When a flight attendant gives landing announcements in Gitksan as well as both official languages, you know you're not in southern B.C. anymore. During the final approach into Smithers Airport, one look out the window at the massive face of Hudson Bay Mountain confirms that impression. A handful of ski trails snaking along a ridge upholds the wisdom of searching out B.C.'s most northerly snow-sport destination. The Lions, or Sisters, may dominate Vancouver's skyline, but there's nothing on the North Shore to remotely rival this four-summit mass of snow and ice lording it over the Bulkley Valley.

A winter safari to Smithers leads so far beyond the familiar that you might well be visiting another country. Therein lies the charm of living in a province so vast that Washington state, Oregon, and California could be squeezed inside its borders. By the time you reach the 55th parallel–just north of Smithers and known simply as "the bush" by northerners–wildlife outnumbers humans by a wide margin. Just as in a national park, there's no need to look farther than the roadside to see a wide variety of species large and small.

From the top of the chair lift at Ski & Ride Smithers, the town of 5,400 looks like a postage stamp–sized grid on the broad valley floor. Babine Mountain Range peaks dominate the eastern horizon and beckon to backcountry ski tourers and snowmobilers. The Interior Plateau rolls south toward B.C.'s geographic centre near Vanderhoof, 100 kilometres west of Prince George. Spread between those ranges and the Coast Mountains to the west is a vast swath of moose meadows, a boggy, black spruce wetland in warm months and a frozen white landscape the remainder of the calendar.

Over the past four decades, a nest of cozy cabins has grown up in the forested glades that surround the Ski Smithers day lodge. With the same community-based spirit that originally developed lifts and runs on 2,331-metre Hudson Bay Mountain's south and north faces, an ambitious new community master plan envisages a gondola linking downtown to the base of the Skyline chair lift.

Local skiers, such as Jos Konst, have already brushed out a new run as a ski-out. At the moment, it serves as a convenient way to skip the 22-kilometre switchback road that leads between the lifts and the valley. Konst, a long-time resident and the proprietor of Winterland Sport World, explained to the Georgia Straight during a mountain tour that the gondola's purpose is twofold: primarily four-season recreation but also to sustain the town's rustic downtown flavour.

In a telephone interview, Borden Armstrong, Ski & Ride Smithers' marketing director, attributed the enthusiasm for building the gondola to a combination of local pride and the fact that Vancouver-based 20/20 Resorts, which took ownership of mountain operations in 2005, has injected fresh capital into the venture.

Hudson Bay Mountain attracts skiers, snowboarders, and even ice climbers from a wide catchment area, primarily between Prince George and Alaska. Smithers is the only major lift-serviced destination in a region where heli-skiing is beginning to take off, literally. Prodigious quantities of snow carried inland off the ocean by winter storms blanket surrounding peaks. When the Straight visited Smithers last March, Shames Mountain, a small operation in Terrace, had been shut down because of incessant snowfall. In dramatic fashion, the on-hill caretaker had to be airlifted out as deep snow made the access road impassable.

If it's possible to get too much of a good thing, skiing at Smithers has to be it, especially as there are no lineups to contend with. The Bulkley Valley experiences much colder and dryer weather than farther west on the Pacific. No heavy, wet "coast cement" snow here. Storms pulse down from the Gulf of Alaska, constantly dropping fresh accumulations, enough to cover tracks left an hour ago, let alone a day ago. Sunrise reveals a fresh canvas waiting for new lines. Whether you explore the alpine meadows or forested glades, be thankful for the mountain's steep incline. You'll need all the speed you can carry to carve through the knee-high powder.

When you get cold, slip inside the recently renovated Skyline Cabin and stoke the wood-burning stove. At 1,690 metres' elevation, the rustic resting place is a relaxed spot to strike up a conversation with locals, many of whom moved to the lonesome valley from densely populated countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland. So much land, so few inhabitants is a true measure of the North. That is why locals are so open with strangers. Don't be surprised by an offer to be guided behind the scenes to secret stashes of powder. Most of these folks have favourite off-piste routes well beyond the 35 posted trails. If you're lucky, you might be invited back to one of those cabins in the woods for happy hour. Not that there isn't a good selection of watering holes and places to rest your head in town. Just don't be surprised when you stroll the back streets to come upon a placidly grazing moose, as majestic in its own right as a mountain.

Access: For information on winter recreation in Smithers, visit www.skismithers.com/ . A list of accommodations and visitor services is posted at www.skiandstay.ca/ and www.tourismsmithers.com/ . Air Canada operates two flights daily from Vancouver International Airport to Smithers. Visit www.aircanada.com/ for schedules and rates. Gear and equipment rentals are available from Winterland Sport World (3711 Alfred Avenue; 250-847-9333). For those in search of backcountry powder, Skeena Heli­skiing is based in Smithers; for details, visit www. skeenaheliskiing.com/ .

Watch a nostalgic look at road and snow conditions on Hudson Bay Mountain in the 1960s: