B.C. PANORAMA OF FUN
A haven for golfers, mountain bikers
At 7:30 a.m. my alarm goes off and I hop out of bed and peer outside. The sun’s burning through the pines and the ragged Purcell peaks are punching into the baby-blue sky. A perfect day in Panorama. But an air of uncertainty weighs on me. I’m anxious. I have a very difficult decision to make and I’m torn. I can blast golf balls at the legendary Greywolf GC, my favourite golf course in British Columbia, or I can hop on my bike and blast down the Hopeful Trail, one of the wildest, high-alpine ridge rides in all the land. I grab a coffee and ponder. I know. I will do both. For me — and a few others, I suppose — the golfing vs. mountain biking “conundrum,” if you can call it that, seems to rear its ugly head more frequently these days. And, yes, I know, poor me. What a horrible atrocity to have to deal with. Talk about a first-world problem. But a person is only given so many days of recreation. You need to make them count. You need to pursue your passions. In Panorama, if birdies and biking are your things, you’ve found your happy place.
True, there are many destinations in Western Canada where you play an awesome course in the morning and swerve down epic single-track in the afternoon. Whistler, Golden, Kimberley, Canmore and Banff all come to mind. And there are many more. But how many boast a world-class golf course and a world-class mountain bike trail that both dip and dive along the same glacier-fed creek? In Panorama, this is the case thanks to the Hopeful Trail and the Greywolf Golf Course. With dramatic cliffside holes, huge elevation changes, wide playing corridors, and a spirited creek (yes, Hopeful Creek!) that rambles through the course, Greywolf has rightfully been considered one of the top mountain golf courses in the world since it opened in 1999. SCOREGolf Magazine (the “authority” when it comes to ranking the best golf courses in Canada), currently has it in the No. 15 spot in the country. Designed by Doug Carrick, the talented Canadian architect who has designed many of Canada’s best courses in the past 20 years, Greywolf is thrilling from start to finish. And, other than the timeless classic at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, another course I just can’t get enough of, Greywolf is my favourite track in Western Canada.
Although there are numerous holes that warrant “signature” status, the legendary Cliffhanger hole (Carrick actually designed the entire course around this phenomenal green site) takes the cake. From a visual standpoint, golf holes just don’t have a greater “wow” factor. To hit the green, which literally hangs above the valley on a ragged cliff, you’ve got to calm the nerves and make a solid strike. (Or your ball will find its eternal resting point deep in Hopeful Canyon.)
But golf isn’t the only sport in Panorama that’s played along Hopeful Creek. A newly minted top-to-bottom alpine mountain biking adventure — the Hopeful Trail — has been turning plenty of heads. In years past, mountain
bikers hoping for a “Hopeful” excursion had to endure a 1,218-metre uphill grunt along steep fire roads from the base of Panorama Village to access this route. However, now, thanks to a couple of chairlifts, mountain bikers can get dangerously close to the summit without much sweat equity. From the top of the second chair (Champagne), a short uphill climb is required to gain the summit and the start of what is, unquestionably, one of the longest, most thrilling downhill descents you can do in North America.
Although much of the trail is “moderate” in terms of difficulty, it’s rated black, or difficult, due to a few steep sections, some narrow exposed segments and a number of loose, tight corners. Long story short, you need to be comfortable negotiating steep, rugged terrain on a mountain bike if you hope to tame “Hopeful.”
After bombing a few drives and bagging a couple of birdies (and many bogeys!), I swapped my wedges for wheels and met my guide, Andrew Nelson, at the base of the village. In less than an hour we found ourselves at the top of Outback Ridge and were ready for the epic, 12-km descent.
The soaring, panoramic views along the upper ridges were sublime. Nelson, a seasoned ski guide and an accomplished mountain biker, led the way as the riding transitioned from fast and flowy swerves in the shale to tight, technical turns in the trees. Steep pitches, rocks, roots, a few muddy sections kept me on the edge of my seat. It seemed like a never-ending descent with plenty of fast sections interrupted with ragged gnar that was slightly more than I could shred. But, Nelson, realizing his client was far from a pro “shredder,” kept the pace easy.
After an hour of some of the wildest, white-knuckle riding I’ve ever done, we reached a beautiful viewpoint high above Hopeful Creek. Below us the golf course, little ribbons of green sliding through the pines and swerving gracefully along the creek, beckoned. “That seems like such a tame sport compared to this,” I quipped. “Weird how a guy can be so drawn to both.”
But, I suppose, that’s just the power of Panorama.