History, nature and family ties are alive and well this fall at Assiniboine Lodge.
As the larches turn shades of gold, the sound of hammers and saws fill the air on the shores of Lake Magog below the majesty of Mount Assiniboine.
Assiniboine Lodge, built in 1928 and the oldest backcountry ski lodge in the Canadian Rockies, is part-way through a major restoration project and under new management.
The historic refurbishment of the rustic log structure is being carried out under the watchful eye of the Renner family, which has seen Barb and Sepp operate it since 1983 while raising three children there.
It is a tradition which will continue far into the future as son André and business partner Claude Duchesne have been awarded a contract by B.C. Parks to run Assiniboine Lodge for the next 20 years.
Being home, work and playground, André has grown up at the lodge since he was nine, along with sisters Natalie and Olympic silver medallist Sara.
Built originally by the Canadian Pacific Railway and operated by Erling Strom until his parents took over, he says the lodge is an important part of history and one he is excited to continue.
“I just love it here,” says André, who has been guiding since he was 13 years old.
Hospitality is key for running any lodge, but even more so for when it is in the backcountry, which he says creates challenges.
But with 20 years ahead of him in the contract, he says that’s going to make things a lot easier.
“We will be able to put more energy into our guests.”
The restoration project has been in the works for several years, according to Glen Campbell with B.C. Parks.
With a price tag of $1.5 million, the work has been ongoing since May and expectations are the lodge will be fully operational by next June.
Campbell says the department followed its usual tender process to award the 20-year contract, with three bids in total submitted.
As a renowned UNESCO heritage site in a provincial park established in 1922 that sees 10,000 users and guests annually, it is important to continue to offer the same recreational opportunities and provide a much needed restoration to the lodge.
“The uniqueness of the site isn’t the lodge, it’s the environment,” Campbell says.
But it is quite something to rebuild a historic lodge and keep the original look – an undertaking master log builder Kyle Legate has been a major part of.
In order to move the building it had to be taken apart and, with many of the original logs in poor shape, he says he has tried to use as much of the original structure as possible.
While the bunkhouse has not needed any new logs, the remaining structures have seen new wood brought in, with the same woodworking techniques used.
“We have tried to match it as much as possible… they did a great job originally,” Legate says while holding a piece of technology builders didn’t have the luxury of using in 1928 – a chainsaw.
The Naiset huts and cabins were added later by the Alpine Club of Canada but have not seen work done on them as part of the project. The bunkhouse was added to the lodge in the ’50s.
The huts have been fully functional through the 2011 season housing construction crews and some backpackers along with the camping areas in the provincial park.
One major project leading up to the restoration occurred over a year ago when the government agency installed a dam and turbine on a creek in the expansive alpine meadow in front of the lodge.
The tiny hut that houses the turbine is barely noticeable, but its affect on annual operations is huge.
Before its installation, the lodge relied on hauling in fuel by helicopter for heat and to generate electricity. But with the five-kilowatt micro-hydro on-site, time, energy and money are conserved.
The building was rolled 100 feet forward onto the meadow in front of the lodge in order to rebuild its failing foundations. A basement was installed and stairway to the guest rooms built while the breezeway and kitchen expanded.
The 20-year contract makes Duchesne the third family to be a part of running the lodge and he too brings familial ties.
His wife worked as a cook at the lodge in 1994 and that led to more and more involvement. This summer, she and their 13-year-old daughter spent time cooking for the construction crews as well.
A mountain guide by training, Duchesne says he is more than happy to end his guiding career on the continental divide.
“This is such a special setting… it is quite an honour to be here for so long,” he says, joking that a 20-year contract was almost a bigger commitment than getting married. “As a guide I have worked all over the world, but this place I have been coming to since 1983.”
Duchesne says to live at 2,200 feet surrounded by nature and the highest peak south of the Bow Valley is an amazing opportunity.
It is one that Sepp understands all too well. With the new contract going to his son and Duchesne, you would expect the Swiss-born guide to be enjoying the leisures associated with retirement.
Instead, he is on-site helping out with the restorations, which he says are not that big, but definitely needed.
“I could be somewhere else, but I’m still here,” he says, standing outside the cabin he raised three kids in. “We are so proud to be here… it would be strange to come here and have somebody else running it.”
“It gives me another 20 years of something to do here.”
Those added years, he says, will include grandchildren and a third generation of the Renner family cutting their teeth in the alpine.
With 48 summits of Assiniboine itself under his belt, Sepp laughs and says he wants to make it to 50 accompanied by granddaughter Aria when she is just a few years older.
With the Renners having taken over operations from Strom, an old school cowboy in every sense of the word, daughter Sara has also taken on part of the legacy in addition to helping out with lodge operations.
While owning and operating a boutique hotel in Canmore, Paintbox Lodge, with husband Thomas Grandi, she now owns Strom’s brand that he used to identify his horses in the backcountry.
That emblem, burned into the back of one of the cabin doors, is a broken ski pole. Fitting, says Sepp, considering Strom was Norwegian and when Sara broke her pole during a race in the 2006 Olympics, a Norwegian coach on the sidelines handed her a new one which allowed she and relay partner Beckie Scott to take silver.
“It’s a big legacy that we have,” says Sepp.
