Come to Canada once the snow flies, and you’ve got two choices: book the first flight to Cancun or make friends with winter. My partner and I opt for door number two, heading for Ontario’s Lake Country. About 90 minutes north of Toronto, this region includes the districts of Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Rama, Ramara and Severn. If we can’t cozy up to winter in this frosty playground, we won’t be able to do it anywhere.
We begin the acquaintance in a tree-swathed valley with Hardwood Ski and Bike, snowshoeing over ridges and through glades of silence, interrupted only by the sound of snow falling from trees and the rhythmic crunch of snowshoes.
This is a big cross-country ski area, but we want to try downhill, so we check out Horseshoe Resort, which offers first-rate accommodation and a range of runs from beginner to double-black diamonds. In the unlikely event we tire of schussing, we can try the terrain park or even go snowtubing.
A few kilometres north, we book a ski lesson at Mount St. Louis Moonstone, ultimately flying down gorgeous runs overlooking undulating valleys punctuated by stands of pine and weathered black barns. Here are exhilarating runs designed for skiers by Josl Huter, an avid skier in his own right—and a guy who still tests every run like a Le Cordon Bleu chef.
We find Lake Country’s other charms decidedly charming. That night, a masseuse from Lake Country Spa ministers to my martyred muscles in the living room of our suite at Orillia’s Stone Gate Inn, reflections from the fireplace flickering on my oiled skin. Next morning, we book a snowmobile and skim the white landscape with Cottage Country Tours; snowmobile and lessons included.
Then we venture out onto the white expanse of Lake Couchiching, chatting with ice fishermen huddled beside red and green huts, getting the low-down on which fish like which bait. Looks like so much fun, we rent our own ice hut and plan to tell our own white lies about the one that got away.
We take off the chill at nearby Casino Rama, then back to Orillia for some inside stuff, prowling shops decorated with holly and ivy, draped with rainbows of holiday lights. We cap our spree with a lunch of quiche and salad in Mariposa Market, housed in a refurbished general store that’s been around since 1859. We stroll through the Stephen Leacock Museum, staring through big windows at a town described so affectionately by Canada’s answer to Mark Twain in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Then it’s back to winter. We stand outside, anticipating a morning’s mushing adventure on a dogsled, squinting into the dawn sun that is a prism reflecting from ice-crusted tree branches, transforming snowflakes into glittering diamonds. Yep, we’ve made friends with winter.
www.ontariotravel.net
