Heli Fondue awaits at Panorama Mountain
Guests are flown to the summit, where they dine on melted cheese, chocolate
PANORAMA MOUNTAIN, B.C.—“So, when we land, I tuck and run?”
I’m asking this just moments before buckling into R.K. Heliski’s Bell 212 helicopter at Panorama Mountain Resort, ready to begin the eye-opening (and belly-filling) heli fondue experience.
It’s the only one of its kind in North America, and apparently the promise of hot cheese high up in B.C.’s Purcell Mountains is undermining my ability to focus on safety instructions.
“No. Not run,” replies Nate Sereda, the experienced R.K. Heliski guide leading our nine-person group through a pre-flight check. “Crouch and calmly walk?” “Exactly.” Moments later, the ground scoots out from under us and we’re floating weightlessly, rising over Panorama’s steep slopes, which are peppered with towering tamarack trees and rapidly shrinking skiers.
My stomach migrates to my mouth, first in panic and then in pure delight. As we climb higher, the view begins to open up down Toby Creek Valley and peak after sun-soaked peak presents itself in a seemingly never-ending sea of glowing snowcovered caps.
It’s a scene only Canada and a helicopter ride can provide.
We’re headed to the top of Panorama — all 2,365 metres of it — to take in the sunset and feast on a traditional Swiss fondue at Summit Hut, an alpine café run by Ray Schnerch, which sits at the top of the mountain’s highest chair, the Summit Quad (now closed for the day).
“Locals were the first to jump on board,” Schnerch says of the heli fondue experience that he started eight years ago, along with Panorama Mountain Resort and R.K. Heliski. “The views, the location, the low-key atmosphere, it’s perfectly Panorama.”
The idea to combine cheese and choppers — and also night skiing, but only in the warmer and brighter conditions of springtime — came from Swiss expat Peter Lustenberger, one of the mountain’s pioneering hospitality forces, who moved to the valley in 1978 and started a family.
“He runs Lusti’s (the ski/coffee shop) in the village and is a Swiss institution on the mountain,” Schnerch says. “He told us we had to do Swiss fondue and we listened.”
Schnerch and his small group of friendly staff heat up Gruyère, Emmental and Appenzeller cheese with wine and a splash of Kirsch, a sourcherry brandy, in Summit Hut’s tiny café kitchen, somehow managing to create a massive mouth-watering meal for a dozen guests.
Steaming pots of bubbling cheese arrive accompanied by plates overflowing with made-that-day crusty bread, roasted potatoes and garlic bulbs, locally made air-dried bison strips, as well as grapes and slices of apple and pear. Local wines are available too, pairing perfectly with the savoury cheese dip.
Outside, the sun is slipping down toward the rocky crown made by Sultana, Trafalgar and Watch Peaks and Mt. Nelson, as a bunch of us bundle up to face the -15 C temperature so we can take in the snowy sunlit scene face to face.
“It’s amazing, for the few hours you are at the summit, how disconnected you feel from everything,” says Panorama’s marketing manager Jamie Hurschler, our host for the evening.
“The views, the location, the low-key atmosphere, it’s perfectly Panorama.” RAY SCHNERCH SUMMIT HUT
“But at the same time, you have the comfort of knowing you will be reconnected again soon.”
There’s a lot worth reconnecting with here on Panorama. The ski-in/ ski-out resort has nearly 3,000 acres of beautifully maintained terrain and a climate that supports consistent snow from December to April, but two other qualities make it a standout from the rest of Canada’s “Powder Highway” — everything is within walking distance and everyone is super friendly.
“There is a real sense of friendship at Panorama between staff and guests,” Hurschler says. “People want to be a part of Panorama naturally, and just slide into the friendly culture as a way to feel they belong, too.”
I saw it firsthand every day of my stay, hearing lots of “hi” and “good morning” during the one-minute walk from my well-appointed room, past the resort’s massive steaming hot pools to the in-village chairlift.
We head back into the quaint, woodstove-warmed alpine hut (after a quick trip to the fully equipped summit outhouse) for round two of the heli fondue — the chocolate course. Somehow we find space for warm, gooey chocolate and a huge selection of fresh, dip-friendly fruit pieces.
“Heli fondue? It’s an experience of a lifetime,” Schnerch says. “Once the helicopter is in the air, the views are enough to leave no doubt.”
As we prepare to leave, I’m able to focus much better on the safety instructions to walk, not run . . . thanks to being happily weighed down by cheese and chocolate. Emma Yardley was hosted by Panorama Mountain Resort and Destination British Columbia, which didn’t review or approve this story.