BC Interior · Backcountry Lodges
From the Journal
Two lodges above the treeline
I've flown into both Purcell and Mistaya with a drone case in one hand and skis in the other. Fifteen helicopter minutes from Golden, a full world away from it — here's how BC's heli-access backcountry lodges work, and how to choose between meadow and glacier.
Words, photography & film by Ben Taft ·
Read the storyMistaya sits in the Wildcat Creek basin at about 2,040 metres, on ground bounded by Banff and Yoho, and has been running since 1988. The helicopter from Golden is the only way in, and it flies on fixed changeover days — Mondays and Fridays in summer, Sundays through mid-winter — so trips are sold as whole blocks of three, four, six or seven days rather than nights. Six guest rooms take fourteen people, with a sauna and a large deck. Winter is guided ski touring and snowshoeing on glaciated alpine above treeline and spaced glades below it; summer is alpine hiking, scrambling and mountaineering, graded for all levels. Rates are published in full for both seasons and include the flight, all meals and guiding. Solo guests take a single room at a $200 nightly supplement.
Helicopter from Golden, BC on fixed changeover days — Mondays and Fridays in summer, Sundays in mid-winter — flown by Alpine Helicopters. Included in the package rate.
16 photographs of Mistaya Lodge. Select any image to enlarge it.
51.6000, -116.7500 · nearest gateway Kelowna, Kamloops, Golden or Calgary
Compiled from the operator's own published material and rewritten in our own words. Last checked 31 July 2026. The following could not be confirmed against a published source and are marked unverified: lat, lng.
BC Interior · Backcountry Lodges
5.0 · 317 TripAdvisor reviews
Heli-access backcountry lodge fifteen minutes from Golden, with guided and self-guided ski touring and hiking.
December to April for ski touring and snowshoeing, June to September for hiking · sleeps 30 · Helicopter
Mistaya Lodge
Availability request · reviewed by a person
