Why Revy? Because it is “The epicenter of BC backcountry”.
“What happens when moist Pacific air meets cold, dry air from the Rockies? “Revy” cops the mother lode, that’s what — 40 to 60 feet a year of powder so light and fluffy it could be used to stuff a comforter.
If that isn’t enough, there’s Bighorn Lodge. This ultra-luxe alpine-style chalet for 16 overlooking the Columbia River at the foot of Revelstoke Mountain Resort has its own helipad out front.
They’ll need pockets as deep as the snow, but floating down open bowls gulping in white champagne, or whooping and hollering through old growth forests with just three pals and a guide is priceless.
Revelstoke is renowned for it’s legendary pow and last season was record breaking with over 12 metres of snowfall (a 10 year high!). This season looks set to compete with that with nearly 7 metres already at the start of January, incredible conditions on and off the slopes and the season’s only just getting started! This is what makes January skiing momentous – it’s a quiet time of year to ski (shh…don’t tell everyone!) and the pow is amazing! With conditions like this, what more can we say? Enough talking, let’s go skiing!
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”.
Last week, we were invited to spend the evening with the GB Olympic racer, Chemmy Alcott at the Ski Club of Great Britain’s new partner venue, the White Haus in London. Hosted by James Orr Heliski and attended by members of the ski press as well as heli ski enthusiasts, it was another brilliant evening allowing us to talk all things skiing with fellow ski fanatics.
Chemmy, widely regarded as one of Great Britain’s best ever female skiers, has recently been speaking about sexism and the gender gap in skiing in the press and makes some interesting points about why there aren’t more women heliskiing. She’s passionate about changing this and we couldn’t agree more! Check out the article here.
At Bighorn, our trusted heliski operators CMH, EaglePass and Selkirk Tangiers are all highly professional and prioritise safety, as well as ensuring all our guests have the most amazing heliski days possible…guys and gals alike! No sexism here, just a mutual respect, not just for the beautiful area we are privileged enough to ski in, but also for every single skier who wants to bring their game.
Amuse – the premium travel and experiences destination publication for the global explorer boasts inspiring the adventurous mind with the world less travelled.
Last season, they included Bighorn in their list of the 9 best things of the 2017/18 ski season:
“British brothers, Michael and Chris Kirkland, created a whirlwind when they built Bighorn Lodge in British Columbia. Revelstoke already boasted the longest vertical drip of any lift-served resort in North America, as well as globally envied snow-cat and heli-skiing operations. What it missed was a palatial chalet, with it’s own helipad, so guests could be whisked direct from breakfast to bountiful powder. As well as that, Bighorn Lodge has an indoor pool, outdoor hot tub, sauna, steam room, massage, cinema suite and first-rate chef.”
Well, what more can we say… here’s hoping that this coming season is as epic as 2017/18!
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.
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.
Revelstoke has been receiving incredible amounts of snow, with 109cm falling in the last 7 days. So much powder to enjoy! With another 40cm forecast to fall this week, conditions at Bighorn have never been better.
After 62cm of snow in the last 7 days we now have bluebird skies and perfect conditions to ski all the powder snow. Revelstoke is famous for its consistent and heavy snowfall, so the few sunny days after the storm are to be cherished! Check out this video of the heli coming in to land on the Bighorn helipad. It shows not only how quickly guests can be whisked into the world famous heliski terrain, but also the stunning views from Bighorn when the sun shines.
Clear skies mean guests can fly higher and access some of the alpine terrain – glaciers and powder bowls. The beauty of heliskiing in Revelstoke is that there is terrain for any weather. On snowy or cloudy days skiers can rip it up in the forest – Revelstoke has epic tree skiing that attracts ski fanatics from all over the world. There is so much fun to be had popping off terrain features and landing in pillows of soft powder snow.
Needless to say, the guests heliskiing in the video had an unforgettable day, polished off nicely with a brandy hot chocolate on the helipad when they returned!
Last week, we were invited to spend the evening with the GB Olympic racer, Chemmy Alcott at the Ski Club of Great Britain’s new partner venue, 
Revelstoke has been receiving incredible amounts of snow, with 109cm falling in the last 7 days. So much powder to enjoy! With another ![photo[14]](https://www.bighornrevelstoke.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo14.jpg)