Revelstoke Jan 21-28, 2018

[just jane]

First, apologies for no pictures. I’m terrible at remembering to take pics when I ski. Also, it was pretty overcast today and the light was more on the flat side so I’m not sure they would have turned out well anyway. I’ll try to remember to take some later in the week though.

My initial impression this morning, riding the gondola, was that the mountain is a lot bigger than you would think based on the number of lifts, because there is so much vertical. We (me and Mr. Jane) headed up the gondola to the Stoke chair, did one run and then I headed for the warming hut at the top of the Stoke where @MrsPlow had generously offers to meet me and show me some of the mountain. It was ridiculously windy, so we headed over to the Ripper chair, which is more protected. We’re lucky that we met up when we did, because they ended up closing the Stoke chair due to wind for the rest of the day. There is a lot of great variety off of the Ripper chair, and I’m so glad I could ski with someone who knew the mountain! MrsPlow and her Mr took me into some of the glades, which I would have been too intimidated to explore on my own, because I could definitely get in over my head without guidance.

I would have liked to explore more of the mountain, but the weather was not cooperating. We skiied with the Plows most of the day, off the Ripper chair, until they had to leave, and then decided to head to the bottom for a lunch break. We had planned on doing a few more runs after lunch off of the gondola, but the snow lower on the mountain is in pretty bad shape, so we decided to call it a day.

So then, we had to check out the aquatic center, of course! It seems like just about every hotel in town gives out free passes, and it is the perfect aprés activity. Amenities include a hot tub, sauna, steam room, and water slide. We spent most of our time in the hot tub, with forays in the steam room and on the water slide. I have a feeling we will be frequent visitors this week!

I’m hoping the weather will improve enough for us to check out the North and South Bowls tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

 

[just jane]

Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had on skis. This mountain!

We skiied mostly off of the Stoke chair today and found all sorts of powder at the top. The first run was overwhelming. I followed DH off the chair and felt like I forgot how to ski overnight and all of the sudden he is off into really challenging-for-me terrain and I wasn’t sure what I was getting into or where we were. So much for warm-up runs! But I floundered through and got back to the lift and got my bearings and we were off. We did several runs in the South Bowl. We couldn’t hike up to the Sub Peak but we traversed/hiked straight over from the top of the lift and found fresh untracked powder for our first two runs over there, which was lovely. I think I could ski those lines all week long and not get tired of it.

I basically spent the whole day skiing at the limit of my abilities and loving it. And it looks like more powder tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll get any blue bird days, sadly, we’ll just have to deal with powder instead.

The only bad part of the day was witnessing a young woman have a bad fall that resulted in what appeared to be a broken wrist. She was wailing in pain which was difficult to hear. There were plenty of people helping her and alerting ski patrol so we didn’t stay around - the last thing she needed was more people gawking. I hope she’ll be okay.

Oh, I even took a couple of pictures! First looking down valley from the South Bowl, and second, in the Jalapeño run.

 

[just jane]

We got a few minutes of clear(ish) skies yesterday! Enough for me to get a picture of the peaks across the valley, at least.

It was NOT a powder day, but we still were able to find some stashes here and there. We met up with a couple from Seattle that DH met through the snowboarding forum he posts on. She is the ‘boarder and her husband is a skier, and they were a good match with us in ability, so we had a fun day with them. We started out in the South Bowl again, then went back over to the Ripper chair. This mountain is kicking my a** in the best way. I am finding a lot of challenging terrain that makes me stretch but isn’t completely beyond my abilities. Some of the runs I’ve done wind up being a combo of skill-stretching and survival skiing, but I've stayed out of serious trouble. I love it. By the end of the day though, my body was worked and even the groomers felt hard. I decided to take today off. I have two more days on my 5-day pass, and will use them tomorrow and Friday.

Of course, we woke up this morning to a couple of inches of new snow in town, so I’m sure there’s more on top of the mountain. I dropped DH off on the mountain to meet up with a couple of ‘boarder buddies, and was instantly consumed with anxiety - a serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I am terrified that the forecast of an even better powder today tomorrow won’t pan out and I will have missed the best day of our week. (And if I don’t take a break I will be increasing my injury risk, but... oy.) So I am chilling at a coffee shop in town hoping that tomorrow will be fab and that taking a day off will have me ready for it!

 

[just jane]

Today’s good news: the powder guys smiled on Revelstoke today! Here’s a few pics at the gondola about half an hour before it opened:




Today’s bad news: I took one of those random awkward falls and pulled or strained my calf pretty bad and had to quit after two runs. It wasn’t a particularly hard run. We were under the Stoke chair, heading toward the Ripper chair. The light was flat and it was super-choppy and I hit a pile wrong and went down. My binding was a bit slow in releasing and got a good hard yank on my calf before the ski came off. I got my skis back on and it rapidly became apparent that my day was ending early. I managed to hobble-ski to the lodge but it was pretty painful. I took the gondola back to the bottom and did stop in the ski patrol shack to have it checked out. They recommended the standard RICE treatment so I’ve ben doing that + ibuprofen and it’s helping but I suspect I’ll have to forfeit my final day tomorrow.

