EIGHT WINTERS AGO, three friends and I spent a few days in northwestern British Columbia to check out a fledgling ski area called Hankin-Evelyn, outside the old railway town of Smithers. On our first morning there, we arrived to find piles of fresh, downy snow dotted by colorful visitor signs. It was an ideal wintry scene—crisp mountain air, blue skies and a blanket of enticing powder. Even better, we noticed very few other skiers milling around. Conspicuously absent was a line snaking around the chair lift for one simple reason: There was no chair lift.
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