I have lived in North Vancouver for 30 years, and although I’d heard rumours of a nudist camp at the top of Mountain Highway, until recently, I had thought it was an urban myth.
Turns out, it’s not. The VanTan Nudist Club has about 60 members. The club has a website and a board of directors, just like any other non-profit society – they’re just naked when they meet. They even enter a float in the Lynn Valley Days parade every year – you can see it on June 21 – and they host a couple of open houses every summer.
The next open house is on Sunday, June 22. Drop in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to see what it’s all about. Clothing is optional.
Not surprisingly, the area that’s owned by the nudist camp is quite secluded and nestled behind two locked gates. The first is just past the public parking lot at the top of Mountain Highway and then there’s a two-kilometre careful drive up a curvy, unpaved road that is typically shared by a steady stream of determined mountain bikers and hikers. Once through the second locked gate, you’ll find yourself completely off the grid on several acres of private property.
VanTan was founded in 1939, making it Canada’s oldest nudist club. In the 1930s, the District of North Vancouver surveyed the land at the top of Mountain Highway all the way to the Grouse Mountain Chalet and carved it up into half-acre lots. A VanTan member bought three lots and sold them to the club in 1945. The club leased another three lots from the district and bought another two lots along the bluff from a group called the Millionaires’ Club, which used the land for clay pigeon shooting. There was no electricity, water or sewage connections (there still isn’t), and a proposed subdivision never took off. There are still remnants of old chimneys and foundations from burnt out cabins on the property.
The club’s buildings – which include a sauna inside a log cabin with a hand-split cedar roof – date back to the 1940s and ’50s. There’s a fire-suppression reservoir, which holds 10,500 gallons (40,000 litres) of water and looks a lot like a swimming pool. There’s a shower, diesel backup generator, composting toilet and propane heater. At the bottom of the property is a stunning view of Mount Baker, Mount Seymour and Burrard Inlet.
While they will always welcome new members, vice-president Daniel Jackson says community outreach is more about letting people know what actually goes on up there. “Once you’ve come and had a look, really, nothing out of the ordinary is taking place here,” said Jackson. “Relaxation is the No. 1 activity.”
It’s a far cry from the early days, when members had to communicate in secret through coded words placed in the classified ads of the newspapers and magazines of the day. Even the newsletter had to be mailed out in a plain brown envelope, said Jackson.
Membership is intentionally cheap – just a few hundred dollars a year.
Members are asked to put in ten hours of work per year, but it’s all pretty casual. You can chop wood for the sauna and hot tub, work in the community garden or on trail maintenance, but it’s not Survivor – if you just want to sit and look at the view, no one’s going to kick you off the mountain.
“Members take care of all the upkeep. It’s not like a private resort where you have to pay for landscaping or infrastructural help,” said Jackson. “There are a lot of skilled people who know how to do a lot of things, so it’s a user-driven, member-owned club.”
And, yes, after a few uncomfortable minutes of holding extreme eye contact, the whole nudity thing becomes a very small deal. It’s a bit like hanging out with a very pleasant middle-aged naked gardening group in a gorgeous and secluded setting.
Eve Lazarus is a North Vancouver resident and author. Her latest book is Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck. [email protected]
