Revelstoke skied a bit differently from last year. The snowpack is deeper and the North Bowl area is much more wide open with more interesting skiable lines. There had not been recent snow so some of it was stiffened tracked up powder. So it was best to find skier-packed lines to avoid that, although there were a few smooth chalky routes also. When I skied far skier's right I took the road out this time to get to Ripper. It requires 5 short uphill sections to take off your skis. So of course I overheated as it was in the 20's, balmy by January Canadian standards. It was still the Great Gray North, totally overcast on Thursday and just a few sunny breaks on Sunday afternoon.
The groomed skiing was not as good as last year. It rained to ~5,000 feet (just below the base of the Stoke and Ripper chairs) on Jan. 9-10 so the long top to bottom cruisers had a firm subsurface. Not frozen granular by any means, but somewhat similar to the snowmaking (there is none at Revelstoke) subsurface a year ago at Deer Valley. The top of those runs face south and they were firmer than last year also. My last run Sunday on Hot Sauce and Devil's Club was during one of the sunny breaks and it had softened a bit by then.
I was trying to conserve energy on such a long trip by skiing only 4 hours Sunday and 3+ on Thursday but it was still 24,800 and 21,500.
I also met marketing director Ashley Tait after Thursday's skiing. The resort is still progressing. They have sold enough of the 120 units to break ground on the 3rd Nelsen Lodge building. Nelsen Lodge also has the Rockford restaurant and apres ski bar now. They get a lot of international business from places like Australia and Scandinavia as well as the larger European countries. These visitors support the day heliskiing business at Selkirk-Tangiers, which includes private and semi-private A-Star groups as well as the 3-run intro packages. Advanced skiers will still get the best day skiing deals via CMH Revelstoke or Eagle Pass, both of which are actively soliciting day skiers now.
A couple of Revelstoke's soft spots may be addressed soon. They plan to create a beginner area and lift at the top of the gondola. The cat ski area that faces south and will eventually have lifts may be moved to a better location somewhere within Selkirk-Tangiers 500,000 acres tenure.
The groomed skiing was not as good as last year. It rained to ~5,000 feet (just below the base of the Stoke and Ripper chairs) on Jan. 9-10 so the long top to bottom cruisers had a firm subsurface. Not frozen granular by any means, but somewhat similar to the snowmaking (there is none at Revelstoke) subsurface a year ago at Deer Valley. The top of those runs face south and they were firmer than last year also. My last run Sunday on Hot Sauce and Devil's Club was during one of the sunny breaks and it had softened a bit by then.
I was trying to conserve energy on such a long trip by skiing only 4 hours Sunday and 3+ on Thursday but it was still 24,800 and 21,500.
I also met marketing director Ashley Tait after Thursday's skiing. The resort is still progressing. They have sold enough of the 120 units to break ground on the 3rd Nelsen Lodge building. Nelsen Lodge also has the Rockford restaurant and apres ski bar now. They get a lot of international business from places like Australia and Scandinavia as well as the larger European countries. These visitors support the day heliskiing business at Selkirk-Tangiers, which includes private and semi-private A-Star groups as well as the 3-run intro packages. Advanced skiers will still get the best day skiing deals via CMH Revelstoke or Eagle Pass, both of which are actively soliciting day skiers now.
A couple of Revelstoke's soft spots may be addressed soon. They plan to create a beginner area and lift at the top of the gondola. The cat ski area that faces south and will eventually have lifts may be moved to a better location somewhere within Selkirk-Tangiers 500,000 acres tenure.
