Train tour taking

ABOARD THE Rocky Mountaineer — As ihe train
follows the Kicking Horse River betwzen Field and Gold-
en, B.C., we marvel again at nature’s most spectacular

sculpture.

Last week, we followed the
Fraser Canyon, ihe Thompson
River and the Yellowhead route
past Mount Robson to Jasper.
And now, from Banff, we head
home.

We have previously reported
about the Great Canadian
Raiktour Co., based in North
Vanecuver. Peter Armstrong and
associates purchased the train and

_ the concept from Via Rail, ina
hotly contested privatization.

Four years ago, then-transport
minister Don Mazankowski decid-
ed that the federal government
should not be in the purely com-
mercial tourism business. Via Rail
had begun a specialized tour pro-
gram with all-daylight trains to
the Rockies.

Now completing its third
season, carrying ever-increasing
numbers of visitors, the Rocky
Mountaineer is beginning to take
on legendary status. ,

The company's advertising lit-
erature bills it as **The Most
Spectacular Train Trip in the
World.” .

Judging from thousands of in-
ternational media accolades, the
boast is more than hyperbole.

_ « ¥t was sub-zero and frosty
under a bright sun in Banff this

morning. The mountains sparkled.

We awaited the train's arrival
. from Calgary. The column would
be written today, but what would
be the topic?
- Once aboard, I leafed through a
week’s notes, in search of the best
’ story.
We had mixed feelings about
’ the lavish additions to the Jasper
Park Lo.., catering to the
. nouveau riche and their irresistible
* urge to spend money. The ‘‘old”’
"lodge. had seemed like a frontier
version of the finest gentlemen’s
private club. The enlarged modern
» facility’ is better in every obvious
way, but. some charm has been
, lost.’
At Jasper, a golf partner
visiting from Tokyo complained
‘that Banff was overrun by his
‘fellow. Japanese. -
“*] came here to see the Cana-
“dian Rockies ... when they said .
I'd feel right at home, they meant
it! Le] .
We were also amused by the
maitre d’ at the lodge’s elegant
‘new Edith'Cavell dining room.
. When, we spotted a ha!f-dozen
identical houndstooth sports
‘jackets, he said they were for
gentlemen who arrive wearing in-
appropriate attire.
‘When a group of men come in
golf shirts, for example, we give
them these jackets. It creates an
‘interesting scene,”’ he said.
_ Six golfers, seated at a round
' table in the centre of this refined

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room, must look like a dance
band left over from the 1950s.

Driving the Icefields Parkway
from Jasper to Banff amid a
snowstorm is worth a mention.
We sympathized with the bus
tours. They whuld see nothing of
Canada’s most dazzling scenic
toute.

‘If the emergence of Jasper Park
Lodge into a more modern
monied world is a story, the
resurgence of the Banff Springs

Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise is

quite simply impressive.

The Lake Louise retreat, a fad-
ed, dingy, bus tour carnival at las?
visit, has once again developed a
sense of grace to match its locale.

And the Banff Springs: it’s big,
brash, varied, exciting, busy and
— once again — the complete spa
first promoted by William Cor-
nelius Van Horne.

in recent history, it had become
amass market Disneyland. The
Tesort seems to have lost none of
the excitement, but it has recap-
tured a first-class style.

Golfing through herds of elk on
the Banff Springs golf course, was
an intevesting challenge yet to be
addressed by Jack Nicklaus or the
other authors of instructional
manuals.

The heavily antlered bucks are
particularly ill-tempered and ter-

citorial at this time of year, the
mating season.

The animals delight the tourists.

You see as many cameras as golf
clubs, with cars parked along
every access road near the fair-
ways.

We suspect that greens-keepers
fantasize about aiming machine
guns at the elk. Their greens are
perpetually chopped up by
hooves.

The 27 holes at Banff are
thoroughly and naturally fertil-
ized. Rubber boots might be more
appropriate than spikes.

These were among the
reporter’s notes. But none of them
contained the best story of the
trip.

The best story? In a word,
Kamloops.

eee

Perched at the northern extrem-
ity of the continent’s arid, fre-
quently desert topography that
stretches south to Mexico, the im-
age of Kamloops is as a way-sta-
tion en route i> the coast. Its
economy reels with the fortunes of
pulp, timber and mining.

The Great Canadian Railiour
Co. is rapidly developing a love
affair with the Thompson River
city.

When former publisher Rick
Antonson, now vice-president of
marketing for the Rocky Moun-
taineer, advised that an American
travel writer recently wrote that
Kamloops was “‘like Santa Fe
north,’’ I laughed, and sarcastical-
ly replied: ‘‘When was the last
time Pavarotti performed in
Kamloops?”’

Sania Fe, a sophisticated centre
for creative and performing arts,
is an affluent cultural oasis.

Ever the conciliator, my wife
pointed out: ‘*The sage brush is
very similar.’’ .

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Thank you!

The Canadian Craft Museum extends a sincere
thank you to Joe Fortes Seafood House for
their generous support and contribution in

‘ making
The 3rd Annual Pacific Northwest

Wine Festival

such a success!

on legend

in Vancouver Call 8

Sunday, October 4, 1992 - North Shore News - 9

We were met at the Kamloops
station by an old business friend,
former Bayshore Inn and Greater
Vancouver Visitors and Conven-
tion Bureau executive Fred
Oakley. He whisked us to dinner
with city councillor Shirley
Carver.

Oakley, now the manager of the
Kamloops Tourist and Convention
Bureau effervesced with an almost
juvenile exciternent: ‘‘] should
have made this move years ago.””

Not only has the Rocky Moun-
taineer added over 15,000 room-
nights io the annual hospitality
trade, Kamloops is gearing up for
next year’s Canada Summer
Games and the 1993 World Fly
Fishing Championship with com-
petitors from 75 countries.

Riverside Golf Course continues
to attract more than its share of
prestigious events and the city has

ary status

just opened a new coliseum and
rnulti-purpose facility.

We met with a school chum
from bygone years in New
Brunswick, Derick MacDonaid, a
leading member of the Kamloops
business community. He and Jap-
anese partners are developing a |
world-class resort and golf course,
the Kamloops Lake Ranch and
Country Club.

The proprietor of the Lac Le
Jeune Resort, the Woody Life
Village and president of the
downtown Kamloops Quality Inn,
MacDonald is also bullish about
the city’s future.

‘We have always been a place
to stop along the highway,’’ he
said. ‘Now we are giving people
many reasons to stay for a
while.”

‘

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