Mount Washington Snowshoe & Fondue Dinner Tour

The following photo essay was experienced and contributed by John Biehler exclusively for Miss604.com

Recently, I had the chance to once again fill in for Rebecca who couldn’t be in two places at once and once again I think I got the better part of the deal as she was getting her shots and dealing with travel visas for her trip to Africa.

After a short flight from Vancouver with Pacific Coastal Air to Comox, I was taken to the beautiful Old House Village Hotel & Spa in Courtenay on Vancouver Island.

With a brief stop to check in (more on the Old House in a future post), our group then took a short drive and headed up to the Raven Lodge on Mt. Washington. Here we got geared up and met our guide, Elmore (in the red hat) who was going to take us on a guided snowshoe tour of the trails on the mountain.

Dusk was just starting to fall when we made our way back to the lodge after an easy, two hour walk through the trees and trails. We were welcomed to a huge family style fondue dinner once we got our snowshoes off.

We began with a bread and swiss cheese fondue, which was followed by a flavourful broth for the large meat & seafood tray and finished things off with a fresh fruit and chocolate fondue for dessert. Add in a little wine and we were all ready for bed after the snowshoe hike.

If you’re considering the fondue dinner (which only happens on Friday and Saturday nights), it’s best to pre-book as it was sold out when we were there on a Saturday night.

Upcoming posts to follow from the rest of my Snow to Surf tour of Vancouver Island include caving in the Horne Lake Caves, surfing in Ucluelet and a zodiac tour of the Broken Islands.

John is an avid photographer, gadget geek and traveller. You can find him on Twitter and at johnbiehler.com where he discusses photography and all sorts of technology. All photos in this post were taken by John.

Disclosure: Activities, services and dining experiences during the trip were compliments of Tourism Vancouver Island or the operators and businesses mentioned.