It Started With a Dream
Back in 1987, my grandfather Henrik stood at this exact spot with nothing but pine trees and a vision that everyone thought was a bit crazy.
He'd spent twenty years working in hospitality across Europe - Geneva, Zurich, Oslo - you name it. But something about the BC mountains just grabbed him. He'd come here on a ski trip in '85, and honestly, he never really left mentally after that.
The name? That's a whole story itself. Silvrÿth comes from an old Norse word Henrik's grandmother used to say - something about silver light on snow. Quinthal was my grandmother's maiden name. She was the one who actually convinced him to do this, even though half the family thought they'd lost their minds leaving comfortable jobs in Switzerland.
Construction took three years. There were moments - like when that freak storm in '89 nearly destroyed what they'd built - where giving up seemed pretty reasonable. But Henrik had this stubborn streak, and my grandmother? She was even worse.
We opened our doors in June 1990 with just 24 rooms. Now we've got 87 suites, but we've kept that same feel - that weird mix of fancy and comfortable that Henrik always insisted on. He'd say "People come to the mountains to breathe, not to stress about which fork to use."
