Blurred Boundary Lines
How a backcountry skiing ethos influences the vibe at Revelstoke Mountain Resort
Blurred Boundary Lines
How a backcountry skiing ethos influences the vibe at Revelstoke Mountain Resort
WORDS • CASSIDY RANDALL | FEATURED IMAGE • BRUNO LONG
Your breath quickens as you kick steps into the steep face, any vestige of old prints obliterated by last night’s characteristically generous storm. Just as you reach the top of the rise, your skis become heavy across your shoulder in your eagerness to return them to your boots where they belong. Clicking in, you survey the vast unbroken expanse of powder blanketing North Bowl, below. It’s the first pitch of four before the end of the run, a seduction of bootpacks and untracked powder deep enough to choke on down the bowl and across the far-flung Gracias Ridge.
And that’s just inside the ropes.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR) is famous for its consistent powder and extreme vertical—5,620 feet of it to be exact—a single lap of which descends through alpine zones and temperature gradients like an upside-down deep-sea dive. But what really gives this young mountain mythical status in the ski world: an almost backcountry-like inbounds experience and a big-mountain playground just outside the ropes that the resort leverages as much as possible. It’s become such a culture that the mountain’s adopted official tagline is: “Offering lift-cat-heli and backcountry adventures.”
Since its infancy as a brand-new resort in 2007, RMR has reflected the character of its namesake, powder-hungry hometown, where devouring peaks for breakfast is something of a religion. In many respects, this is a mountain and a community of hardcore skiers that has remained off the map, in it for the love and the spirit of big-mountain adventure rather than hype. It’s home to both sleepers who have been skiing the gnarliest lines under the radar for years, as well as a disproportionate number of pro skiers and snowboarders. The pro athletes the resort chooses as its ambassadors reflect the ambitious human-powered ethos at the base of Revelstoke winter culture. Take Chris Rubens, for example, whose ski reputation is built on spending as much time in the backcountry as possible; or Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger, famous for a superhuman endurance that powers her staggering first descents around BC’s Selkirks, Monashees and Purcell Mountains.
“RMR started right when ski touring was getting big and as the freeride touring movement was starting. It’s kept that young, hip, out-of-boundsy feel,” says Lusti, who regularly uses her backyard resort as a training ground for epic missions. “It’s got this freeride style with lots of snow and big terrain that’s accessible even inbounds.”
If inbounds is good (like that glorious four-pitch lap from Sub Peak) RMR’s lift-accessed backcountry is exceptional. To the north lies Greeley Bowl and a rank of couloirs that march off the peak of Mount MacKenzie down its shoulder. To the south, an almost perpetual skin track stretches toward a 400-acre swath that’s known casually as the “cat-ski terrain.” Up until recently, the resort offered a “storm-ski product,” selling last-minute cat seats for up to two days after a dump for powder hounds to farm. For the 2017-18 season, RMR partnered with Great Northern Snowcats to move the cat-skiing product off-resort.
“Not only does Great Northern offer substantially more terrain for cat skiers, but this decision has also provided more ‘slackcountry’ options for backcountry skiers and riders,” says RMR Marketing Director Kevin Manuel. “Terrain located in South Bowl, Montana Bowl and Kokanee Bowl are just a short skin away from the top of the Stoke chair. Fall-line glades and wide open bowl skiing are a quick reward for those equipped with the right backcountry gear.”
Lifts are ultimately proposed for that area in the resort’s master plan, but for now, the south zone remains a hallowed sidecountry paradise.
For those seeking a bit of guidance in the complex terrain outside RMR’s boundaries, the resort partners with Revelstoke Backcountry Guides. It’s a unique experience in itself that skiers can book ski guides right next to the lift ticket desk in Guest Services. And to round out the trifecta in its tagline, the mountain owns Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing, whose tenure stretches deep into the Selkirk Range that houses RMR. The fact that the resort views heli-accessed skiing as a central part of its story is a nod to Revelstoke’s mythology as the birthplace of heli-skiing and a mecca for adventure-seeking skiers.
“When I travel all around the world and people ask me where I’m from, they say, ‘I’ve heard of that place,’” says Lusti. “There’s definitely intrigue around it as this amazing ski resort. If you’re in Chamonix and you mention Revelstoke, people know it, and that’s pretty cool after only 10 years.”
Revelstoke Mountain Resort by the Numbers
Average Annual Snowfall: 540 inches
Total Skiable Acreage: 3,121 acres
Number of lifts: 2 lifts, 1 gondola
Vertical Drop: 5,620 feet
Total Trails: 69
Regional Airport: Revelstoke Airport (YRV)
Trail Breakdown
Beginner: 7%
Intermediate: 45.5%
Advanced: 47.5%
