Tailored Thrills: Can an Adventure Concierge Curate Your Next Wild Escape?
A glass of Prosecco sits chilled and sparkling on the cedar bench beside me as the steam rising from the Nordic Spa’s warm pool fogs the crisp alpine air. I let out a deep, satisfied sigh that echoes the stillness of the Kananaskis Valley. It’s a moment of perfect bliss, the kind of decompression you earn after pushing your limits on an active mountain day.
That feeling of earned accomplishment was no accident. It was the result of a perfectly executed itinerary, the culmination of a full day of “wild” that had been meticulously tailored for me. Just hours earlier, I had spent time in the saddle, riding a friendly horse through the sun-dappled ridge trails at Boundary Ranch, canoed the glassy, mountain-ringed waters of Barrier Lake and hiked to the misty cascade of Troll Falls.
My entire day was planned by a new breed of mountain professional at the luxury Black Diamond Club, the recently opened resort within a resort, at Kananaskis Mountain Lodge. The process starts with a simple conversation to gauge your appetite for adventure, after which they handle every logistical detail: arranging guides, preparing gear, coordinating transport and even securing your dinner reservations at the lodge’s selection of restaurants. These guides do more than hand out trail maps. They shape experiences around each guest’s interests and abilities, coordinating everything from a Heli-hiking trip high in the alpine to simply booking your treatments at the spa.
I love the idea of wild, immersive adventures. I just don’t love the planning or the feeling that I need to go totally off grid to find them. So, I was intrigued to test out the services of an Adventure Concierge for myself. I met Eric Hughes at the Black Diamond Club in Kananaskis to find out how he helps guests chase adventure at every level, from easy family hikes to serious summit missions, and even arranging exclusive, vehicle-accessed snow days for advanced skiers.
Eric moved from Nova Scotia just over a year ago, but the Rockies still leave him in awe. In Kananaskis Country, he says, the wilderness feels raw and largely untouched, a sharp contrast to the crowded trails of nearby Banff. “In Kananaskis, the sense of adventure comes from it being so wild out here. When I’m on these beautiful trails and hardly anyone else is there, compared to hiking, say, in Banff National Park, I think the adventure is taken away a little bit when you’re in single-file lines of people. You truly get that sense of mountain adventure here. Having these beautiful places almost to yourself is pretty special.”
Often, guests are simply looking for trail recommendations in Kananaskis, and Eric’s top picks don’t disappoint. Troll Falls, where I learned to spark a fire with flint and steel; Tent Ridge, a demanding 10-kilometre loop along the mountaintop; Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada. Each promises a true taste of the wild.
My own experience on a private three-hour Survival Hike at Troll Falls with Kananaskis Outfitters cemented this feeling of solitude. I passed only a handful of people, and the small group, flexible pacing, even suitable for families with children over five, made mastering backcountry skills like foraging, shelter-building and fire-starting feel effortless. But this is only one end of the spectrum. For those who want more of a challenge, the concierge team can facilitate big-mountain experiences, which almost always require a professional guide and advance booking. This can include Heli-hiking, traversing a two-to-three-hour trail high in the alpine or cat skiing untouched terrain at Fortress Mountain, just 15 minutes from the lodge. “The guides take you up to the top of the mountain, and then you ski down. It’s really untouched, a cool backcountry skiing experience. [The guides] check for avalanches, they have that expertise. You can just enjoy your skiing and have that wild adventure.”
Eric says his perfect day in the Kananaskis Country would include hiking to Elbow Lake and enjoying a picnic before an evening session at the 50,000 square foot Kananaskis Nordic Spa. But don’t be fooled by the pedestrian, relaxed nature of this itinerary; Eric is a hard-charging adventurer himself. Just this summer, he completed a quadrathlon with friends, which involved biking down Highwood Pass, hiking up to a glacier, skiing down it and finishing the day with a swim in a glacial lake, all in one day!
One of the most impactful parts of Eric’s role is in making adventure accessible for all, from finding trails that the whole family can enjoy to facilitating specialized experiences through partners like Canmore’s Rocky Mountain Adaptive, who provide programs, lessons and gear, such as hand-pedal bikes, sit-skiing and adaptive water sports, to ensure people of all abilities can connect with the mountain wilderness.
For him, adventure exists on a complete spectrum, from a relaxing stroll to an endurance test. “I don’t think there’s any judgment in having that champagne picnic if you want. If that’s what truly makes you happy, then that’s what we’re going to do for you,” he notes, pointing out that whether a guest is strolling the 1.4-kilometre paved Village Rim trail that encircles Kananaskis Village with the family or joining him for his next quadrathlon, it all counts. “It’s really nice that everyone can go out and explore Kananaskis exactly how they want to.”
So, with permission from the adventure expert, I am going to soak a little longer in the hot tub, enjoy my Prosecco and maybe plan some more mountain adventures for tomorrow.
