What to Expect at Mountain Trek Health Reset Retreat

I’d long aspired to go to Mountain Trek Health Reset Retreat, a wellness destination set on a forested mountainside above the tiny resort village of Ainsworth Hot Springs, B.C.

That aspiration became a quest after a decade-long struggle with insomnia left me completely worn down, despite following every sleep hygiene rule. Exhausted — and having exhausted my options with several sleep doctors and an array of sleep medications — I finally went to Mountain Trek for a week in early October.

I desperately hoped the retreat’s combination of daily hikes, nourishing food and mountain air would provide deep rest and respite — and hopefully forever break the spell of insomnia by resetting my brain and body.

Mountain Trek is little-known in Canada, but is famous internationally. In 2024, Outside magazine rated it one of 14 best wellness retreats in the world for active travellers, and Conde Nast Traveler readers’ choice awards named it Canada’s No. 1 wellness retreat.

Opened in 1991 as a mountain lodge in the verdant West Kootenay region northeast of Nelson, Mountain Trek evolved into a recreational retreat that used hiking and mountain biking to torch calories for weight loss.

In 2000, the retreat hired Kirkland Shave, a longtime park ranger who ran a wilderness skills school, as a hiking guide. After seven years, he bought into the company. As the program creator and a motivational guru, Shave has shaped the program into a unique blend of wellness bootcamp, luxury adult summer camp and holistic spa.

The retreat runs weekly from late April until October, with up to 16 guests lovingly tended by at least 40 staff. The clientele is 70-per cent American and female, with an average age of 54; each week, fully 30 per cent of guests are returnees. Despite the current $8,900-a-week fee, a few sign up for two or even three weeks.

People come to Mountain Trek seeking help with a wide variety of health and wellness concerns, from stress, burnout and weight gain, to the need for a complete lifestyle reboot. Often, says Shave, they’ve had something significant happen that makes them want to make lasting change. “[They’ve] hit a wall, such as getting a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, or needing to go on statins. They’ve lost a parent to dementia, or they’ve had a loss, like a job or a divorce. There’s a catalyst, a wake-up, a kick start and they decide to invest in themselves.”

Like me, about 50 per cent of guests want to address sleep health.

We guests arrive at the rustic-luxe lodge around 5 p.m. on a Saturday. Part of the mystique of Mountain Trek is wrapped up in the Kootenays region itself, long a magnet for folks with an alternative bent. Getting to this isolated area takes effort, much like undertaking a journey to the Middle Kingdom, laughs Shave, as he welcomes us with a dinner of cedar-planked sockeye salmon and vegetables. To drink? Water and herbal tea.

Thus begins our detox: there’s no sugar, gluten, caffeine, alcohol or dairy and few carbs on the spa-gourmet menu. It includes organic vegetarian fare, but also wild-caught fish, free-range poultry, even grass-fed beef. Those guests seeking to lose weight are limited to 1,200 to 1,400 organic, low-sodium calories a day, spread over three meals and three snacks. (After the initial shock, I discover I’m sometimes hungry, but never starving.)

The goal is to tamp down inflammation and the stress hormone cortisol, and to boost metabolism. There’s a digital detox, too; other than for taking the odd photo, phones are to be used only in our small, Spartan rooms. The Wi-Fi is cut at 10 p.m.

I’m in bed at 9:15 p.m. anyway because, two days before the retreat, I’d had a pre-arrival assessment with Shave over Zoom. He zeroes in on my sleep habits: cool room, blackout blinds, no screens an hour before bed, little to no alcohol or caffeine. Check and check. I tell him I failed miserably (twice) at a sleep-compression program in which I fought to stay awake until midnight and then attempt to get up at 6 a.m. to “squeeze out” insomnia.

“But clock-watching doesn’t take your circadian rhythm into account,” he says, counselling me instead to pay attention to my body’s naturally rising level of melatonin in the evening, and to go to bed immediately when I begin feeling drowsy.

“Catch the wave, like a surfer, and don’t let it pass you by,” Shave says. I try it that night: at 9:15 p.m., I start dozing while reading; I’m in bed and asleep at 9:30; I wake up once in the night, then rise at 5:30 a.m., feeling more refreshed than I had in years. Bingo.

The week at Mountain Trek — a regimented schedule that keeps us hopping and, therefore, yawning early — solidifies these sleep habits (and many others).

A typical day: An alarm clock with simulated sunrise and birdsong chirps at 5:45 a.m. Pull on yoga clothes, stagger to the dining room at 6:10 a.m. for a smoothie, then join a gentle yoga class from 6:30 to 7:30. As the sun rises, take in the breathtaking view of Kootenay Lake and the Purcell Mountains.

After breakfast comes foot care. Preventing pressure spots and blisters with fabric strips and second skin is essential because most days we hike for two to four hours — always with poles, in a brisk, but enjoyable “flow” state.

There are four hiking groups, based on ability. On the first hike, as I struggle up a steep climb, my hiking guide, Kirstie Leighton, regards me with her clear, blue-green eyes. “Don’t lean over when you’re hiking uphill — stand tall to open up your lungs. And breathe,” she says. Damn if it doesn’t work. Words to live by. When we stop to nosh on a half banana and a handful of (unsalted) nuts, I tell her one of my toes is sore, so she tenderly tapes it trailside.

It’s but one example of the dream team of people who work at the retreat. They get to the heart of whatever holds clients back and support them with kindness and compassion.

Forget about an afternoon nap, though. After hiking on the beautiful trails come lectures in the lodge’s cozy lounge area on sleep, nutrition and stress management. In one about detoxifying naturally, Candi Huscroft, a hiking guide and nutritionist, recommends drinking at least two litres of water a day; eating a rainbow of foods and lots of fibre; embracing yoga and massage; and regularly using saunas and steam baths, followed by a cold plunge to boost the immune system.

Up next is an hour-long strength training class. I dread it, but the mix of free weights, bands and cardio is wonderfully energizing. The rewards: a small snack and precious free time to soak in the outdoor hot tub, bask in the steam room or infrared sauna and slip into the hydrotherapy cold plunge pool. Marvellous.

Dinner is served at 5:15 p.m., then a nature walk to help manage blood sugar levels and an evening roster of restorative yoga, sound healing or spa appointments. The program includes three 50-minute massages, plus a range of treatments like acupuncture, Tarot card readings and facials available at extra cost. For the first time, I sample Reiki and somatic therapy, and feel a profound release of several emotional burdens.

After a tough, yet blissful week, I drive away feeling calm and rested, several pounds lighter, with glowing skin and without my usual aches and pains (reduced inflammation, no doubt). I haven’t felt this good since I was a kid. Expensive? Sure, but it’s a transformative experience.

Months later, I continue to reap the benefits of my reset, with more protein and veggies in my diet, plus regular sessions of yoga and strength training and, best of all, catching the melatonin wave and riding it to dreamland most nights.

3800 North St., Ainsworth, B.C., mountaintrek.com

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