Mistaya Lodge

Winter 2026/27 is $4,500 per person for the standard 7-night week, $3,400 to $4,200 for the 3 to 6 night trips in January and April. Summer 2027 is $2,400 for 3 nights, $2,700 for 4 and $3,940 for 7. Every price includes all taxes, the helicopter, meals and guiding, for 2 to 4 sharing a room; a solo guest pays $200 a night more for a room alone. The whole lodge, cook and guides can be booked exclusively on enquiry.

Meet at the Alpine Helicopters hangar at the Golden airport, the last hangar on Fisher Road, at 8:45 Mountain time. Bags are weighed, you sign the waiver with a staff member as witness, the pilot gives the safety briefing, and the first group flies the 20 minutes to the lodge in a Bell 407, six at a time. The rest are driven to a staging area in the Blaeberry valley, 20 minutes up the road, for a 16-minute flight. Coming home you are back at the hangar between noon and 1 pm; the lodge says not to book an onward flight the same day, and to allow four hours to drive to Calgary in winter.

Summer: a small soft duffel plus your day pack plus any alcohol, 30 lb in total. Winter: a soft duffel no bigger than 60 L plus day pack plus alcohol, 35 lb, with one pair of skis on top of that and no ski bag. No suitcases, frame packs or wheels; poles and tripods carried separately; bear spray declared to the helipad staff. Dress to hike or ski from the moment you land, helmet on in winter, and carry a bagged lunch for the first day.

Everyone waits at the hangar through the day until it lifts. If it goes overnight, food and a room in Golden are at your own expense; the lodge says that has happened four times in 19 years. There is no refund for weather, and an extra or unscheduled flight, including an evacuation, is at the guest's expense.

Seven bedrooms upstairs for fourteen people, a mix of single, double and bunk beds, with linen, pillows, duvets and towels supplied. Rates assume 2 to 4 to a room; a solo traveller takes a one-person room at $200 a night. Two indoor washrooms with hot and cold running water, two outhouses with a view, a wood-fired sauna house with a hot shower, fired every afternoon before dinner, and a heated drying room with a boot dryer. No hair dryers: the micro-hydro cannot run them.

Coffee at 6, a 2-course breakfast at 8 while the guides go over the plan, then a lunch spread to pack from at 9 and out the door at 9:30 or 10. Back around 4 to a snack and the hot sauna, a 3-course dinner at 6 or 7 at the family table, then the evening to yourself; many guests get up in the small hours for the stars.

In winter the guides and guests set the day together each morning from terrain, snow, forecast and who wants what, with one or two ACMG guides and an apprentice so the group can split by ability. In summer the hikes are graded from an all-on-trail waterfall walk to 15 km peak days. The first day's outing starts as soon as you land.

Winter guests should be comfortable skinning uphill for a 3,000 to 5,000 foot day and skiing variable snow in control; snowboarders are welcome on a touring set-up with the experience to move efficiently in alpine terrain. Summer runs from 4 km trail walks to 10-hour summit days, so any reasonable fitness has a day to fit it. Ages 14 to 19 come with a parent who accepts responsibility in writing; younger children only with an exclusive whole-lodge booking.

Every winter guest carries a transceiver, shovel and probe at all times, and everyone does a transceiver practice on the first day. The lodge rents the kit by the week (transceiver $40, shovel $10, probe $10), booked with the reservation. Alpine touring and telemark skis with skins are $40 a day (G3 and K2 models, G3 Ion bindings); tell the office your height, weight, ability and boot sole length. Boots must be rented in Golden, Calgary or Canmore before you fly. Snowshoes are $12 a day.

Home cooking by the in-house cook: a 2-course breakfast, a packed lunch, afternoon tea and baking, a 3-course dinner, served family-style at one long table, with lettuce and herbs from the greenhouse in summer. Food sensitivities go on your guest form. House wine and a small selection of beer are sold at the lodge for cash or cheque, or you can fly your own in inside the bag limit, no glass.

Wifi exists but is very limited and the staff need it for safety, so it is for texts and emails only; no cell coverage. Power is from a micro-hydro and solar system and runs the lodge but not hair dryers. Leave the office number, 1-866-647-8292, with anyone who might need to reach you; they relay messages.

The lodge's list: wool or synthetic base layers, mid layers, a hooded shell and shell pants with side zips, a down coat or vest, mitts and liners, toque and sun hat, goggles and sunglasses, ski boots, skis, skins, poles with powder baskets and ski crampons, transceiver, shovel and probe, and a lightweight harness with a locking carabiner for glacier travel. Add slippers for the lodge, a swimsuit for the sauna, a headlamp and a blister kit, all inside 35 lb.

Open the winter backcountry lodge packing list →

Waterproof boots with support, gaiters, rain jacket and pants with a pack cover, a wind shell, warm jacket, hat and gloves, sun hat and sunglasses, a swimsuit for the sauna, insect repellent, a blister kit and a headlamp. Poles are optional; bear spray only if you plan to hike without a guide. Hut shoes for the lodge. All of it, with your day pack, inside 30 lb. The lodge sells a waterproof topo map of the basin for $3.

Open the summer backcountry lodge packing list →

Gratuities are not in the price. The lodge says tips have typically averaged 10% of the package, pooled and shared by workload. Bring cash or a cheque: there is no card machine at the lodge.

Yes. Every guest signs a Release of Liability, Waiver of Claims and Assumption of Risk agreement at the hangar, witnessed by a Mistaya employee, before boarding; guests 19 and under need a guardian's indemnification form too. The waiver texts are on the Terms & Conditions page to read at home; do not print them.