Revelstoke, BC
The drive to Revelstoke was as beautiful as it was harrowing. Even on a gorgeous travel day, the mountain roads had Mike white-knuckling as we wound our way around, up, over, and through the gigantic peaks. Eventually we came upon the small unassuming town of Revelstoke. The town was practically buried in 5 feet of snow, with snowbanks towering over many of the houses. You might miss if you weren’t looking for it, and it would be a shame if you did.
We arrived a little too early for check in at the Days Inn so we decided to explore what looked like a riverside park on google maps. As we pulled up to the path we met a nice woman with a dog and a baby in a stroller that had skis instead of wheels! The riverside path was perfect for us because we could let Merlin off the leash and the snow walls on either side kept him contained.
When we got to the hotel we noticed the many trailers with snowmobiles parked in the lot, and more would fill in as the night went on. This town is definitely a winter sports haven.
We headed to the main street in town for dinner. The general vibe was that there were a lot of young adults, and everyone was happy, friendly, and excited to be there!
The next morning we awoke to crystal clear blue skies and a temperature somewhere around 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Since we were only doing a half day of skiing and driving the rest of the day we headed to the mountain as early as possible. Luckily the drive from town is only about 10 minutes. At the base of the mountain there’s the usual ski shop, restaurant, bar, and lodge, but no condos or hotels or meandering “village” to navigate to get to the lifts. You park, you walk about 200 yards, you’re on the lift.
This area has had decades of popularity among CAT and Heli skiers, but Revelstoke resort opened only 11 years ago and has North America’s biggest vertical at 5,620 feet.
Mike and I were in love with the place after our first run. Had we actually found the magical, hidden, unpretentious ski town and killer mountain of our dreams? Maybe we did; it sure felt like it. On one of our runs we stopped and at the exact same time we each said “This is awesome! I love it here!”
After a morning of quad-burning runs, our delicious sandwiches from Baguette were well-earned. We scarfed them down before loading the car up, checking out, and moving on down the road toward Vancouver.
The drive was relatively smooth all the way to Kamloops, BC where we: went to Walmart, had the saddest chicken cordon bleu of all time, slept, and got back on the road at 7:30am.
Finally, we arrived at Vancouver airport right on time. In what felt like a whirlwind of emotion, stress, and relief, I said a teary goodbye to Mike and Merl and started my solo journey back to Albany, NY.
