It's Puking Snow!

Heading to Revelstoke from Vernon was quite a journey!!!  Decided to let the kids have a last swim in the hotel pool before heading out, but heard there was heavy snow in the forecast so we decided to leave earlier than later.  It turned out to be a good decision as we entered one of the passes leading into Revelstoke, we were quickly turned into a halt!  They were waiting for approval to let cars through from an avalanche that had just occurred! After waiting in anticipation for 15 minutes we were told to go ahead but were likely going to be the last few cars let through. We didn’t really know if we should proceed or turn back at that point!!! We ended up making it through but saw lots of avalanche pileups close to the road. If we had been 5 minutes later (the kids were pleading at the pool to stay longer), we would have had to turn back and be stuck in Vernon for days!  We later learned that the local name for Revelstoke is ‘Revelstuck’ because of all the road closures! When we arrived in Revelstoke it was ‘puking snow’ (the term that is used for heavy abundance of snowfall)!  The snow continued throughout the day and overnight.  We were giddy with excitement about what the mountain might be like the next day!!!

We were fortunate to be staying with Tony’s brother and family in Revelstoke.  He became quite the guide and ‘sherpa’ on the mountain! Revelstoke is known to be ‘steep and deep’ and it definitely showed in the 30+cm of fresh powder!  The whole town I think was shut down to get first tracks (stores are known to post closed on real POW days). The line-ups were long to get on the first gondola but the second gondola was better after everyone spread out on the mountain. We quickly had to adapt our snowbording stance to ride real deep powder. Keep your tip up!  I feared we might have lost Vea a few times because the snow was so deep!!!  After many whoo hoo’s we quickly got into our groove.  Revelstoke is a huge mountain and is the highest vertical drop in North America. It takes 30 minutes to get from the top to the bottom and our legs were feeling the burn afterwards! We were all pretty exhausted at the end of the day but still had enough energy for some marathon Canopoly games (Canadian version of Monopoly)!

Many thanks to Bob, Ramona and Josh for their hospitality and company.  Vea would also like to thank Ginger and Zepher for their snuggles and enthusiastic welcoming to Revelstoke.

Our next leg is heading to Nelson for some riding at RED and Whitewater Mountains!  We’re looking forward to a day off to rest our muscles and maybe soak in one of the natural hot springs here!

Here’s some more photos from our stoked days in Revelstoke.

All 4 now …