Terminalxylem
Footballguy
Trip update:
Just finished 6 days at Revelstoke, British Columbia. Unbeknownst to me, wifey cut the trip short, to allow a decompression day before she returns to work Friday. Never understood that philosophy, but it’s what I get for putting her in charge of flight tix.
We flew into Kelowna, landing around 10 am. Thankfully, we weren’t obliged to wait for friends arriving 4 hours later. After refueling at the airport Tim Hortons (
), we picked up the rental vehicle, and off we went.The drive was beautiful, through mountainous country in BC’s interior. It gently snowed most of the ~2 1/2 hour trip. The only downside was multiple logging trucks along the route, which sprayed slush and road crud in their sizable wakes. So it was advantageous to pass whenever possible. Some of the trucks were a little aggressive though, and would ride your bumper when traffic slowed. It‘s bad enough if Joe Sixpack gets aggro in his high-momentum F950, ignoring the physics of braking. But for the love of god, is half a car length too much to ask from timber-loaded behemoths careening down slick mountain roads?
We reached Revelstoke right at 12:30. Enough time for a half day skiing, and an adult shower before the rest of our friends arrived. Following a turbulent red eye flight, white knuckle driving and blue apres-ski festivities, we were exhausted. Fortunately, the group opted for a quick dinner at an Indian/German fusion restaurant. Curried spaetzle isn’t exactly haute cuisine, though it was a heck of a lot better than Tim Hortons. And we didn’t drive to Revelstoke for the food.
As for the skiing, it was great. The mountain is 3000+ skiable acres, with over a mile of vertical, the most in N America. It snowed a couple days before we arrived, and a few more inches during our stay. It was typical west coast powder, heavier than UT/CO/WY, and Japan, but still forgiving. This was put to full use navigating the steep terrain, which was comparable to places like Jackson Hole and Telluride.
One of the locals told us a 65-year-old was medevaced off the mountain the second day, after inadvertently hucking a 40-foot cliff. While I was unable to confirm that story, my friend and I had to retreat from a run (Discipline or Mania?), after it abruptly ended in a cliff band. Not sure if more snow would’ve made the ~15 foot drop any easier, but we swallowed our pride while awkwardly skiing backward/poling/crawling upslope to avoid the rocks.
Tree runs are another of the resort’s strengths. It was easy to find fresh powder stashes in evergreens peppering the upper slopes, with clever names like Iron Glaiden, Stihl Life Glades, and Glades of Glory. If I hadn’t skied Rusutsu in January, the trees would easily be the best I’d encountered. With equal snow quality and quantity, Revi would be even better than Japan.
There were some shortcomings of the mountain, however. Under ideal conditions, Revelstoke’s vert provides nearly unparalleled long runs, but the snow/temperature didn’t fully cooperate during our trip. Like Whistler, the base elevation is around 2000 feet, which created a freeze/thaw cycle on lower slopes. Mornings on these runs were icy, transforming into corn, then mush later in the day. As a result, we avoided the lower half of the mountain, where most of the better intermediate runs are located, as well as some steep glades, and a provocatively-named run, Kill the Banker, which looked great from the gondola.
Speaking of gondolas, the mountain needs more. There are only five total lifts/gondolas in the entire resort, two of which serve mainly beginner terrain. This results in bottlenecks at the two upper mountain lifts, creating congested intersections and lift lines, even when most of the mountain feels empty. At least all the lifts are modern, detachable quads.
Finally, there aren’t many on-mountain dining options, nor a ton a great apres-ski eateries. If you like beer and burgers, you‘ll be fine, but I prefer to hold the poutine.
Tl;dr Verdict: Revelstoke is a great mountain for advanced skiers, especially those who like steeps and trees, but needs a little more infrastructure and apres options. I’d still rate it in my top five, behind Japan, Jackson, Whistler and Vail.