The day was not completly wasted, however. We took a scenic drive up to Roger’s Pass and it was a relatively clear day so we got to see some absolutely stunning views.

Cross your fingers for a miracle recovery for me!

 

[kasuncion6]

Sending good vibes to you and your calf.

 

[nopoleskier]

awwww Hope your calf gets better!! Glad you did have some good powder..you're making me want to go back to Revelstoke sooner! Here's to a miracle so you get some more runs today! Nice trip report!

 

[just jane]

Today’s report - things to do in Revelstoke if you’re injured:

• Coffee shop crawl: like a pub crawl only you get more wired. My favorite coffee shop is Dose. They even put latte art on the hot chocolate. And serve it with a single large marshmallow on the side.
• Souvenir shopping. Here’s the T-shirt I found for my nephew:
• Cultural enrichment. I chose the Revelstoke historical museum downtown. It was pretty interesting. I learned where the name “Revelstoke” came from, I learned about the First Nations tribes who originally inhabited the area, and they had great exhibits on the history of skiing and snowsports in Revelstoke, and on avalanches. Definitely worth an hour or so and the $5 (Cn) admission fee. There are a couple of other museums as well but I didn’t have time or the legs for more than one.
• Soak, swim and slide at the aquatic centre! Okay, we’ve gone almost every evening but it’s an especially nice option when you’re nursing an injury. Also, the water slide is stupid fun and seriously trippy when it’s dark. They have a large hot tub, a sauna and a steam room, plus a diving board, dedicated lanes for lap swims, a little lazy river, and a climbing wall. Most hotels in town give free passes. It’s amazeballs.

I would much rather have been on the hill, but I wasn’t as desperately bored today as I thought I might be.

 

[nopoleskier]

I thought the town was really cool.. I loved all the unique restaurants.. Hope you feel better!!

 

[skibum4ever]

Sending good healing thoughts to your calf. Thanks for the report.

 

[Albertan ski girl]

Hope your calf heals soon!

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Nice report! Hope you calf heals soon Yes, Revy is steep, but lots of trees and fun places to play off-piste with variety of difficulty. The hike-to terrain requires a guide in my opinion. I had a great time there on our trip with @nopoleskier . The reason we went there I have decided to add on few days at Revy after a conference/work trip in Whistler, it was well worth it.

 

[kasuncion6]

Thanks fo the tips on the Cube. Really happy to hear that it’s clean!

 

[geargrrl]

Are you guys getting hammered?

 

[dloveski]

Today’s good news: the powder guys smiled on Revelstoke today! Here’s a few pics at the gondola about half an hour before it opened:
View attachment 8077

View attachment 8078

Today’s bad news: I took one of those random awkward falls and pulled or strained my calf pretty bad and had to quit after two runs. It wasn’t a particularly hard run. We were under the Stoke chair, heading toward the Ripper chair. The light was flat and it was super-choppy and I hit a pile wrong and went down. My binding was a bit slow in releasing and got a good hard yank on my calf before the ski came off. I got my skis back on and it rapidly became apparent that my day was ending early. I managed to hobble-ski to the lodge but it was pretty painful. I took the gondola back to the bottom and did stop in the ski patrol shack to have it checked out. They recommended the standard RICE treatment so I’ve ben doing that + ibuprofen and it’s helping but I suspect I’ll have to forfeit my final day tomorrow.

The day was not completly wasted, however. We took a scenic drive up to Roger’s Pass and it was a relatively clear day so we got to see some absolutely stunning views.

Cross your fingers for a miracle recovery for me!

Thanks for a great trip report---bummer about the leg. In these pics---is that the lift line?

 

[just jane]

Yes! It was nuts. They get crowded on powder days just like most places. I think if you know the mountain well, you can find good stashes though.

 

[just jane]

Mr. Jane put together a video from our trip. It’s him snowboarding, but I’m posting for anyone who is interested. So much snow!

 

[ski diva]

So much snow, indeed! It looks amazing!

Hope your calf is doing better.

 

[just jane]

Postscript - I skiied today for the first time since I hurt my calf and it felt great! It was a little tender getting in and out of my boots, but I had no pain while skiing. Yay!

 

[CarolB]

@just jane - I Hope you're doing better. Revy got a ton of new snow this last storm. Unfortunately the Highway did too. You can't even get in from the East right now. If road conditions improve I'm heading there Sunday for a couple of days.

 

[MrsPlow]

@just jane - I Hope you're doing better. Revy got a ton of new snow this last storm. Unfortunately the Highway did too. You can't even get in from the East right now. If road conditions improve I'm heading there Sunday for a couple of days.

It rained yesterday to probably 200m below the Stoke. :( Amazing conditions up top first thing, but there was a definite warming trend so the snow was getting heavy after about 11am.

Forecast is for sun and colder temps for the next couple of weeks - there's plenty of snow up there, everything's filled in nicely. Colder weather will hopefully dry and soften the front side.