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Kimberley
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KIMBERLEY
, a few kilometres from Cranbrook on Hwy 95A, is Canada's highest city (1117m), and in many ways one of its silliest, thanks to a tourist-tempting ruse to transform itself into a Bavarian village after the imminent closure of the local mine in the 1970s threatened it with economic oblivion. The result is a masterpiece of kitsch that's almost irresistible: buildings have been given a plywood-thin veneer of authenticity, piped Bavarian music dribbles from shops with names like The Yodelling Woodcarver, and even the fire hydrants have been painted to look like miniature replicas of Happy Hans, Kimberley's lederhosened mascot. The ploy might seem absurd, but there's no doubting the energy and enthusiasm that has gone into it, nor the economic rewards that have accrued from the influx of tourists and European immigrants - Germans included - who've provided an authentic range of cafes and restaurants and a variety of family-oriented summer and winter activities.
Most of the Teutonic gloss is around the Bavarian Platzl on Spokane Street in the small downtown area, whose fake houses compare poorly with the authentic wooden buildings and more alpine surroundings on the outskirts. If nothing else, you can leave Kimberley safe in the knowledge that you have seen " Canada's Biggest Cuckoo Clock ", a fraudulent affair which amounts to little more than a large wooden box that twitters inane and incessant music. The dreaded contraption performs on being fed small change, and people oblige often enough so that Happy Hans (rather than a cuckoo) makes his noisy appearance almost continuously; when he doesn't, the council often employs some unfortunate to play the accordion morning, noon and night to keep up the musical interludes. Apart from the clock, and a small museum upstairs in the library down the road, the other main local sight is the Sullivan Mine , pre-Bavarian Kimberley's main employer and one of the world's biggest lead and zinc mines. The mine, now closed, is due to be remembered in an interpretive centre which will tell the mine's story and include a trip to the original portal - due to high insurance demands the underground mine itself cannot be opened to the public. You can also explore the local history on the Bavarian City Mining Railway , a 7-kilometre narrated ride on a train salvaged from a local mine. En route the train travels along steep inclines and switchbacks through the valley, highlighting Kimberley's past mining activities and its future developments now that the lifeblood has run dry. It leaves from the downtown station, a block from the Platz, on Jerry Sorenson Way (June-Sept daily noon-6.30pm; $6). At the station you can also view a mini 1920s mining camp complete with a schoolhouse.
If you're around from early December through April, and feel the need to escape Kimberley's kitsch, head for the Kimberley Alpine
ski resort
(tel 427-4881) four kilometres west of town. Owned by Charles Locke, the owner of numerous ski resorts throughout Canada, the resort boasts eight lifts and 67 runs, the longest of which covers more than six kilometres. Passes cost $43 for the day, $35 for the afternoon and $15 for a night-skiing session. Kimberley also boasts one of Canada's most popular
golf
courses, Trickle Creek on Jerry Sorenson Way (tel 427-3878; $69 for 18-holes, $28 for a cart), but you'll have to book ahead if you want to play here. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Canada,
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