History of Tyax Resort / Tyax Lodge / Tyax/Tyax/Tyax
October 10th, 2008
Founder of Tyax Mountain Lake Resort - Gus Abel
The History of TYAX Mountain Lake Resort
To the aboriginals of this region, the Bridge River Valley was known as the “Skumakun” or “Land of Plenty”. While they did not settle here, the nomadic Chilcotin from the North and the Lillooet Indians from the Fraser River traveled through to forage for roots, berries, and to hunt game.In the mid-1800s, prospectors left the gold-bearing gravel bars of the Fraser River to explore the banks of the Bridge River.
The area remained virtually undiscovered by tourists until the late 1970s, when an outdoorsman named Gus Abel toured the back roads in search of a suitable place to build a destination Resort. His criteria was that the location had to be remote, on a lake, and surrounded by mountains, with dry hot summers and lots of powder snow in the winter.In his search, Gus found a remote lake known to the aboriginal people as “Tyaughton” or “lake of the jumping fish”. On its north shore was a deserted old hunting and fishing camp with the name of Tyax Lodge. This location and its 275 acres of lakeside wilderness had all the ingredients to build the Resort.
The lot was purchased in 1981 and a development plan was worked out. Since all finances were exhausted and the banks wouldn’t even look at “such a crazy idea”, an advertisement was placed in a Swiss newspaper “looking for an investor for a tourism project in BC, Canada”. A Swiss entrepreneur named Urs Villiger, with a passion for bush plane flying, responded and a great vision turned into reality.
In 1985, Scott McKenzie, a local contractor, joined Gus and Urs in building the Resort. That winter, the land was cleared. On May 17, 1986, excavation began and the foundation was laid. In July, eight logging trucks of Spruce trees were peeled and put in place. It took seven months and seven days for a crew of twelve men to build the largest freestanding log lodge (34,000 square feet) in Western Canada. On December 24, 1986 at 4:30 pm, Tyax Resort opened for business.
With the combination of mountainous terrain, sunshine and abundance of powder snow, Tyax proved be an ideal Resort destination for Sommer activities, but also for snowmobiling and skiing. In 1991 TLH Heliskiing was formed under the management of George Rosset and became the main drawing point for guests to visit Tyax in the winter season.
In the first summer of operation the need of a bush plane to be stationed at the Resort became apparent. Gus applied for an Air Carrier license, bought a De Havilland Beaver on floats/skis and named his new airline “Tyax Air Service”. Now, this plane is owned and operated by Dale Douglas and flies guests to remote alpine lakes for fishing, hiking and mountain biking, as well as flight seeing trips over the vast Bridge River Glacier Fields.
When Gus discovered the Bridge River Valley for Tourism, the Forest Industry was attracted by the same dense stands of fir-, spruce-, and pine trees. Clear-cut logging spread like wildfire. Regrettably Tourists don’t like to look at stumps and since it was only a matter of time before the woods around the Resort were going to get leveled, Gus decided that if you can’t howl against the wind you might as well howl with it. He applied for a woodlot license and is now in charge of what, where and how the forest around the lodge gets harvested.
Since Tyaughton Lake sits on the food hills of the South Chilcotin Mountains, Gus spent
endless hours in land-use-planing-meetings trying to convince the BC Government to protect this pristine mountain range. Finally in 2001 this rocky wilderness was named “Spruce Lake Protected Area” and will become in the foreseeable future a provincial park.
Since Tyaughton Lake sits on the food hills of the South Chilcotin Mountains, Gus spent
endless hours in land-use-planing-meetings trying to convince the BC Government to protect this pristine mountain range. Finally in 2001 this rocky wilderness was named “Spruce Lake Protected Area” and will become in the foreseeable future a provincial park.
Gus retired in 2006 and Tyax is now run by his Swiss partner Urs and general manager Robin James.
Tyax still features a 114-seat lakeview dining room, western lounge, gift shop, fitness room, massage room, sauna, out-door whirlpool, conference room and 29 spacious guest rooms. Within walking distance are four chalets, beachfront campground, riding stable, lumberjack area, tennis and volleyball courts. A lush, green lawn flows down to the sandy beach with boats, canoes, rowboats, paddleboats, motorboats, and sailboards.
Tyax has evolved into a World Class Wilderness Resort visited annually by thousands of guests from all over the world.