MORE ONTARIO BACKCOUNTRY

BELLEVUE VALLEY LODGE, GOULAIS RIVER: Enn Poldmaa and Robin MacIntyre became the prescient, if patient, godparents of Ontario backcountry skiing when they opened Bellevue Valley Lodge near Sault Ste. Marie way back in 1984. Almost 40 years later they preside over a domain of more than 500 hectares encompassing three ridges that drop almost 150m through hardwood forests. Their carefully tended land use permit has resulted in a collection of 20 painstakingly gladed lines through hills that get more snow than anywhere else in Ontario. The on-site chalet accommodations sleep up to 10 skiers, and Searchmont Resort and Stokely Creek Lodge nordic centre are short drives away. bellevuevalleylodge.ca

DACRE HEIGHTS: When Peter Schutt bought the site of the old Dacre Heights (previously Candiac) ski hill in 2017, he thought he was buying a woodlot to keep himself busy in retirement. Then people started pulling into the parking lot and asking if they could still ski there. So Peter read the Occupier’s Liability Act of Ontario and decided that as long as he wasn’t charging people money for access, he wouldn’t be responsible for risks “willingly assumed” by visitors. Good for Schutt, and good for skiers! Schutt happily said, “Have at it,” and the skiers, and volunteers, obliged. There are five semi-cleared ski runs that drop 180 vertical metres across 93 hectares, with lots of tree lines in between. A rental cabin at the base is nearing completion, and there’s an effort underway to blaze a 40-km backcountry traverse to link Dacre with Madawaska Nordic and Calabogie Peaks Resort, 40 meandering kilometres to the south. dacreheights.ca