I know, I know… skiing is over at RMR, but after a great drive up to Rogers Pass today, I’m definitely back in the skiing mood. This is a great POV video of some nice drops all around Revelstoke. Ends with classic POV must-see-tv.
Sean Vogel sent in some hilarious clips from Saturday’s Dummy Downhill. While not too many dummies were entered this year, it looks to be the start of an awesome annual tradition. Next year start early and get your dummy entered in the competition!
The Ski Patrol’s “Saucer Boy” (a great tribute to the late Shane McConkey) won longest run, and the Downie St. Kiwi Crew’s NZ sheep won biggest air. Congrats to everyone who put in a team!
Have any more videos of the Dummy Downhill? Send them in!
Today was closing day at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, and it went out with a bang. The back bowls had almost a foot of fresh powder in them, on top of what fell generously on Saturday and Sunday. The weather varied from snowy to sunny, but the consensus from everyone was that it was one of the best closing days anyone had skied. It’s great to go out on a high note. We don’t have a date yet for opening day next season - as soon as we’ve got one, the countdown begins again.
Johnny was totally on today.
We had a great weekend skiing with our friend Ben, visiting from Vancouver. It was a fantastic closing weekend; there was snow every day!
In honour of Si coming back home to Revelstoke tomorrow, here’s his second headcam compilation. All of us here have to get on putting some footage together - we have heaps of it. There are three days left at RMR - we’re coming into the final weekend. We’re happy to have our friend Ben Hall from Vancouver here to share it with us - he came snowboarding in January and vowed to return before the season ended.
Randy Swensen just sent me the link to this video - Team Thunderstruck spend a lot of their time filming around the Revelstoke area. He posed an interesting question to me - he’s a former ski racer turned extreme sledder who splits his time on the mountains between skiing and snowmobiling. He admitted that a lot of people adamantly refuse to embrace both - what do you think? Can you be a hardcore sledder and still love to ski (or vice versa)? I do hear a lot of sledders say that they used to ski but then moved entirely to the motorized world. I’ve always been much more firmly planted on the skiing side, but that could just be for lack of experience. Do you do both? Do you just do one or the other? Why?
And now, for a bit of silliness - Johnny and I went touring on Sunday. We saw pinwheels all over the place and it inspired us to build a new friend:
Meet Sluffy, our avalanche safety snowman. He's very prepared!
Well folks, here’s the first climbing pic of the season. Revelstoke has about 400 bolted climbs within a twenty-minute drive from town, so it’s a climber’s paradise around here. The picture below was taken in late March by Joey Holmes. Do you have some great early-season climbing shots already? Send them in to The Stoke!
Sean Beale on Smokey And The Bandit (5.12a) at the Drive-In.
Phase I of Nelsen Lodge opened up at the base of Revelstoke Mountain Resort on March 4, with seemingly endless developments planned around it. But, as General Manger Peter Nielsen is quick to point out, “[o]ur intention isn’t to create another town.” In a lot of ski destinations, he says, “you have to create something for people to go to, create a village or a town feel.” With more than one hundred years of rich history to draw on, Nielsen notes that part of “what makes Revelstoke so attractive is the town itself.” The Lodge is even named after Revelstoke ski pioneer Nels Nelsen
, and the huge, sloped beams in the front lobby were inspired by the ski jumping Nelsen is so famous for.
Looking down at the lobby of Nelsen Lodge
“The goal was to try to create a product that lived up to the ski experience,” laughs Nielsen. That’s no easy feat when your ski experience boasts the longest leg-burning vertical in North America, but “we’re almost there,” he grins, and the pedestrian-only Village looks to be something quite special. The plan “has always been to create a mix” between new and local businesses, says Nielsen, and the village will eventually feature lots of restaurants and shops, many locally-owned.
Admittedly, the landscaping leaves a little to be desired at the moment - the vision
is expected to largely come together within the next three to four years, and landscaping will begin this summer in earnest. But what the parking lot and front entrance lack in style, the novelty of the surrounding mountains more than makes up for it at the moment. Where a typical ski lodge often features log beams, dark colours and a cozy feel, Nelsen Lodge went for a much more modern aesthetic - but designed with the natural world in mind. Huge windows in the rooms and hallways offer boundless natural light and views of the ski hill to one side and Mt. Begbie to the other. The village causeways between buildings will be inspired by creekbeds, and will feature lots of local greenery. The rooms are incredibly appointed by Vancouver design firm CHIL, with a lot of rich colours, sleek lines, beautiful photographs and full kitchens.
