Gabriella Le Breton explains why Bighorn is in the top 10:
“The pioneer of fully serviced chalets in North America, Bighorn is set in the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, which combines big mountain resort skiing with heli-skiing and cat-skiing. The sumptuous eight-bedroom lodge has a helipad in its garden, placing the sprawling tenures of three leading heli-ski operators almost literally on the doorstep. Guests choosing to pass on the heli-skiing can explore the expansive pistes and back-country terrain of the resort of “Revy”, which claims North America’s greatest vertical drop (5,620ft), go cross-country skiing or watch the world’s best riders compete in big mountain competitions like the Yeti Natural Selection Tour, in which snowboarders compete on heli-ski terrain, as well as in the main resort.”
Forbes has listed Bighorn as one of three dream villas for a 2019 getaway, particularly in January.
We believe January is a great time of year to get away from it all for a few days, after the busy holiday season. With shorter stay options available at Bighorn, there’s no reason not to start the new year as you mean to go on.
Forbes describes “Heli-skiing in British Columbia is the apex of sport and there’s no better place to base yourself for January powder than Bighorn”….. “A helicopter like an A 6 can deliver you to virgin snows free of other skiers, lift lines, rules, regulations, and subdivisions of trophy homes. You ski 1,500 or 2,000 vertical feet and the chopper is waiting for you at the bottom of the run. Repeat eight or nine times in a day. On a given day, a pilot can choose between hundreds of potential landing places, over an area of several hundred square miles. In terms of snow, nothing but nothing beats BC powder”.
“Revelstoke is for serious powder-seekers. You can burn your thighs down the longest lift-serviced vertical in North America, but heli-skiing is probably the first thing that should come to mind when you think of this resort. Skiers from around the world consider Revelstoke the Holy Grail of this extreme sport and make the journey to breathe in this purest of mountain air and slide down these purest of untouched lines”.
Bighorn was featured in Harrod’s Travel Magazine’s latest issue. As a featured destination, the article describes what makes Bighorn and Revelstoke unique; “half a million acres of the world’s finest and most accessible heliski terrain…guests at Bighorn skip the passes and fly straight into the backcountry”. Guests stay in “unabashed luxury” at Bighorn, “the only lodge in Revelstoke with a helipad”. “Ease into your warmed boots, step out the door into your sleek A Star helicopter and before long, with your dedicated guide, you’ll be revelling in the deep feather-light virgin snow, interrupted only by lunch in a pristine forest clearing or remote glacial valley”.
Revelstoke has once again been voted Top of the Top 10 Ski Resorts in the World by Snow Magazine. Hotly contested by some readers that it is above Whistler in the ratings, but Snow Magazine stand by their choice – “we still love Reve, as it has the lot: steeps, trees, perfectly maintained pistes – all covered in tons of the legendary Powder Highway snow”.
Listed amongst other fabulous resorts such as St Anton, Telluride and Niseko, which all have their plus points, we of course, agree that Revelstoke has it all and here are some of the reasons why:
Powder – and not just any powder, the best champagne powder you can find anywhere in the World.
Bighorn – of course! The award winning best ski chalet in Canada with it’s own private helipad. What’s not to like? Fly in and out of Bighorn in style.
Countless ski options:
Heliskiing: Take advantage of your own private Helipad at Bighorn to discover the heliski mecca of the Monashees and Selkirk mountains.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort: With the highest Vertical Descent in North America and a plethora of offpiste skiing in diverse terrain, you won’t find it hard to get those fresh tracks.
CAT skiing: Discover further exceptional ski adventures in fresh powder backcountry.
These days, on mountains all over the world, you can’t help noticing how many skiers and boarders have a GoPro attached to some part of their body. We’ve become obsessed with digitally recording ourselves … and there’s nothing wrong with that as far as we’re concerned at Bighorn. The breath taking vistas and snow conditions here at Revelstoke lend themselves perfectly to shooting incredible footage of your ski adventures. So move over Warren Miller, here’s a few tips to ensure you actually record the memorable images you want (rather than a long bumpy video of your ski pants)!
