Post Hotel in Banff: A creative avalanche for writerly inspiration

March 19 at 7:44 PM

Crafting a novel is like building a relationship, with all of the ecstasy and flaws of a human union. Some days are all swooning and rapture while others are almost abusive, delivering a crippling dose of writers block. For me, a snowy scene has always been the best antidote. Infusions of crisp air, remote accommodations and the mighty silence of a mountainous landscape make the words flow.

I fled to the Post Hotel & Spa in Canadas Banff National Park earlier this year. Manuscript illuminated by the light from a blazing fire and glass of whiskey in hand, I thought: Now this is how to write a book. Turns out this hotel is a longtime alphabet aphrodisiac and Im about 10 years late to the party.

I keep a set of cross-country skis at the Post Hotel and a suitcase of clothes, so I just show up with my laptop and they say, Its February, Douglas is back, says Douglas Kennedy, the best-selling author of 11 novels who has been writing at the hotel every year since 2005. He worked on his upcoming novel The Blue Hour there as well as his Leaving the World, which is set partially in the Canadian Rockies.

Kennedy found the Post Hotel and what he calls the areas epic grandeur somewhat by accident. On a cross-country ski vacation in a neighboring area, rain prompted him to go searching for snowy trails that hadnt been as affected by the precipitation.

I was immediately sort of enchanted with this splendid isolation with nothing between Banff and Lake Louise, he says. I thought Id see how I got on for two weeks, and while there, I doubled my quota of words.

A veteran world traveler, Kennedy has been to 57 countries. He is attracted to places that have a huge sense of space and emptiness, and he says one of the best cross-country skiing routes is about a five-minute drive, from the front door of the Post Hotel to the Continental Divide.

Ive been skiing out there for 14 years and I never tire of it a park ranger once stopped me to say, Just saw a wolf pack, might want to turn back, and I thanked him for his warning but kept pushing forward, he said. I was thinking, Theyll probably have vanished by the time I show up on skis, which, as it turned out, was the case. The Canadian Rockies remain the true call of the wild.

Nestled into Alpine scenes

The Post Hotel sits on the banks of the picturesque Bow River. It feels miles from anywhere, but its actually just off the Trans Canada Highway in Banff National Parks Lake Louise Village, a straight shot about two hours west of Calgary in Alberta, which is fast becoming my favorite part of Canada. This is one of only a few places to stay and ski in a national park.

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Post Hotel in Banff: A creative avalanche for writerly inspiration