Making an offering to the Panty Tree
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta -- Mike Stevenson found them under this bed at Lake Louise: A pair of panties. A thong, to be precise. White. He was 90% sure who the undies belonged to, and they were not his girlfriend's. The panties had to go, even though he swears they preceded his relationship with the gal.
He knew just the place, and so like a Rocky Mountain conquistador, Mr. Stevenson picked up the evidence, strapped on his snowboard, and headed to the backside of Lake Louise. Under the Paradise chairlift, the mountain's ricketiest ride, there is a larch tree, naked of needles but dripping with bloomers and brassieres.
"I thought: I can't throw these panties [in the garbage] when there's a panty tree," Mr. Stevenson said. He and a few buddies rode up the chair, and he cast the skivvies onto the designated trophy tree.
"It was a great shot. They landed right at the top, so they couldn't blow off."
Panty trees colourfully reflect mountain culture and are everyday sights at ski resorts far and wide. They are depositories for evidence of illicit excursions, acrobatic activities on chairlifts, and random stripping. Every shade of La Senza dangles above the snow.
"Lake Louise is one of the most romantic spots in the world, and it can be a real turn on," Charlie Locke, a Calgary oilman the mountain's majority owner, said. "It might be the ski hills' version of the mile high club."
Colorado's legendary Vail mountain claims it is home to the panty tree phenomenon, with the first decorated number showing up between 25 and 30 years ago, May Lilley, a spokeswoman for the resort, said. An aspen tree hosts undergarments at Vail, under its High Noon lift in the Sun Down Bowl.
Grand Marnier, the liqueur, took notice and once ran a print ad mentioning the unmentionables. "You just recognized a pair of panties in the Sun Down Bowl tree.... The conversation is waiting," it said.
Matt Mosteller made a contribution to Fernie's panty tree, a Douglas fir, last weekend while in British Columbia. He skied a run called Holo Hike, slipped into a dense cedar forest, and then peeled off his light blue boxers, size 34. They said "Life is Good" on the front and "Ski Bum" on the back.
"It was a tribute to how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy the mountains and skiing," he said. "Some sort of thank you."
The boxers were clean, Mr. Mosteller, the vice-president of marketing for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, said.
Fernie's panty tree is at the beginning of the Holiday Trail, a beginner path. It sits near tower six on the Elk chair. Lake Louise's lingerie is displayed between towers eight and nine, just before the Paradise chair emerges from the trees and begins its climb over Paradise Bowl. The three-person lift gets powder hounds in and out of some of the mountain's toughest terrain.
Lake Louise's tree stands about 40 feet tall, and when you are riding up the lift, it is on the left side, just out of a ski pole's reach. Right now it is generously coated with offerings -- a reversible bra, purpley with white poke-a-dots on one side, solid peach on the other; an almost-sheer peachy underwire; a white bra with embroidered outlines of hearts. Numbers in teal, black, white, pink and other colours stuffed in underwear drawers around the globe also dot the tree.
A tree close to the panty tree hosts its own rogue underwear. Mardi Gras beads are common panty tree decorations, too.
There have been rumours of vigilantes chopping down panty trees in Vail, and complaints that racy, lacy bras have no place at family resorts and national parks. But the panty tree movement marches on.
Spring -- with its warm weather and fresh attitude -- means more garments strewn about. A 20-foot spruce under the Angel chair at Sunshine Village, Lake Louise's arch-rival, awaits further coating.
"It kind of reflects the whole ski culture," Doug Firby, a spokesman for Sunshine Village, said in a phone interview as he was riding the gondola up to that mountain. "Part of the culture is lifestyle, and tearing off your bra and throwing it on a tree just seems like a natural part of that whole culture.
"Skiers and snowboarders tend to be young people just having a great time," he said.
Indeed, back at Lake Louise, Mr. Stevenson said he has not repeated his panty catch-and-release feat, a move he completed four years ago during his first season at the global get-away. The 29-year old Kingston boy, who now draws draught at Lake Louise's Powder Keg pub for thirsty skiers and riders, said the panties he did toss were "boring," and the woman he hid them from his now out of the picture, too.
"I went on a pretty good tear when I got here," he said.
National Post
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2677085#ixzz0iCJXS9oq 
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