Revelstoke
(arriving at Revelstoke)
I decided to take the short way by the mountains instead of going back by Vancouver to get to Revelstoke. The small mountains roads are fun to drive and offer us plenty of great views.
After a few hours I’ll stop by Chase where we’ll spend the night, as it’s already close to midnight. The next morning we’re back on the road by 6am and will get to Revelstoke with enough time to have breakfast just before it opens. Revelstoke Mountain Resort has been kind enough to sponsor us so our tickets are waiting for us in the guest services.
My first impressions as I arrive, everything is brand new. The resort has just opened last December. The runs look pretty long on the map but it’s time to go and check it out. A “magic carpet” will bring us to the feet of the 8 passengers high speed Gondola, saving us the walk. All the staff we meet is smiling and seems happy to be working here. The view from the Gondola is pretty nice and I understand what people meant when they said there was a lot of space for Revelstoke to expand. We get off the Gondola and ride a few hundred meters to get to the high-speed quad chair lift which will bring us to the top of the mountain (almost). We’ll try a few combination of the 27 runs, going down all the way to the bottom is a fairly long run (1,443 meters vertical) which I doubt many will do without a stop. One doesn’t have to take the black or even blue runs, there is also a 13km green run.
Unfortunately there is no fresh snow, but still, the hard snow we ride on is much better than what we had the previous day in Whistler. I’m assuming it is because the weather is colder here and it didn’t melt as much (as freeze during the night). We soon decide to sharpen our edges though because the black runs are steep and we need good grip. Once again, the staff is extremely helpful and we grab a coffee (and some delicious sweet things) while are edges our being sharpened.
After a nice lunch in the restaurant, we decide to join a group of riders who are going to check out the backside of the mountain. We start with the Gondola, then the chairlift, and finally a hike to the top of the mountain. The hike was worth it as we find some powder of the way down.
In the afternoon, the snow has softened up and the long wide steep black runs are much more fun to ride, being able to curve from one side to the other.
Unfortunately, the restaurant hasn’t any wifi yet, so I can’t update the blog from there, but I hope it is something that will be added very soon.
All in all, we’re really thankful to Revelstoke Mountain Resort for sponsoring us as we had a great day riding the mountain even though there was no fresh snow.
We’re now back on the road, direction Kicking Horse in Golden.