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Published: Saturday, April 19, 2003

Reclaiming your healthy self
B.C. retreat pushes you, pampers you to better living habits

By Story and photos by Sue Frause
Special to The Herald

If Oprah could lose 30 odd pounds, so could I. And like the big O, I was going to do it the heart-healthy way, not through fad diets or fat farms. This was going to be a lifestyle change.

As a perimenopausal 52-year-old woman, I wanted to regroup and recapture the healthy and active lifestyle that had somehow escaped me.

Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat & Health Spa in British Columbia seemed to be the ideal jumping off point. I signed up for their seven-night FitPlan Weight Loss Spa Retreat program, which combined everything I was looking for: a personal fitness appraisal and individual fitness program; daily yoga and stretch classes; daily guided hikes and power walks; weight-room workouts; three therapeutic massages; nutrition consultation and education; a spa cuisine cooking class; and three meals a day featuring the FitPlan Weight Loss menu.

To top it off, they even do your laundry.

Mountain Trek is in Ainsworth Hot Springs in the southeast corner of British Columbia, 45 minutes from Nelson, B.C., and an eight-hour drive from Seattle.

The 12-year-old spa is the dream child of Wendy Pope, a former Toronto financial executive who escaped the harried urban lifestyle and created a world of wellness for herself and her guests. But this is not your typical "cream and steam" spa.

The 8,000-square-foot timber-frame lodge and studio is the heart and soul of Mountain Trek's 34 acres, with stunning views of Kootenay Lake and the Purcell Mountains.

Twelve private bedrooms are decorated simply; there are no telephones or televisions to interrupt your time of reflection and rejuvenation. There is a pay phone in the lobby along with a computer to check e-mail.

A cozy living room with a fireplace is the gathering spot for guests (a maximum of 14 per session), next to a spacious dining room featuring gourmet spa cuisine created by chefs Mary-Jo and Aaron. Outside are a sauna and hot tub; the hot pools of Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort are just a five-minute walk away.

This particular week there were 10 guests, seven women and three men ranging in age from 36 to 52 and hailing from across Canada and the United States. Their careers were as varied as their shapes and sizes: a mother of five, an accountant, a construction manager, a president of a small engineering firm.

Phyllis Boone, the dynamic 47-year-old owner of a Washington, D.C., area marketing and advertising agency, says she fell off the fitness wagon when her business took off and she became a workaholic. Like many of us who had journeyed to Mountain Trek, Phyllis was hoping to reclaim her healthy lifestyle.

The major forces behind the FitPlan Program are its creators and our team leaders for the week: Kirkland Shave, a charismatic life skills coordinator and outdoor wilderness guide; Don Carmichael, a soft-spoken kinesiologist and yoga instructor; and registered dietitian and avid outdoorsman Jeff Krueger.

This diverse and devoted trio, along with the rest of the Mountain Trek team, created a nurturing and supportive environment for our group.

Although no two days of the FitPlan Program are identical, there's a routine and a rhythm to the week, beginning with a gentle knock on the door at 6 a.m. "Wake up, Sue!"

Then it's off for an hour of warm-ups and stretching, whether it's yoga, Pilates or circuit training. As a nonyoga person, I was somewhat apprehensive about implementing these strange poses with goofy names, but I grew to enjoy it.

Next it's a healthy breakfast of hot or cold high-fiber cereal, dairy, fruit and nuts. No coffee.

Then it's time to don our hiking boots and hit the many trails of the Kootenay Lake Forest District. Our first adventure was Pilot Bay Provincial Park, a 40-minute ferry ride -- the longest free ferry ride in the world -- from Balfour across the lake to Kootenay Bay.

With Ryan Brown as our guide, along with Shave and Carmichael, we made the undulating five-mile trek through sun-filtered trees, stopping at Boomer's Beach for a snack and Sawmill Bay for lunch.

The next day's three-mile hike at Cedar Creek had a surprise and personal challenge for me -- navigating the creek on a narrow log while clinging to a very thin cable. My fellow trekkers, knowing my minor fear of heights, cheered me on as I slowly crept to the other side.

There were other Outward Bound moments that tested my bravery, too.

Tuesday's four-mile hike along the Burlington Northern Trail north of Nelson featured two long trestles rising five stories above one of the many mountain creeks that flow into Kootenay Lake (and with no railing for support).

While some of the less fearful semiscampered across the abandoned railway path, I plodded along carefully, avoiding looking at the watery scene off to the sides.

My favorite hike was the five miles we logged on the Galena Trail, although as we headed out it was just above freezing and sleeting. But by the time we reached the trailhead, the skies had cleared, making way for the April sun as we tromped through the spring snow along the old Canadian Pacific Railroad tracks to the ghost town of Alamo.

The highlight was traversing Carpenter Creek in a solo cable car, manually operated by a person at each end. Who needs Disneyland?

When we reached Alamo, a group of us continued on up a hill to a deserted mansion, with spectacular views off to New Denver Glacier in Valhalla Provincial Park.

My week at Mountain Trek wasn't just about hiking and working out and talking about nutrition.

There were those glorious massages; reading in the sun with the birds chirp-chirp-chirping and the chef chop-chop-chopping; spending an afternoon shopping in Nelson; after-dinner walks; late-night hot tubs to sooth sore muscles; sharing thoughts and feelings with fellow trekkers and team leaders; laughing uproariously around a campfire under a ring-around-the-moon sky; savoring our last supper, complete with strawberry shortcakes topped off with sparklers.

The FitPlan is much more than shedding pounds and body fat, although I'm pleased to report that I lost 2.2 pounds, 2.3 percent body fat and increased my flexibility by 4 inches in six days. A week after returning home, I'm still with the program and have never felt better.

It's about a potential lifestyle change toward healthy self-care that encompasses the whole being of body, mind and heart.

As Phyllis Horne said near the end of her weeklong stay: "It's been like a reunion ... not with other people, but with the me that used to eat healthy and live an active lifestyle."

I'll second my new friend's notion.

Sue Frause is a Whidbey Island freelance writer. She may be reached at skfrause@whidbey.com

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Fit Plan Weight Loss Spa Retreat Dates

May 2-23
May 30-June 20
Oct. 17-31

(2004)
January 9-30
February 6-27

Cost: $2,765 U.S., for one week, inclusive

Other programs include:
Mountain hiking
Multisports (hiking, biking, kayaking)
The Challenge Boot Camp Week
New Year's program
Yoga retreats

Breakfast: 1 cup high fiber seven-grain cereal with cinnamon-apple topping, 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese or 1 cup skim milk or 3/4 cup fortified soy milk, fresh fruit cup, 3 tablespoons mixed nuts and seeds.

Lunch: Smoked tofu or chicken and black bean wrap with lots of seasoned fresh veggies, fresh fruit, high-fiber organic carrot cake.

Dinner: Tossed spinach salad with orange-sesame dressing, grilled Pacific sockeye salmon with basil sauce on a bed of lentils and spinach.