Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR) is a ski resort

Ski resort

A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...

 on Mount Mackenzie

Mount Mackenzie

Mount Mackenzie is a mountain just southeast of the city of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Selkirk Mountains, it is the site of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort ski area and was named for the Right Honourable Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the second Prime Minister of Canada.-External...

, just outside Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke is a city in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located east of Vancouver, and west of Calgary, Alberta. The city is situated on the banks of the Columbia River just south of the Revelstoke Dam and near its confluence with the Illecillewaet River...

 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

When complete, the resort will offer about 20 km² of skiable terrain and a vertical drop of 1,845 meters (6,100 ft), with 21 lifts and 115 ski and snowboard trails. Revelstoke now offers the longest vertical descent of any resort in North America. In terms of size, it is already about the same as other major resorts like Vail

Vail Ski Resort

Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail. Vail Mountain, at , is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin...

 or Panorama

Panorama Ski Resort

Panorama Mountain Village is a ski and golf resort located in the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Columbia Valley sub-region of the East Kootenay region, it is a popular tourist destination known for its rolling cliffs and spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains...

, and over a third the size of Whistler-Blackcomb

Whistler-Blackcomb

Whistler Blackcomb is a major ski resort located 125 km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America; it is 50% larger than its nearest competitor in terms of size, has the greatest uphill lift capacity, and until 2009, had...

. When completed, it will have 10000 acres (40.5 km²), which will make it the largest in North America. On its peak the mountain receives an average of 1,200 cm (472 in) of snow a year, about 20 percent more than Whistler. Its higher overall altitude and location in the British Columbia Interior

British Columbia Interior

The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...

's Selkirk Mountains

Selkirk Mountains

The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia. They begin at Mica Peak near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and extend approximately 320 km north from the border. The range is bounded on its west,...

 should also offer better, more consistent quality snow as well.

Revelstoke is the only mountain resort worldwide to offer a centralized hub including gondola, cat-skiing and heli-skiing infrastructure.

History

Mount Mackenzie and the surrounding area has hosted a number of skiing operations for many years. Starting in the late 1960s a single two-person lift has been operational on the lower slopes, forming the basis of a resort known as Powder Springs. More recently, both Sno-Cat

Sno-Cat

The Tucker Sno-Cat is a tracked vehicle or a family of tracked vehicles for snow conditions.Different models have been used for expeditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic during the second half of the 20th century...

 and Heliskiing

Heliskiing

Heliskiing is off-trail, downhill skiing that is accessed by a helicopter, not a ski lift. Heliskiing is essentially about skiing in a natural—albeit highly selected—environment without the effort or gear compromise required for hiking into these areas as in ski touring or ski mountaineering.Most...

 operations have operated in the bowls on the upper elevations.

The resort opened for the first time on December 22, 2007, and was thought to be the biggest North American ski resort debut in twenty years. However the event was overshadowed by the death of an Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 ski instructor who disappeared on the mountain's "Jalapeno" run and whose body was found in a tree well

Tree well

A tree well is a dangerous void or area of loose snow around the trunk of a tree which is surrounded by deep snow. A person, especially a skier or snowboarder, can easily fall into this well, possibly causing serious injury or death.-Formation:...

 three days later on Christmas Day.

During the summer of 2008, further trail cutting in the "North Bowl" area extended the skiable area and added a number of expert runs and glades

Glade (geography)

A glade or clearing is an open area within a woodland. Glades are often grassy meadows under the canopy of deciduous trees such as red alder or quaking aspen in western North America. They also represent openings in forests where local conditions such as avalanches, poor soils, or fire damage have...

. The Ripper, a second four-person chairlift, was added in 2008. The gondola was extended down the hill in December 2008, from the original base area to the new village area further down the hill. With this extension the lift-served vertical increased to 5620 ft (1,713 m), overtaking Whistler's 5280 ft (1,609.3 m), making it the largest in North America.

