COVER FEATURE: Immerse Yourself

IMMERSEYOURSELF

REJUVENATE MIND, BODY AND SOUL IN THE MOUNTAINS

GREEN LAKE WAS KELLY HAND’S GO-TO SPOT ON HER 574-DAY COLD DIP JOURNEY.

STORY BY ALISON TAYLOR

Gripped in the icy throes of a polar vortex, with blasts of frigid Arctic air sweeping through the valley in unseasonal winter weather, everyone — Whistler’s locals and visitors — had a one track mind: Get warm and stay warm.

Not Kelly Hand.

As temperatures plummeted in February 2021, Hand slipped out of bed before the first promise of the day peaked over the mountains, quietly closing her front door careful not to rouse her sleeping household, and made her way to nearby Green Lake in the kind of dark early-morning cold that takes your breath away.

Small axe in hand, she crouched at the end of a snowcovered dock, chopping through the three or four inches of ice that had stealthily formed on the water overnight.

She didn’t need to dip her toe in to know — the glacial waters of Whistler’s Green Lake are notoriously cold, even in the height of the summer.

Water exposed, and with a laser focus both mental and physical, Hand made her way down the ladder, one step at a time, until she was fully immersed in the icy black.

Head under. Pause. How long could she stay in today? >>

JUSTA JESKOVA

THE COLD PLUNGE AT THE SCANDINAVE SPA IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE HYDROTHERAPY HOT/COLD CYCLE.

“People really need to ground themselves and slow down and Whistler has so many experiences for this.”

“It was exhilarating to be out on those days,” she says. “It’s really primal, the idea of cold and getting in the cold… Instinctively (it’s something) our bodies do not want to do.”

She defied those natural instincts over and over again, cold dipping for 574 days in a row, rejuvenating her mind, body and soul along the way.

“I could feel the (physical) benefits,” she says. “And I just really loved being outside every day.”

Something else magical happened along the way as she rose to her daily challenge. “Really being connected to Whistler on a level I hadn’t been before,” Hand says.

She saw the seasons up close and personal—winter’s first frost, spring’s first ducklings and pikas, the summer’s first kiss of warm air, the fall’s herald of another winter on its way.

“That was as beneficial as anything that was happening with the cold water immersion; that almost became more important to me.”

She isn’t the only one in Whistler who has undercovered the magic of cold plunging in the local lakes. For many, Whistler is perfectly poised as a health and wellness Mecca, a place to reconnect with nature and find time for self-care whether it’s snowshoeing in the woods, spending time at the spa, or making the most of the local health professionals who have made it their mission to help people heal.

TAKING IT TO THE EXTREME

Tourism Whistler sees the potential in this segment of Whistler’s visitor demographic. That much was clear after an in-depth, community-wide, place branding exercise in 2019. The exercise reinforced what Whistler’s tourists and guests are looking for in their visit to the mountains.

“One pillar (of the place branding exercise) is health and wellness and finding that reconnection with oneself whether it’s through nature, culinary experiences, or arts and culture,” says Mandy Rousseau, Tourism Whistler’s manager of communications.

Look no further than the Scandinave Spa, located just north of the Village, surrounded by snow-covered mountains and trees. This is a world that embraces silence, supports digital detoxification, and offers an experience that celebrates pushing yourself to the limit.

“We also embrace the extreme,” says Michelle Leroux, Scandinave’s sales and marketing manager, with a nod to Whistler’s top winter sports of skiing and snowboarding and pushing your limits on the mountains.

“Visiting the Scandinave Spa can push you out of your comfort zone.”

At the heart of Scandinave is the hydrotherapy cycle— heat in the sauna for 15 minutes, a plunge to immerse the body in cold water, ending in a warm meditative relaxation by the fire or in the hot tub. And repeat.

“There’s a reason why this cycle is so treasured,” says Leroux. “There are some great health benefits.”

The practice of hydrotherapy dates back thousands of years, with the idea of improving blood circulation and activating the lymphatic system to help detoxification. The hot-cold-relax cycle also helps with the release of endorphins, making you feel good.

The silence and the digital detox are also an integral part of the Scandinave experience—in many ways, just as extreme as the cold plunge for many visitors!

“Our encouragement for people to be silent is about centring the experience on themselves,” explains Leroux. “Being silent lets you really sink into something that’s more restful.

“People really need to ground themselves and slow down and Whistler has so many experiences for this.”

HEALTH INSIDE AND OUT

Some of those experiences now include dedicated treatments at Whistler Medical Aesthetics. Dr. Sarah Kennea sees first hand that more and more people are uncovering the health benefits that come from spending time in a place like Whistler. >>

Kennea offers a range of services at Whistler Medical Aesthetics all designed to make patients look and feel better.

“I think everyone in Whistler is focused on wellness and health and optimization of life,” says Kennea.

Aesthetics, she adds, is an extension of that optimization. Since opening her doors four years ago, moving to a bigger space in May 2020 in part to accommodate the growing demand, Kennea sees a range of patients with a variety of concerns.

Skin health, in particular, is a passion of hers. “Healthy skin is beautiful skin,” she says. Take light therapy, one of the many treatments offered at Whistler Medical Aesthetics. Designed to deal with sun damage, light therapy can also reverse aging in the cells, says Kennea.

Or take injectables, or fillers, which add volume and minimize wrinkles. “Our passion is natural corrective outcomes,” she says. “I think there is huge demand for that.”

What Kennea means by that exactly is that unlike the conventional Hollywood ideal of aesthetics, Kennea strives to leave her patients looking like a version of themselves…just younger and refreshed.

“I think that’s why we have people who travel extensively to see us,” she says of her clients.

There is no doubt, she adds, that when people look better on the outside, they can often feel better on the inside. She’s had patients who have been unable to smile fully and naturally, and patients who have been unable to look in the mirror, too unhappy with the image staring back. They have left Whistler Medical Aesthetics with a whole new lease on life.

“It really has changed their lives,” she says, proudly showing before and after pictures of some of her patients, happy to be integral to that change.

Other businesses are capitalizing on the health and wellness trends in Whistler. The Spa at Whistler is a revamped version of the traditional spa. This new spa is set to be a whole wellness facility, according to spa developer Doug DeYagher. Among other things, this winter the The Spa at Whistler will offer intravenous vitamin treatments and, down the road, DeYagher is looking to create a Himalayan salt room—a sauna-type experience that is good for arthritis and other ailments.

“The benefits,” he says, “are incredible.”

Just as Hand’s 574-day cold dipping adventure began organically, an act of desperation to get out of the COVID funk three weeks into the pandemic in the spring of 2020, its end too was natural and apropos.

When the ‘atmospheric river’ drenched southwest B.C in the fall of 2021 with torrential rains and flooding, Green Lake turned a murky brown. It was time, admits Hand; the journey had served its purpose and she was ready for it to end.

Cold dipping made her feel good. She felt the health benefits long after she came of the water— clearer head, fewer aches and pains, less fatigue. It still feels good when she does it now and again.

Along the way, over the course of that year and a half, she travelled in Canada, west to Victoria and east to the Prairies. Believe it or not, some days it was a mission to find cold, clean water. And so she realized an epiphany of sorts:

“I live next to a glacial lake. I am so lucky, so privileged. To have the ability to cold dip 574 days just means I live in the most incredible place.”

Check out whistler.com for more health and wellness ideas in Whistler.