I lost weight and gained muscle at this fitness camp in Canada, but that wasn’t the best part
On the last morning of my weeklong stay at Mountain Trek, a fitness/wellness retreat in the mountains of British Columbia, program manager Katya Matthews asked how I found the experience.
“Different but better than I expected,” I said, not even referring to the fact she had just measured that I’d shed 3.5 inches off my chest, waist and hips, as well as lost 4 percent body fat in seven days.
Sure, I’d soaked in the divine scenery of Canada’s Columbia Mountains. I’d eaten at restaurant-quality food, a surprisingly doable 1,200-1,400 calories per day, with no alcohol, sugar or caffeine. I’d rediscovered that I truly enjoy hard, physical work. I pushed myself to the point of muscle twitches and chest aches. I slept so soundly my smartwatch must’ve wondered if I was dead. I barely checked social media, email or texts. But most importantly, I made 15 new friends, my fellow campers, and reconnected with an empathetic kindness — both to myself and others — that’s all too easy to let slip in the daily rat race of city life.
On Kootenay Lake in Ainsworth, B.C., about four hours’ drive north of Spokane, Wash., Mountain Trek is not a “fat camp,” per se. It was, when it launched 30-plus years ago. That places Mountain Trek in pioneer territory, in an increasingly crowded wellness-retreat market that now includes influencer/celebrity magnets like The Ranch in Malibu, Calif.
Mountain Trekkers don’t pose for many selfies, at least they didn’t during my stay. Most left phones in their comfortable-but-no-frills rooms at the lodge. Everyone was there for different reasons, whether weight loss, mental reset, digital detox, trauma recovery or something else. We all wrote our goals down before weigh-in at the start of the week and revisited at the end.
Here’s how each day goes: Wake up at 6. Grab small smoothie and drink a cup of ginger water in the dining room to kick-start metabolism. Log previous day’s activities and note anything out of the ordinary physically/mentally. Guided yoga/stretching begins at 6:30. Breakfast is at 7:30. During breakfast, listen to a run-down of the rest of the day: 3–4-hour hike (most of which require a van ride), soup and snack along the trail, back to the lodge for educational talks from the expert staff, 5:15 p.m. dinner, 6 p.m. cardio/high-intensity fitness class, followed by a massage and/or hot tub soak/cold plunge/sauna circuit. Socialize, if you choose. Bedtime.
Campers included, among others, a recently retired lawyer from Calgary; surgeons from Seattle and Northern California; a real estate investor from Kansas City; a marketing bigwig from Australia; and, my happy hiking buddy, Mo, an investor who owns Lazy Boy stores and splits time between Edmonton and Florida. The majority were repeat guests.
Mo, who has been to health retreats across North America, said Mountain Trek yielded the most impressive results for him. I believe it. Co-owner/maestro Kirkland Shave and his lieutenants have the whole shebang down pat; they’re so knowledgeable it’s hard not to buy in.
For example, Shave — a certified life coach and “relational somatic therapist” — led a class about willpower and creating healthy, sustainable habits. In his stern baritone, words of wisdom roll out like a yoga mat.
On distraction/procrastination: “Philosophically, we don’t want to believe we are in a finite life.”
On therapy: “If we don’t look in Pandora’s box with a guide, we just continue with our lives blithely getting triggered by everything.”
And so on. He genuinely wants to improve your life from the inside out. Lectures by nutritionist Jenn Keirstead, a former competitive swimmer who cured her eczema and asthma by changing her diet, were another highlight. I learned the importance of eating breakfast — equal volumes complex carbs and veggies/fruit, plus a bit of protein — within 30 minutes of waking up (before coffee!). When I asked her about my Favorita virtuous snack, popcorn, Keirstead answered by asking, “Do you know what they give cows on feed lots to fatten them up?”
Ouch. While I haven’t stopped eating popcorn entirely, I have carried over some mindful habits from Mountain Trek. I’ve upped my running mileage from 20 miles per week to 30-40, and somehow enjoy it more than I did before.
The hikes in Canada stun. Campers are split into groups based on speed/ability. Quick Nordic-style hiking with poles, it’s a full-body workout. One day we were swishing along a raging ravine in the forest led by an ultramarathoner; the next we were soaking in the cold water at a beach before our ferry ride back to the lodge. On the last day, Shave guided me and Jamie, a wealth manager from Boston, up and around Kokanee Glacier Park, where the boys jumped off a block of ice into the lake before we dipped into still-warm Mulligatawny soup from the thermoses in our packs.
But the most memorable hike was with Mo; it was a microcosm of what I love about traveling, people and Mountain Trek in general. We revisited our first-day assessment hike, “Detox Hill,” a painful climb right near the lodge.
The goal is that you should be working hard enough that you can’t carry on a full conversation. Mo is a talker and wonderful conversationalist. It was his second week at the lodge, and he’d bonded with another two-week camper, a teacher who’d sold her car and walked to work every day to afford the reset at Mountain Trek after many years of dealing with heart-breaking family issues.
As Mo and I maneuverer down a steep scree after the long uphill, we discussed the people we’d met during our stay. The teacher’s name came up, and we expressed awe in her fortitude. I felt warm tears slide down my cheek. I found out Mo had already quietly asked Mountain Trek if he could pay for her entire stay.
“Everyone needs a leg up sometimes,” he said.
My goal for the week originally was Do Hard Work. Mo’s was too, I think — he lost at least 15 pounds in two weeks — but he gave me an even better take away: Always be kind, to yourself and others.