The privately-owned, ski-in/ski-out suites at Nelson lodge rent out at $199 - $379 per night for a studio, and $379 - $699 for a premium two bedroom suite. Phase I is sold out and Phase II is almost completely sold out, but Phase III still has a few suites available for purchase. Two dining locations are expected to open this summer, a quick-serve deli and a full-service restaurant with a large patio. Next winter, an apres-ski cocktail reception will held every afternoon in the stunningly appointed lobby at the Nelsen Lodge. Also coming for next winter is Phase II, which features 56 rooms, a large swimming pool and fitness area, and an indoor climbing wall. Phase III, little more than a concrete shell at the moment, is expected to open for the winter of 2010/2011. For reservation inquiries, please email reservations@sandman.ca or call 1-800-726-3626. For real estate inquiries, click here.
The incomparable John Brodie created this awesome video of his recent drive from Revelstoke to Mammoth, California. He set the camera up on the dash of his car and took a time lapse video of the drive, from Revelstoke to Rogers’s Pass, down to Whitefish, MT, through Idaho and Nevada at night, and then into the Eastern Sierra in California. Come home soon, JB! We miss you!
The Slush Cup and Retro Day on Saturday, April 4 was a raging success. Entry to the Slush Cup was a donation to the Revelstoke Food Bank, and RMR also ran a special offer where a donation to the Food Bank got you a half-price lift ticket or a free ski waxing. All in all, RMR raised $1360 (including $80 donated while the totals were being announced on the Day Lodge deck yesterday afternoon), and over seven hundred pounds of food! The Slush Cup filled up quickly, and a huge audience sat out in the sun while thirty-five participants soaked themselves to the bone for our enjoyment. My friends J.J. Vinet and Mark Petrosoniak won “Best Costume” and “Longest Distance,” respectively. Check out the rest of the pictures on Flickr.
Duffers making NZ proud!
The hill was alive with amazing retro costumes - dayglo-orange zinc on the faces of all the lifties, extra tight one-pieces galore, bright and plastic K-Way windbreakers, rear-entry ski boots on skinny skis (often with a wax job older than the rider, making for some slow cat-track traverses), lots of early-90s neon, and heaps of fabulous wigs. You always have to be a little careful on Retro Days though, because you never know when the fuchsia onesie you’re giggling at is actually still a fave from the closet and is worn in all seriousness. I wore a neon nylon windbreaker, and it felt like I had a portable sauna on my body.
Lifties in the spirit
JJ backscratching it jeans and ancient Rossis.
The post-Slush Cup party on the Day Lodge deck was packed, and there was a definite party vibe. Local band Blind Spot played a great set in the sun and got people up dancing. It’s hard to believe that it’s still winter at the top of the mountain when it is t-shirt weather out on the patio. This weekend also featured the K1/K2 Okanagan Zone Finals at RMR, with a GS race yesterday and a slalom race today set on Hollywood. They had a special guest forerunning the race yesterday morning - Alpine Skiing World Cup winner Aksel Svindel thrilled kids and racing afficianados (and ladies).
The afterparty out on the deck
There are more RMR Spring Meltdown events happening over the final week at RMR - the Dummy Downhill is on Saturday and I’m expecting big things from Revelstoke residents! It’s free to enter, and the rules are few - your dummy has to be on skis or a snowboard, it can’t be a human, and it can’t be lit on fire or involve anything exploding. Pretty simple! Sunday features an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, and the annual Stoke to Spoke
white chicks dvdrip download is on Monday the 13th (closing day…*tear*). The Stoke to Spoke is a ski/bike/obstacle race, and it is only $10 to enter. Dust off your bike and say hello to spring!
Sarah snapped this shot of an absolutely epic line down the face of Mt. Mackenzie today. Can you spot it?
Do you know who's line this is?
Was this your line? Let me know! The Stoke Crew would love to take you out for a beer for your incredibly badass run. Hopefully you were wearing a headcam, whoever you are. The past few days have seen some great stability, so all of the chutes people have been eying up all season are getting hit while riders have this perfect window of opportunity.
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