Private Air
Gaining Altitude – Heading for the hills has never been more inviting
By Nick Kolakowski
The golf-mad survivalist whose one reservation about this new run-for-the-hills lifestyle regards the availability of tee times will be more than satisfied with the accommodations made at Black Rock. Home sites proved panoramic views of the serve stillness of Lake Coeur d’Alene (French for “sharp-hearted,” a reference to the hard bargain the amazingly prescient local tribes drove with the original settlers) and an award-winning Jim Engh golf course that tumbles over hill and cliff like its own sort of mostly natural wonder. (Developer Marshall Chesrown has been flying in qualified people from high-end clubs all the country on his private Lear 60 to play the course and see Black Rock, no strings attached. Close to half has put down deposits.) But even that course may be more than match by Black Rock’s second course designed by Tom Weiskopf, a naturalistic work of wide fairways that embraces the land’s rolling contours.
For those who don’t have gold quite so much on the brain, there’s also the spectacular water-skiing and fishing on that 25-mile-long lake, a private clubhouse with a masseuse, his-and-hers steam rooms and a generously stocked wine cellar. Survival compounds come with custom fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling walk-in showers, whirlpools, covered outdoor decks and kitchens outfitted with the latest and greatest. Funny how this end-of-the-world stuff looks like our idea of heaven.