Where to mount the camera?
Helmet mounts: a unique viewpoint from your own perspective – but make sure you mount it near the front (not on top). Before you put it on your head, angle it down slightly.
Chest mounts: work equally well for skiers, not so much for boarders as they are often standing sideways on, unless of course you just want to shoot your friends skiing.
Boot, board or ski mount: provides a unique angle to show the view of the ski or board as it moves or you can invert it to show the skier. The only issue is the adhesive doesn’t tend to last long in very snowy conditions and damage is more likely with it being so close to the ground.
Ideally to get the best varied footage, use a combination of the above.
Filming your ski buddies? With the GoPro’s wide field of view, it’s best to get as close as possible to the action, ideally no more than a couple of metres away and aim the camera at the middle of the person, keeping their head to toe in shot.
Which resolution? (i.e. the number of pixels). Whilst it’s tempting to go for the highest res, unless you really are planning on being the next Warren Miller, 720 is actually good enough for most computers and will save you memory space whilst making editing much easier.
Anti-Fog Inserts. The conditions can be cold and humid on the BC terrain leading to a fogged lens. GoPro has the answer with anti-fog inserts that protect your lens from fogging up.
Battery Packs. Even if you fully charge your battery before you spend the day heliskiing, your charge may not last the entire day, so bring a spare battery pack or two.
Get the GoPro App. It makes it really easy to control the settings and preview your amazing powpow shots from your phone.
Do a test run with your trusty GoPro to check you’ve got it set up properly before your head off on one of the best powder descents you’ve ever done (speaking from experience!)
Finally…sit back and relax at the end of the day with a well deserved drink in hand to watch your amazing powder adventures in HD in the Bighorn cinema.
We often get asked which is the best month for snow and skiing in Revelstoke. Our answer is that it depends – not only on Mother Nature, but also on what kind of skiing you like. So whether you want steep and deep in the trees or cruisey pow in the high alpine glaciers, check out our guide below:
December: Its dumping. We get heaps of snow, but visibility up top can be a challenge. So if you want to fly through the trees getting face shots, a pre-Christmas break is for you.
January: On average the snowiest month of the year. A safe bet for deep powder, a good snow base and awesome conditions.
February: Typically our busiest month – a good balance of snow and sun as conditions move towards spring skiing.
March: Longer days, stability and clear skies with heliskiers getting access to the high alpine powder bowls and glaciers.
April: Excellent conditions at high altitude, sunshine and spectacular views.
* Please bear in mind these are generalisations and conditions can vary.
Elite Traveler names its Top 10 Most Stylish chalets. Including exclusive lodges in Aspen and Lech, the list included Bighorn in Revelstoke for its luxury living and world class heliskiing. “Bighorn is a chic combination of triple height ceilings, hot tubs and techie toys, all situated in the heart of some of the world’s best heliski terrain”. Check out the full list here
Revelstoke has had an amazing start to the season with huge snowfall and continuously cool temperatures.
Huge early season snow (more than 5 metres) and steadily cold temperatures mean Revelstoke is having the best start to the winter season for years. The snow pack is stable, meaning heliskiers are tearing down epic runs that have not been accessible for a long time. Meanwhile,
Revelstoke Mountain Resort has had 15cm of powder snow this week, keeping conditions fresh on the hill. The experts are calling it the “perfect” winter so far. With temperatures forecast to stay cold and clear skies next week, heliskiers will be hitting the high alpine and skiing the very best the Selkirk and Monashee Mountains have to offer.
Check out all the powder on our helipad this week in this clip! There has never been a better time to come to Bighorn.
Following on from Bighorn being named ‘World’s Best Ski Chalet’ at the World Ski Awards recently, Best In Travel magazine has released special ski edition profiling all the winners. Winning for the second year running, the magazine describes how Bighorn has “re-written the definition of luxury”. The only super-luxury chalet to offer world-famous heliskiing direct from its helipad, Bighorn offers adventure and decadence in equal measure.
