Revelstoke, BC, Feb. 22, 2019

[Tony Crocker]

This is about as cursory a report as I post.

I remember being tired at Mustang after a lot of immediate prior skiing in 2016 and wanted to minimize that possibility this time. I therefore notified Tseeb that I was only skiing groomers at Revelstoke before we drove to the Mustang pickup.

We skied the groomed Critical Path from the top of Stoke and its cutoff to reach the Ripper chair. We took 3 more laps there on Chopper and Blow Down before returning to Stoke. After skiing the 4,700 vertical Snow Rodeo to the Revelation Lodge, I decided at 12:15 to have lunch and not ascend the mountain again. After skiing to the car I still totaled 16,000 vertical. To no surprise, tseeb did ascend the gondola after lunch plus 2 more rides on the Stoke chair.

There was thick overcast all day with light but nearly continuous snow. It was about 10F on the upper mountain with some wind at the top of Stoke. There was also a narrow fog band below Stoke. I was not motivated to use the camera with this weather.

The groomed runs did not have much in the way of scraped surfaces. Revelstoke has had 58 inches snowfall since mid-January, which is well below average but enough to keep surfaces decent. And since it's been cold the lower mountain has not had much rain or melt/freeze activity.

Because of its proximity to Mustang's pickup I've skied Revelstoke in 7 different seasons and I have strong impression of growing popularity. On a Friday with little new snow and far from ideal weather there was a 10 minute line for the initial gondola and occasional lines at Stoke and Ripper too. A badly needed beginner area will be added next season at the top of the gondola and its lift will also facilitate access to Ripper. What's also badly needed at the top of the gondola is a second large day lodge. Revelation Lodge was packed to capacity at lunch with about a 15 minute wait to order and pick up food.

[EMSC]

I assume yo mean Feb 22?

[tseeb]

Yes on Feb 22. I don't have much to add besides two pictures. The first is the lunch line with Tony Crocker sitting at lower right. I did not wait in the line as I only got a hot chocolate with some coffee added in. It was $4 plus tax=4.20 Canadian

Second picture is sign at top of gondola announcing planned new lift.

[kingslug]

I had a damn good time there last year. Exhausting place..almost all trees and the backbowl area was deep. Getting there took too much time though. Air Canada needs..some work

[Tony Crocker]

I fixed the date.

Yes it's an exhausting place, which is why I cut my day short with Mustang coming up.

The tree skiing is mediocre at best, and such a contrast to the near perfection in surrounding Selkirk and Monashee cat/heli terrain. I believe Mt. MacKenzie was logged, and new growth has much tighter spacing than old growth. The Revelstoke glades are nearly always full of moguls, worst of both worlds IMHO.

[jamesdeluxe]

Getting there took too much time though. Air Canada needs..some work

Yeah, it looks like a major PITA to get there. What was the total travel time from NYC?

Sorry to , but I find it much easier and cheaper to fly to the Alps from our region than to many marquee places out west. To be fair, I haven't taken advantage of United's ski-season nonstops to places like JH, Crested Butte, Sun Valley, etc., which would help out a lot.

You and Tony both used the word "exhausting" to describe Revelstoke -- in which way?

[sierra_cement]

This is about as cursory a report as I post.
Because of its proximity to Mustang's pickup I've skied Revelstoke in 7 different seasons and I have strong impression of growing popularity. On a Friday with little new snow and far from ideal weather there was a 10 minute line for the initial gondola and occasional lines at Stoke and Ripper too. A badly needed beginner area will be added next season at the top of the gondola and its lift will also facilitate access to Ripper. What's also badly needed at the top of the gondola is a second large day lodge. Revelation Lodge was packed to capacity at lunch with about a 15 minute wait to order and pick up food.

It's interesting that a place so difficult to reach is crowded. Are those crowds because of Presiden'ts day or Ikon pass? I've been dreaming of doing a road trip with Ikon for 4 weeks starting mid Jan in a few years and Revelstoke was high on my list due to it's big vertical. Are there groomed runs top to bottom at Revelstoke? I have mostly done 1500 to 1800' blue groomed runs @ Northstar and Park City and I wish I could do runs with bigger vertical.

