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Revelstoke, a mountain town in British Columbia named after Lord Revelstoke, offers world-class skiing, heli-skiing and a strong community, according to filmmaker and local Nat Segal.
Revelstoke, a mountain town in British Columbia named after Lord Revelstoke, offers skiers and snowboarders 1265 hectares of skiable terrain and a 1713-metre vertical descent at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
The town sits beneath the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges, and the Columbia River runs right alongside it. You can thank Lord Revelstoke for all the puns and the bumper stickers, including get Stoked, feel the Stoke, and even ride the Stoke chair. His Lordship arranged the finance to get the railway through here in the late 1800s, and the town was named after him as a tribute.
Revelstoke Life Beyond the Slopes
A century or so on, Revelstoke has grown somewhat, and there are no signs of the peerage, for here you have all the attributes of a mountain town. It is full of youth and energy, with shops and services dedicated to outdoor pursuits. In summer, it will be buzzing with hikers and mountain bikers and all sorts of water lovers on the lakes and the Columbia River.
In winter, you will find skiers and snowboarders hopping aboard one of the dozen or so heli-skiing operations to get their thrills in the hills or making the short trip up the road to the Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The resort itself is a work in progress, as far as its base area goes. There are hotels and apartments established and under construction, cafes and bars for the hungry and thirsty, and excellent ski and board retail and rental outlets.
The Sutton Place Hotel is a stroll away from the lifts at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. But it is the mountain itself that is the breathtaking component here. By any measure, the terrain and descent are big numbers, and they are part of the lure for skiers and snowboarders from all over. The trails and scale of Revelstoke Mountain draw visitors from around the world.
Nat Segal's Path to Revelstoke
Nat Segal, filmmaker, exceptional skier and summer hiking guide in these parts, was originally from Melbourne and grew up skiing at Mount Buller in Victoria, but now calls Revelstoke home. She started out as a competitive mogul skier but then discovered freeride, a judged sport where skiers and boarders are given an area of the mountain, usually out of resort boundaries and ideally in fresh snow, to descend as skilfully and spectacularly as they can.
It is not unlike a surfing event. Segal says: My first time skiing at Revelstoke Mountain Resort was in 2013 when I was competing on the Freeride World Tour. I just remember having my mind blown, like I had never skied trees like that or found pillow lines like that in bounds. Pillow lines are mounds of snow covering logs or rocks.
She returned several times and used it as a location for the feature-length documentary she made with her sister Anna, Finding the Line. She says: So I had some connections through that and a few friends who had moved here, and I moved to Revelstoke in 2018. By now, she knows the mountain well. The main drag, as she calls it, is the gondola, with some long blue, intermediate-level groomed runs.
She says: If it is a little busier, I will just do laps on the gondola, just fast. It is the best place to get your legs going because they are such long runs. When my parents come to visit me and I do it with them, we have to stop all the time and I am just like oh come on you two, you have not done your training.
Exploring Revelstoke Mountain Terrain
The Stoke Chair gives access to some of the mountain's bigger bowls, North Bowl and Greely Bowl, and if you do not mind a hike you can head up to the sub-peak area below Mackenzie Peak. Segal says: There is amazing access all through there. A lot of the areas off the Stoke Chair are ungroomed, off-piste.
It is the more challenging terrain, but they are really fun runs and it is a great place for stepping up into harder and harder terrain. Then there is the Ripper Chair, lower in elevation but offering entertaining blue and green, easiest, groomed runs. If you want to head off those runs, Segal says there is some tree skiing that is not too steep but still really fun and playful.
She says: Some people on a powder day will go straight to the Stoke Chair and other people go straight to the Ripper. It is all to do with style. I like the steeper terrain, I like a little bit more open terrain, whereas I have friends that all they want to do is ski the trees. Another measure of the area relates to the company you will keep.
Mountain Guides and Local Community
Revelstoke has the highest concentration of Association of Canadian Mountain Guides members in the country. You will see the ACMG status with their signature. Many work as heli-ski or cat-ski guides and backcountry ski touring guides. It also has a healthy community.
Segal says: One of the reasons I moved to Revelstoke and I am staying, is the community. I live in the downtown area, just a few blocks from the main street. And it feels so lovely, so much art and culture and some amazing nonprofits. One of the Art Alleries, street art in downtown Revelstoke, is part of that scene.
She adds: If you stick around for a season you can be really involved in the town, but even if you are just there for a visit, there is always stuff going on. A classic is going to the Grizzlies ice hockey games. There are local kids playing and you have people who have lived there all their lives to people who have been for a week all cheering for the same team.
Getting Around and Accommodation
Segal says: From my house downtown to the resort parking lot is seven minutes if I time it. And there are buses and shuttles, so if you are staying at one or the other you can easily get between the two. You can stay at the resort and get that resort feeling, but then if you want to go downtown and have a walk around a cozy town, you can do that as well.
There are lots of options for accommodation in the town and the resort. She adds: One thing I really appreciate is that there is not a divide, there are lots of residents living in the areas where tourists stay, but at the same time, the tourist accommodation is not crowding out the town, the town still has soul. Revelstoke town at night shows that character.
Given its deep-in-the-mountains location, outside winter, Revelstoke still draws in the visitors and has plenty to entertain the locals. That might be hiking or mountain biking, or spending time on the river or lakes. Those waterways are mountain-fed though. Segal says: It is funny, as someone who loves the water and grew up by the beach, it does not replace the beach, but Canadian lakes are lovely in their own right.
So there is a whole experience out there. But the water is freezing. Later in the summer it does warm up, so at the end of September it is just like March in southern Australia. But yeah, early season, you are not staying in the water very long.
theage
brisbanetimes:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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