William and Kate charm crowd at Lake Louise

LAKE LOUISE – Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrived at the Lake Louise ski hill Thursday afternoon, where they are scheduled to spend two hours before departing for Calgary.

Prince William, dressed in a blue suit, waved to a small but appreciative crowd of about 50 people. His bride, Kate, was dressed in blue jeans and a dark jacket with her hair straight.

They are expected to change clothes and freshen up in a lodge used for executive accommodation.

"My heart was racing so fast," said Rebecca Graf, visiting the Rockies from Ohio. "I hope they peek back out again."

"Maybe they’ll come out on the balcony and kiss," one man said.

The royal couple flew to the mountains west of Calgary late Wednesday afternoon, having spent several hours earlier in the day visiting Slave Lake, Alta., one third of which was levelled by a forest fire in May.

The couple spent the night at secluded Skoki Lodge, a historic backcountry cabin 11 kilometres from the Lake Louise Ski Area, it was confirmed Thursday.

"It was all under the radar, incredibly cloaked from the top down," said Kurt Schroder, a spokesman for the Banff-Lake Louise Tourism Bureau, which issued a news release touting the royal visit as "a new royal legacy" for the historic lodge.

Although the tourism bureau still had no official confirmation from the royal tour about Skoki, Schroder said they pieced the information together from several sources, including "our partners in the tourism industry."

The lodge, built in 1931 and a designated historic site, is owned and operated by Charlie Locke’s Lake Louise Ski Area under a lease from Parks Canada.

"We just connected the dots through umpteen channels, like squirrels on the ground," said Schroder. "Like everyone else, we were following their movements yesterday from Slave Lake and from one tarmac to another. We knew they were not coming to Banff, so we suspected everywhere, from the Chateau Lake Louise to Lake O’Hara Lodge. We thought they might dip into B.C., but we’re just glad they chose a place within Banff National

Park."

Skoki Lodge was the first facility built specifically to cater to ski tourists on a commercial basis in Canada, and possibly North America, according to the tourism bureau. The log structure was built by a group of Banff residents who formed the Ski Club of the Canadian Rockies to manage the operation. Several log cabins were added between l935 and 1936 by Jim Boyce, a tour guide and outfitter.

Skoki is normally accessible only on foot via a four-hour hike from the Lake Louise Ski Area, with seven of the 11 kilometres uphill.

Schroder believes William and Kate were helicoptered directly to the site.

The rustic lodge has outhouses for facilities, he said.

"It will be interesting to find out what improvements were made (for the royals)," he said.