Nice rig, eh! I said as I jumped into the 22ft RV we rented. Brad and Chandler had picked up the RV, did the grocery shopping and picked me up at the airport prior to me arriving. Nice guys. We were clearly the largest vehicle there, and all eyes were on us. What were we doing? Why such a big RV? Isn’t it winter? Exactly. The plan was driving the Powder Highway. 9 days of vacation travelling from Calgary to Revelstoke and back. The plan was to get the best snow wherever we could, and hit up the Timmy’s when we saw them. That plan went out the door when we saw 3 within eyesight. But for pow, we succeeded.

On the first day, we made the 6 hour drive in from Calgary to Revelstoke, arriving at 10pm. We stopped at the Timmy’s in Golden as well. We showed up at Revelstoke Mountain resort where we proceeded to stick the RV in the lot. Stick is the word, because we found we couldn’t get it out. There was no chance in hell we’d get unstuck. We’d deal with it in the morning. It was snowing, who cares.

Doom of our parking spot

We rode the first day at Revelstoke. With high avalanche danger and impending storm coming in, it seemed like the best call. We like to gorge on powder if possible. About 14cm of new snow in 24 hours fell, making for good snow up high.

That night, we had the task of moving the RV. But before as we were drinking beers, we got a visitor, the choppa! The freeride world tour was in town (but ended up cancelling due to avy danger) and needed the podium that was next to us.

After a few beers, we decided it was time to move the RV. Much to our surprise, the RV only came with one chain. This would make it interesting…. Brad on the gun.

Once we were unstuck, we drank a few beers, opened the whiskey, and decided to play some farkle. We met a RV camping buddy named Roy from Australia. Thinking Australians are good drinkers, we asked if he wanted to play farkle with us. After a bit of convincing, he accepted. We thought it was all going well, with obscenities going around (what else do 5 guys in an RV talk about?), until Roy hit the wall. My thoughts on aussies handling liquor went out the door as we carried Roy back to his RV for the night. Poor guy. He partied.

We were treated to an excellent sunset in Revelstoke that night

Day two the pass was closed in the morning, so our day started later then expected. A 2pm start time to our tour was difficult to stomach, but our fomo (fear of missing out) was going through the roof with the 12”+ inches of new snow. The plan was Glacier Crest, right out the RV door of the Asulkan lot. It was good, deep, and I rode the biggest pillows of my life. That was my birthday, and I couldn’t have asked for more.
The objective ridge

Day three, the pass opened some new areas, so it was off to explore the north face of Cheops. With weird rain levels, we had to get creative and get high. The higher you are, the higher you are man. We did two laps on the north face, which was deep snow.

Hourglass Powder

Views were good
Swiss Peaks

Sir Donald

Digging Pits

Steeper then it looks!

Day four, we met up with Karkis, who quietly showed us around the Connegut Creek area. After a brief morning discussion, we decided to do the STS to Video line. It turned out to be the tour of the week. STS was chaulky pow, and video was full on powder. We followed Greg Hill’s tracks up to video, on the previous day he did about 14,000ft day. Guys a monster. We thought our 7k (just shy) day was pretty good, but nothing compared to Greg.

STS on right

Skatabananas and Washwood

Karkis leading the charge

JCM

Washwood, Karkis, Skatabananas

Karkis checking the cornice

Karkis first honors

Washwood

Group charging up to video as the clouds roll in

No shots of video, because we got socked in, but skatebananas making the final pushes with STS behind

Day five, the park closed most of the areas in the pass. It was too hot and sunny, and the new snow created some concern with the warmth. The conditions were tricky to navigate, and we knew snow was coming that night, so we decided to take a rest day in Revelstoke, restock gear, and get our soak on. It turned out being a great decision, even though the start, our fomo was through roof.

Day six, we made it back to the Bonney trees. About 25cm of new snow fell and we wanted to keep safe, so we toured out there. We never really pieced it together, so the tour was meh, but it was snowing, and we did get wet and powdery.

Bonny pillows (to flat)

Tiny house was our neighbors!

Day seven, we wanted more pow, and more pillows, so it was off to Mushroom Men. We figured with a name like that, it could only mean good things. We were not wrong. Pillows for days out there.

Mmm, pillows

With all the new snow coming, we expected that the pass was going to close. Concerned that we would be stuck up there and miss our flights, we decided to head to Kicking Horse. It wasn’t going to prove a wrong decision at all. That night, Kicking Horse received 26cm in 24 hours. It was all time. The first four runs were untouched, and we were giggling like little kids. What a way to end the trip.