Mountain Trek: A Week of Hiking, Yoga and Metabolic Reset in British Columbia

A typical day starts at 6:00 am in the dining room with ginger tea and a protein smoothie. By 6:30 everyone is in the fitness studio for hatha yoga, with the sunrise coming up behind the mountains through a wall of windows. Breakfast is at 7:30 — one of six calorie-reduced, nutrient-dense meals and snacks served each day. Then there is a seminar on fitness, detoxification, sleep or stress management, either before or after the day's hike.

Before heading out, guests go through a thorough foot care routine, put on hiking boots, fill their backpack water bladders and collect labelled snacks and lunches from a table in the boot room. A fleet of SUVs shuttles everyone to a different hiking location each day, chosen for its terrain and its ability to suit a range of physical abilities. Hikes run about four hours and are meant to be hard — a number seven on the rate of perceived exertion scale is the target. Trekking poles are used for balance and safety, and the programme reports they increase caloric expenditure by around 20 percent. Guests hike in groups of three to five with a guide, and everyone joins a group stretch at the end.

After a short window of personal time, dinner is served in the dining room. The menu runs from wasabi-crusted sustainable halibut and marinated free-range steak to tofu bowls packed with fresh vegetables. Then it is back to the gym, where Katya Campbell — the lodge's yoga instructor for more than 20 years and recently appointed programme director — and her team teach anything from CrossFit to aerobics.

The evening closes with a detoxification circuit: therapeutic massage, time in the infrared sauna, hydrotherapy in the outdoor hot tub and cold plunge pool, and access to nearby Ainsworth Hot Springs. Guests are typically in bed by 9:00 pm. On the seventh day, after a final body composition assessment, a complimentary shuttle takes guests to the airport.

The programme has been running since the 1990s and was the first hiking-focused luxury bootcamp in Canada. What separates it from a standard fitness retreat is the amount of time spent outdoors: most of the six daily activity hours happen in forest and mountain environments. The team includes life coaches, dieticians, kinesiologists, yoga instructors, massage therapists and certified outdoor guides. The lodge sits above 100-kilometre-long Kootenay Lake, looking across to the Purcell Mountain Range.

What's included

- Accommodation at Mountain Trek lodge - Six calorie-reduced meals and snacks per day - Daily hatha yoga class - Four-hour guided hike each day - SUV transport to and from hiking locations - Trekking poles - Evening fitness classes (CrossFit, aerobics and similar) - Seminars on fitness, detoxification, sleep and stress management - Therapeutic massage - Infrared sauna, outdoor hot tub and cold plunge pool - Access to Ainsworth Hot Springs - Body composition assessment - Complimentary airport shuttle on departure day

What's not included

- Flights to and from the retreat - Travel insurance - Personal expenses - Any additional spa treatments beyond the included massage - Alcohol (not served during the programme)