Sorcerer Lodge BC – April 18-24, 2022

Sorcerer Lodge BC – April 18-24, 2022

It’s a bit in the past, but I’ll talk about this place happily. GO THERE!!!! I’ve been to about 10 BC lodges and this was my favorite. A tie perhaps with SME, but more cozy and smaller terrain venue. Plenty of terrain and glaciers to play in immediately outside of the house though! Our ACMG guides were Joel McBurney out of Nelson, and Eric OX Oxnard from Golden. These guys were also amazing. I highly recommend hiring them for anything in BC. They were both familiar with the Sorcerer terrain from at least one trip there. They nailed it with their combined knowledge. OX actually does heli guiding all around there and has skied through the terrain in a multi week ski tour. This business has changed ownership this decade to a younger couple who are ski guides. Our chef Misha from Pemberton was so amazing too. We helped do the dishes. If you get guided by Joel anywhere ask him to bring his guitar. We brought our guitars too and spent an hour each night having fun by the wood stove.

The terrain is perfect. Tree skiing and non-glaciated at the house elevation and below. The lodge is pretty high so it’s not going to rain. Then we got on glaciers within only 30 minutes and saw amazing icefalls including the landmark feature of the zone called the Meteorite. You’ll know it in my pictures. We didn’t get super close to it. We got on top of the main Peak called Nordic Peak, we skied around the Snail rock thing, we kind of hit all the zones thanks to Ox. We did about 5000′ every day and got pretty good winter soft snow and refresh even though it was late season April. Marty and I were skiing Rogers Pass out of our Truck this week. We hit 3 great tours, including a sunny pow day on Mt. Rogers. But we saw rain coming even to that elevation at Rogers Pass. So we hopped into this Sorcerer week that had some cancellations on a chance glance at their IG account. Going up 1500′ from Rogers Pass to the Sorcerer Lodge was all it took for the rain to be snow.

Mike’s and Cara’s Sorcerer Lodge has been renovated a lot since they bought it. Even more since I’ve been there. Every room has hot and cold running sink! no lodge has that. The shower is inside the house with privacy and a shower stall. You fill up a bucket from hot water sink in the hallway and hang it in the stall with a carabiner. There is a screw knob under the bucket to regulate the water flow. After a few uses, I was wondering why my house has anything more modern than this. It’s perfect. most lodges have a sauna shower where you need to get boiling water from the wood stove in there and transfer it into a watering jug, hang that, and tilt it down with one hand the whole time. But SME has an actual shower like at home now, so they win the shower wars.

Sorcerer Lodge has a nice gear room where every skier can sit down at once and put boots on, so the house isn’t smelly. It has a small sunroom and deck looking at the mountains. And just the right amount of space for everyone to comfortably hang out and eat. the bedrooms were nice, most were 2 beds in a room. They had a stretching area upstairs with mats. It’s a small house though. it’s exactly like my house, if my 1 car garage were to be turned into a full gear room. Since we got an E car however, I lost that. Happy wife happy life I say often. I think my wife would be happy at this place, and she doesn’t really want to rough it. The only roughing it is the bathroom is outside. it’s not bad though. nice and clean, dry and warm with a door. There is an indoor pee toilet with privacy, just no number 2 inside. They don’t have internet for guests but in an emergency, they will help you use their communication. The power is all hydro and solar.

I’m not sure I’ll go back, because we kind of nailed it on our trip and I want to see more lodges. maybe though! I have zero complaints. I didn’t want to leave. Our group was mostly a bunch of friends from Bend Oregon who had some cancellations. They were really cool and a diverse bunch. Then there was a couple Zofia and Peter from Norway and Canada, who I became friends with and skied again on Shasta last year with. Going on these trips is not just about the conditions. It’s about meeting like-minded people who you will never forget, because you shared an amazing experience. You share laughs, sweat, maybe even someone’s tears, funny equipment repairs, amazing food, music, and a look into an idealistic lifestyle where all you do is eat, sleep, and ski. You can try to work from Satellite or something, but you won’t. you go to bed at 10pm and put your skins on at a comfortable 8am, after a big breakfast. You pack a homemade lunch but try not to eat too much and lose your appetite for delicious soup and appetizers at 3pm when you come back. You try not to eat too much of that, because you want to be hungry for the chef’s creative and amazing dinner at 6pm. No one drinks that much, what’s the point. You are high the whole time without drugs or alcohol. But bring a little of course….