[Tony Crocker]

I am at Revelstoke usually the Friday after President’s Day. I in 2012 and Liz in 2013 were there on a Saturday with a foot of new snow and the lift capacity can’t handle that. It can take two hours just to get on the mountain. I could do better in Mammoth or LCC.

People are mesmerized by Revelstoke’s eye popping stats. But sometimes stats are not the whole story. Yes the runs from top of Stoke to the day lodge are 4,700 vertical, but generally only one of them is groomed top to bottom. And all of those runs face west and go to low elevation where it can rain occasionally.

You want long groomers? Go to Sun Valley, where they are numerous and management places top priority on their maintenance.

You want REALLY long groomers? Check out James’ or my reports from the Alps.

[Sbooker]

This is about as cursory a report as I post.
Because of its proximity to Mustang's pickup I've skied Revelstoke in 7 different seasons and I have strong impression of growing popularity. On a Friday with little new snow and far from ideal weather there was a 10 minute line for the initial gondola and occasional lines at Stoke and Ripper too. A badly needed beginner area will be added next season at the top of the gondola and its lift will also facilitate access to Ripper. What's also badly needed at the top of the gondola is a second large day lodge. Revelation Lodge was packed to capacity at lunch with about a 15 minute wait to order and pick up food.

It's interesting that a place so difficult to reach is crowded. Are those crowds because of Presiden'ts day or Ikon pass? I've been dreaming of doing a road trip with Ikon for 4 weeks starting mid Jan in a few years and Revelstoke was high on my list due to it's big vertical. Are there groomed runs top to bottom at Revelstoke? I have mostly done 1500 to 1800' blue groomed runs @ Northstar and Park City and I wish I could do runs with bigger vertical.

To add to Tony's suggestions I can point you in Whistlers direction.
If you can get Whistler when it's 'on' and not crowded it's about as good as it gets for long groomers. You may be equipped with an Epic Pass given the reference to Northstar and Park City so that would work out well.
By the way Jackson isn't too bad either.

[sierra_cement]

I can't do Whistler this year. Just gonna ski the local mountains (mainly Heavenly). And I won't be buying an epic pass for next y ear. Next year I may end up going to Europe for Xmas as I have family in England.

Sun Valley will be included in Epic Pass. I will probably get the Epic pass again sometime. They have 3 resorts in Tahoe so it's kind of hard to avoid if you live in Nor Cal.

If at all I go to Revelstoke, it will be first week of February. But Ikon has so many good options. Big Sky and Aspen would be good places to go as they are not close to any big city. And they have good beginner/intermediate terrain. I can do groomed blacks now but certainly don't have the skills to handle Jackson Hole.

[kingslug]

If i added it all up its like an 18 hour day. Air Canada was the worst..I got to JFK 3 hours ahead of time, like they said to do. They showed up at the counter 30 minutes before our flight was die to take off. Then we had to get through security, which they finally realized wasn't going to happen in time so they fast tracked us. Then in Canada the [censored] began. Total mess. The way back was no better. Got run around quite a bit. But I really liked the place. Had a huge 2 bedroom. Took a 2 day mountain tour for 185.00...2 days! Best bargain yet.
Yes the trees are full of moguls, but thats my worddl so I was OK with it. Its advertised as 5620 vertical..and it is, but 2000 of it is nothing more than a runout if you want to go all the way down which I found only needed..at the end of the day. JH its not.
Exhausting...in the trees all day with moguls.

[Tony Crocker]

If at all I go to Revelstoke, it will be first week of February. But Ikon has so many good options. Big Sky and Aspen would be good places to go as they are not close to any big city. And they have good beginner/intermediate terrain. I can do groomed blacks now but certainly don't have the skills to handle Jackson Hole.

Then you should stay away from Revelstoke for awhile. Jackson's groomers are much better; see sbooker's favorable comments about them.

[jamesdeluxe]

If i added it all up its like an 18 hour day. Air Canada was the worst (...) Exhausting...in the trees all day with moguls.

OK, thanks for the clarification.