Construction

In order to build the local economy, the City of Revelstoke started the process of finding outside investors to dramatically expand the ski area and build a large complex at the base of the mountain. Funding was eventually secured from a group of private investors that appear to have since organized as Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The Government of Canada

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

 and Government of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

 are also involved, but it is not clear if they have a financial stake – BC is reported to have sold them some Crown Land

Crown land

In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....

 but is apparently otherwise uninvolved. The development was priced at $1 billion in total, and an agreement among the major parties was signed on 20 March 2005. The complete project is expected to take fifteen years to complete.

Construction began in late 2005 with the completion of a road allowing access to most of the mountain. Construction of the first five ski trails started at the top of the existing 2-person chairlift at 1100 m, extending up to 1350 m. Construction on higher-altitude trails began during the summer of 2006, covering the area from 1350 m (4320 ft) to 2300 m (7360 ft). The chairlift was removed and replaced by a new eight-person gondola, running from the original "base" area to the mid-mountain area, while a new four-person high-speed chairlift ran from that point almost to the top of the mountain.

On January 16, 2007, RMR announced its purchase of local heli-ski operation Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter Skiing Ltd. With this addition, the resort controls over 2,000 km² of heli-ski terrain with access from the resort base.

Lifts

The hill is served primarily by a high speed gondola

Gondola

The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...

, Revelation, that rises from the base area through the mid-mountain station and allows access to the upper lifts. Two smaller chairlift

Chairlift

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...

s operate above the gondola, a detachable quad (The Stoke) serves to access the sub-peak, while another detachable quad (The Ripper) provides access to the North Bowl Area. A magic carpet next to the Mid-Mountain Lodge serves a small beginner slope.

A smaller fixed-grip double (The Powder Slug - a relic from the old Powder Springs) was removed in 2008 after the first season of RMR.

Name	Type	Ride Time	Make	Year Built
Revelation (Upper)	Gondola	9 minutes	Leitner Poma	2007
Revelation (Lower)	Gondola	4 minutes	Leitner Poma	2008
The Stoke	4 person detachable chair	7 minutes	Leitner Poma	2007
The Ripper	4 person detachable chair	7 minutes	Leitner Poma	2008
Magic Carpet	Surface lift			2007

Events

From the 2009/2010 season, RMR is the host for the Canadian Championships of the Freeskiing World Tour, the largest competitive Big Mountain competition. By hosting this event annually, Revelstoke Mountain Resort joins other mountain resorts such as Kirkwood

Kirkwood Mountain Resort

Kirkwood Mountain Resort is a year-round resort in Kirkwood, California south of Lake Tahoe that focuses on skiing and snowboarding in winter and hiking and mountain-biking in summer. Kirkwood is one of the region's larger resorts, and is well known for having one of the highest average snowfalls...

, Snowbird

Snowbird, Utah

Snowbird is an unincorporated area based in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in Salt Lake County, Utah, U.S. It is most famous for Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, an alpine skiing and snowboarding area, which opened in December 1971.- History :Snowbird is a...

, Squaw Valley USA

Squaw Valley Ski Resort

Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California, is one of the largest ski areas in the United States, and was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It is the second-largest ski area at Lake Tahoe , with 33 chairlifts, and has the only funitel lift in the U.S...

, and Telluride

Telluride Ski Resort

Telluride Ski Resort is a ski resort located in Mountain Village, Colorado right next to Telluride.The resort was founded by Joseph T. Zoline who hoped to build a "world class resort" from scratch. Telluride's remoteness, Zoline acknowledged, is also what makes the resort special. Weekend warrior...

on the World Tour, helping add to Revelstoke's reputation for big mountain terrain.

Future plans

The Master Plan calls for the eventual construction of as many as 25 lifts in total, both in the currently opened western face of the mountain, as well as the bowls to the south currently served by the cat-ski operations.

External links

• revelstokemountainresort.com - official link