Zermatt
Active member
We skied Revelstoke for 7 days from Sunday the 16th through Saturday the 22nd.
Had quite a bit of fresh snow Sunday that lasted in the trees until Monday/Tuesday. Still plenty of soft snow around Wednesday and Thursday but definitely hit more groomers those days. I did some side country touring on Friday and easily found deep, untracked snow. Friday night delivered a nice 6" refresh to parts of the mountain for Saturday. Drove back to Kelowna Saturday night for a red-eye to Toronto and was back home in CT by noon on Sunday.
We got to Kelowna late Friday night and stayed by the airport. Woke up early to stock up on supplies at Wal-Mart and Costco then made the easy two hour drive to Revelstoke (could have easily skied this day as well).
Tree skiing was amazing. Countless acres of perfectly spaced pine trees at every angle you could imagine (good for my kids and wife). Inbounds bowls were so easy to access and held fresh snow for days. Side country access was also very convenient with minimal touring needed to get to deep fresh snow.
When the powder got hard to find inbounds I skied some steep groomers that literally had me gasp in awe. Pitch Black was my favorite. An endlessly steep and wide run that disappears into the black conifers contrasting again the white floodplain of the Columbia River.
It took a few days just to grasp the immensity of the resort. The trail map is nice, but it just doesn't accurately represent what you are skiing. After a few days it becomes clear and you realize that tiny section on the map is like skiing top to bottom at Stratton and after that you have to do it all over again plus add in a run down Mount Snow. I've skied 7,000' vertical in Zermatt but that is spread out over a huge horizontal distance and long flat sections. I was actually getting motion sick doing top to bottom hot laps from the rapid pressure change. By the end of the trip I started to take more breaks to give my inner ears a rest.
At the tops of the lifts it was consistently busy, but as soon as you started skiing everyone was just gone. It was rare to see more than a few people on a groomer and often they were totally empty. In the woods it was even more empty, like scary, glad I have a whistle empty.
Might add some pics. Let me know if you have any logistics questions.
Had quite a bit of fresh snow Sunday that lasted in the trees until Monday/Tuesday. Still plenty of soft snow around Wednesday and Thursday but definitely hit more groomers those days. I did some side country touring on Friday and easily found deep, untracked snow. Friday night delivered a nice 6" refresh to parts of the mountain for Saturday. Drove back to Kelowna Saturday night for a red-eye to Toronto and was back home in CT by noon on Sunday.
We got to Kelowna late Friday night and stayed by the airport. Woke up early to stock up on supplies at Wal-Mart and Costco then made the easy two hour drive to Revelstoke (could have easily skied this day as well).
Tree skiing was amazing. Countless acres of perfectly spaced pine trees at every angle you could imagine (good for my kids and wife). Inbounds bowls were so easy to access and held fresh snow for days. Side country access was also very convenient with minimal touring needed to get to deep fresh snow.
When the powder got hard to find inbounds I skied some steep groomers that literally had me gasp in awe. Pitch Black was my favorite. An endlessly steep and wide run that disappears into the black conifers contrasting again the white floodplain of the Columbia River.
It took a few days just to grasp the immensity of the resort. The trail map is nice, but it just doesn't accurately represent what you are skiing. After a few days it becomes clear and you realize that tiny section on the map is like skiing top to bottom at Stratton and after that you have to do it all over again plus add in a run down Mount Snow. I've skied 7,000' vertical in Zermatt but that is spread out over a huge horizontal distance and long flat sections. I was actually getting motion sick doing top to bottom hot laps from the rapid pressure change. By the end of the trip I started to take more breaks to give my inner ears a rest.
At the tops of the lifts it was consistently busy, but as soon as you started skiing everyone was just gone. It was rare to see more than a few people on a groomer and often they were totally empty. In the woods it was even more empty, like scary, glad I have a whistle empty.
Might add some pics. Let me know if you have any logistics questions.