After our day in Whitewater, we did the short one hour drive to the town of Rossland. I first visited the area in 2000. After skiing there just a couple of days, I decided to move there the following winter of 2000-2001. That alone should tell you the kind of place Rossland is, and the kind of ski area Red Mountain is. It just felt like home. Of course, that may have to do with the similarities between Crested Butte and Rossland- both have a Paradise chair, both have a Paradise lodge, both have a Rafters bar at the base (Crested Butte has since torn theirs down), both are old mining towns with a ski area 3 miles away. And both places have steep technical skiing rivaling anywhere I’ve been to. On a good day at Red, you’ll find yourself skiing steep glades in 2500′ shots run after run. Red is a workout, for sure.

So it was with great anticipation that I hoped to lead Brittany to some of my favorite runs at the ski area. Sadly, things didn’t quite work out that way.

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From Roger’s Pass, Brittany and I made our way down to the town of Revelstoke. Meanwhile our friends Jon and Susan headed our way from Pemberton, so we’d be a foursome for Revelstoke. Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR) opened just recently, in December 2007, and boasts North America’s biggest vertical drop at 5,620′. A number of additional lifts and other developments are currently planned which will make RMR North America’s largest ski area.

The current “feel” at RMR is definitely one of a work in progress. Ever been in a half finished house sporting insulation and unfinished subfloors? That’s what RMR feels like right now- a work in progress. The trail layout is really strange, but with more lifts, some of the many traverses currently necessary to navigate the resort may be a thing of the past.

Without a guide, the 4 of us were left finding our own way around in the fog and light snow that was falling. We found some fun areas, but also found some heinous creek gullies funneling us to the other lifts. On to the pics…

Susan and I checking things out:

Brittany at the top of a short hike:

Brittany:

Sweet visibility in the ping pong ball:

Jon:

One thing for sure at RMR is that they had fun naming things, with chairs called The Stoke and The Ripper. But I liked this trial name best of all:

While RMR may boast a lot of vertical, the bottom half of the mountain was thin and icy, and not worth skiing. We had to ski this pitch right under the gondola, which was humorously dangerous and difficult given the icy condition it was in:

Originally, we planned to ski RMR another day, or go sled skiing with Jon and Susan. Avalanche conditions were pretty bad, however, and the ski area wasn’t skiing that well. Perhaps most importantly, Brittany and I had been hitting it pretty hard, always skiing and driving without a single day off. So we adjusted our plans and left Revelstoke a day early so we could hit up some hot springs and ski an unplanned day at Whitewater outside Nelson. Jon and Susan went to check out the sled access skiing and reported back that even approaching low angled slopes would cause them to avalanche on the surface hoar layer that is plaguing the area this season. Meanwhile, Brittany and I were enjoying our sightseeing tour. Our route required a ferry across Arrow Lake:

It was a beautiful day:

We had lunch in the scenic town of New Denver, which sits at the base of some nice looking peaks:

We stopped at the Ainsworth Hot Springs, which were notable for the caves you could walk through.

Eventually, we rolled into the picturesque town of Nelson, more on that later…

Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl
Whitefish
Fernie
Kicking Horse
Roger’s Pass