was placed into the attic space.

There are a few changes in operations. They have solar cells and batteries with a generator backup to run a few small kitchen appliances. One big safety change is the candles in the rooms have been replaced by electric lanterns.

Blake and Jennifer no longer manage Skoki. They now manage Engadine Lodge. Leo and Katie now manage Skoki. We only met Leo. He is more of a partier than Blake (Leo read some poems for the talent show), but some things do not change. The lecture on adjusting the wicks on the kerosene lanterns continues on. The sauna is still heated by a small pot-bellied stove with amply opportunity to burn oneself on it or things that have been heated by it (Lisa did the latter on a pail handle). The great food and atmosphere have not changed.

On our trip in, Lisa had been fantasizing about chocolate cookies at tea time. She was disappointed to find only wonderful soup, chili, muffins, breads, salsa, chips, pesto, fruits, and cheese at tea time. She was talking to Joshua about it and he snuck her a chocolate chocolate-chip cookie that he had just made.

The gray jays fantasized about our lunch. They found a few crumbs while we had our nap. One was brazen enough to hop under my legs to get the bits that were there.

Gray Jay Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_0454

It being April Fools, we ran into the April Fools Alpine and Resting Club, which is a group of guys originally from Edson. Their aim is to rest at least as much as they ski when they are outside "skiing". One of them has a GPS that tracks this vital statistic. Unfortunately, they skied 0.5 hour more than they rested on their second day. They made up for it by putting on an amateur talent show for all to enjoy. The amateurs had obviously practised.

The last two times I've been there, I've been wanting to get some pictures of the raven, Max, that hangs around. He is usually in the tops of trees or strolling around out of camera shot. This time he decided to land at the front door and put on a display for us - much bill clacking and neck feather ruffling. He then proceeded to walk around the lodge looking for missed scraps of edible stuff.

Max with ruffled neck Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_0489

We didn't do anything very energetic. Both of us had been working hard and Lisa is slowly recovering from a couple of years of bad health. We spent the morning napping and reading books and then went for a ski around Skoki Mountain. The track through Jones Pass is through beautiful alpine forest that is evenly open and treed. We stopped at the warden's cabin in the Red Deer valley for lunch and a few pictures of springtails, one of the snow insects. It's also where I saw small winter stoneflies, which are a new snow insect for me. They are found on snow near streams. No pictures, because I was going to get one later, but didn't see anymore. Next year.

Skoki Mountain from Red Deer Lakes Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_0545

Jones Pass Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_0497

Close-up of springtails Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_0536_1

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