CMH Cocktails You Can Make At Home
Let’s be honest, we all enjoy a good cocktail. At après hour, few things taste sweeter than a well-mixed, well-crafted adult beverage. Shaken, stirred or simply just poured over ice—we have faith that our perceptive CMH bartenders know what makes the perfect drink.
Yet, beyond just an extensive selection of local Canadian microbrews and deep wine cellars stocked with great examples of the Okanagan Valley’s sub-appellations, CMH has made a recent push to elevate craft cocktail offerings for summer. Starting in 2016 we embarked on a spirited journey of creating a signature cocktail menu and began partnering local micro-distilleries—including Banff’s Park Distillery and Canmore’s Wild Life Distillery—born from a recent upsurge in Canadian micro-distilleries.
Shooting Gallery: Photography Tips from Jesse Tamayo
Few locations on earth are such spectacular venues for photography as the CMH summer lodges in the Cariboos, Bugaboos, and Purcells. From the dramatic peaks and vistas to the smaller moments of perfection, it’s a prime spot for capturing images whether a casual camera enthusiast just starting out or an aspiring semi-pro photographer with a bag full of lenses.
At first, it might seem an overwhelming task to capture the essence of a tour—yet one photographer who understands the enormity of that challenge from professional shooting experience was willing to sit down with us and share his expertise.
CMH Cariboos: The Great Wild North
When people conjure up visions of wild, northern ranges, unknowingly it’s CMH Cariboos they see in their mind. Turquoise blue tarns, more than five hundred glaciers, remote mountain lakes, wild, canyon waterfalls, vast alpine meadows, 7,000 square kilometres (2,700 square miles) of high mountain terrain to explore. Oceans of freshwater frozen in time. Wild populations of grizzly bear, timber wolf, beaver and moose—but a human population density that is considered officially, well, sparse. The Cariboos represent a wilderness experience that defines what is so truly distinct and rare about the mountains of Western Canada.
Icefields Parkway: 10 Self-Drive Tips on Canada’s National Treasure Road Trip
Consistently ranked as one of the most stunning drives in the world, Alberta’s Icefields Parkway – winding through Banff and Jasper National Parks – is a bucket list road trip that simply must be seen to be believed.
It’s 232 km (144 mi) of dramatic, sweeping viewpoints and turquoise blue lakes straddling the crest of the Continental Divide. Giant glaciers, towering summits and raging waterfalls – and that’s just the roadside viewing fare. It’s a powerful place and we simply can’t think of enough adjectives to describe one of Canada’s wild, national treasures.
Yet, in this case, paradise comes with more than a little company as the scenic route experiences heavy traffic in the summer high season. We guarantee you will not be alone in your awe. While most of our guests opt for a relaxing luxury coach ride along the parkway, piloting a rental car or camper is an experience worth the effort for those who crave a good self-directed road trip.
Travel Tips for Driving the Icefields Parkway
4/ A Note on Wildlife
We all love charismatic megafauna and the Icefields Parkway is home to some very impressive beasts from bears to bighorn. Yet stopped vehicles have become a serious hazard on the highway and Parks Canada has started ticketing folks who stop in unsafe locations. Please pull over in a safe location, don’t exit your vehicle and give wildlife at least 30 meters of space and a wider 100-meter berth for the bears.
5/ It’s Not the City
There is no cell coverage on the Parkway. There is only one gas station in the 232-kilometre stretch—at The Crossing. Gas up, stock up and gear up before you leave Banff. A valid Parks pass is required for those on the self-drive program. The weather can shift at any time, so be prepared—as we know you are—for the mountains. Stay focused if you’re driving, because those dramatic postcard views are hypnotizing.
Stops on the Drive to CMH Cariboos
3/ Columbia Icefield
While it can be very busy, stopping at the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre and its natural history museum is pretty much mandatory if it’s your first time down this route. It’s not a wilderness experience but ticking off a view of the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies—and the hydrological apex between headwaters for the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic oceans—is worth the trip even if just to grasp the scale of this giant, retreating, roadside glacial attraction.
4/ Waterfall Waysides
Call us a sucker for a waterfall photo, but both Mistaya Falls and Athabasca Falls are worth the diversions from the Icefields Parkway. Even if it’s just for the Instagram shot. If you’ve started with the dawn—and made it this far—your odds of taking in the volume and force of Athabasca Falls without it being too busy are best at this time. Mistaya Canyon Falls is less visited and less famous, but its kilometre-from-the road slot canyon feel is stunning, relaxing and reflective all at the same time.
