I’m about to do something I haven’t done in 40 years. Canary yellow Snow Surfer in hand, I poise at the highest point above the steepest pitch of the Callaghan Country Lodge tubing slope, sprint a few feet and fling myself down the hill like a luge rider.

The sled yaws a bit as I round the halfway curve, but I manage to straighten it and avoid the speed-killing bump on the left side, keep up good momentum along the bottom run-out, then soar off the bank over a lake and into thin air.

And thin it is. Callaghan Lodge is at 4,500 feet (1,370 m) in British Columbia’s Coast Range, it’s midwinter and the temperature is below 20 F (-6 C). Out into this evanescent atmosphere I sail, but no worries: The lake is concretely frozen and hip-deep in snow, where I land with a whump. Sluicing across it like a wakeboarder, I finally come to rest 20 feet (6 m) from shore.

“That was a no-holds-barred run,” lodge hostess Carol Johnson tells me when I get back to the top of the hill. I shrug, grinning. Why hold back?

Kirsten enjoyed getting to know the dogs.

The radar gun says I topped out at 31 mph (50 km/h).

OK, not really — there’s no radar gun at Callaghan, a wonderfully low-tech lodge set in the wilderness near Whistler, British Columbia. It’s a one-of-a-kind winter retreat where visitors have innumerable opportunities to create lifetime memories.

Who knows how fast I went, but I did set the unofficial tubing distance record (seven strides from shore was the low-tech measurement) at Callaghan. John Kennedy was president the last time I had that much fun, but visitors don’t have to embrace daredevil snow-sledding. You can:

- Buckle on cross-country skis and set out for serene treks along 20 miles (32 km) of groomed trails amid jaw-dropping alpine scenery. Head up along a broad snowy thoroughfare toward the Solitude Glacier and you wind up in a gorgeous, gentle meadow bigger than most towns in North Dakota. You’ll be the only ones there.

Stop a minute, concentrate on the moment, and you might hear your breath echo off the slopes high above. It’s tempting to yell, to hear the echo, but my wife Leslie and I treasure the sheer serenity too much to disturb it.

- Dogs just want to have fun, especially the sled dogs that gleefully dash along Callaghan’s lakeside trail with a sled behind. Bundled into the sled like babes in papooses, their human passengers receive an exhilarating lesson in the forces of inertia, gravity and momentum.

I’m sure that when it comes to a stop, my stepdaughter Kirsten is sporting the biggest grin ever — but a picture of Kirsten shows proof only that her eyes are dark beneath the fleece muffler and cap.

- Strap on snowshoes, venture into the deeper copses of sub-alpine fir and spruce and enjoy the prismatic effect of the foot (30 cm) of powder snow that sifts off each branch you touch.

- Or you can simply stretch out in a lounge chair by the lodge’s fire, dozing as dusk descends outside.