You can thank Lord Revelstoke for all the puns and the bumper stickers – “get Stoked”, “feel the Stoke”, and even “ride the Stoke chair”.
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You → thank → chair
His Lordship arranged the finance to get the railway through here in the late 1800s and the town beneath the mighty Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges in Canada’s British Columbia was named after him as a tribute.
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town → arrange → tribute
A century or so on, Revelstoke has grown somewhat, and there are no signs of the peerage, for here you have all the attributes of a mountain town – full of youth and energy and shops and services dedicated to outdoor pursuits.
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you → grow → pursuits
In summer, it’ll be buzzing with hikers and mountain bikers and all sorts of water lovers on the lakes and the Columbia River that runs right alongside.
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that → buzz → lakes
In winter, you’ll find skiers and snowboarders hopping aboard one of the dozen or so heli-skiing operations to get their thrills in the hills or making the short trip up the road to the Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
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skiers → find → Resort
The Resort itself is a work in progress, as far as its base area goes – there are hotels and apartments established and under construction, cafes and bars for the hungry and thirsty, and excellent ski/board retail and rental outlets.
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area → go → hungry
But it’s the mountain itself that is the breathtaking component here – 1265 hectares of skiable terrain and a 1713-metre vertical descent.
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that → ’ → terrain
By any measure, they’re big numbers, and they’re part of the lure for skiers and snowboarders from all over.
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they → ’re → skiers
Nat Segal, filmmaker, exceptional skier and summer hiking guide in these parts, was originally from Melbourne and grew up skiing at Mount Buller in Victoria, but now calls Revelstoke home.
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Segal → grow → Revelstoke
She started out as a competitive mogul skier but then discovered freeride, a judged sport where skiers and boarders are given an area of the mountain, usually out of resort boundaries and ideally in fresh snow, to descend as skilfully and spectacularly as they can.
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they → start → snow
“My first time skiing at Revelstoke Mountain Resort was in 2013 when I was competing on the Freeride World Tour.
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I → ski → Tour
I just remember having my mind blown, like I’d never skied trees like that or found pillow lines [mounds of snow covering logs or rocks] like that in bounds”, Segal says.
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Segal → remember → bounds
She returned several times and used it as a location for the feature-length documentary she made with her sister Anna – Finding the Line.
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she → return → Line
“So I had some connections through that and a few friends who had moved here, and I moved to Revelstoke in 2018”.
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I → have → 2018
By now, she knows the mountain well.
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she → know → mountain
The main drag, as she calls it, is the gondola, with some long blue (intermediate-level) groomed runs
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she → call → level
“if it’s a little busier, I’ll just do laps on the gondola, just fast.
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I → ’ → gondola
It’s the best place to get your legs going because they’re such long runs.
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they → ’ → ?
When my parents come to visit me and I do it with them, we have to stop all the time and I’m just like ‘oh come on you two, you haven’t done your training’.”
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you → come → training
The Stoke Chair gives access to some of the mountain’s bigger bowls – North Bowl and Greely Bowl and if you don’t mind a hike you can head up to the sub-peak area below Mackenzie Peak.
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you → give → Peak
It’s the more challenging terrain, but they’re really fun runs and it’s a great place for stepping up into harder and harder terrain.”
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it → ’ → terrain
Then there’s the Ripper Chair, lower in elevation but offering entertaining blue and green (easiest) groomed runs and if you want to head off those runs, “there’s some tree skiing that’s not too steep but still really fun and playful.
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that → ’ → runs
“Some people on a powder day will go straight to the Stoke Chair and other people go straight to the Ripper.
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people → go → Ripper
It’s all to do with style.
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It → ’ → style
I like the steeper terrain, I like a little bit more open terrain, whereas I have friends that all they want to do is ski the trees.
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they → like → trees
Another measure of the area relates to the company you’ll keep.
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you → relate → company
Revelstoke has the highest concentration of Association of Canadian Mountain Guides members in the country (you’ll see the ACMG status with their signature).
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you → have → signature
Many work as heli-ski or cat-ski guides and backcountry ski touring guides.
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Many → work → guides
It also has a healthy community.
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It → have → community
“One of the reasons I moved to Revelstoke and I’m staying, is the community.
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I → move → Revelstoke
I live in the downtown area, just a few blocks from the main street.
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I → live → street
And it feels so lovely – so much art and culture and some amazing nonprofits.
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it → feel → ?
“If you stick around for a season you can be really involved in the town, but even if you’re just there for a visit, there’s always stuff going on.
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you → stick → visit
A classic is going to the Grizzlies [ice] hockey games.
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classic → go → games
There are local kids playing and you have people who have lived there all their lives to people who have been for a week all cheering for the same team.”
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who → be → team
“From my house downtown to the resort parking lot is seven minutes if I time it.
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I → time → it
And there are buses and shuttles, so if you’re staying at one or the other you can easily get between the two.
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you → be → two
“You can stay at the resort and get that resort feeling, but then if you want to go downtown and have a walk around a cozy town, you can do that as well.
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you → stay → that
“One thing I really appreciate is that there isn’t a divide, there are lots of residents living in the areas where tourists stay, but at the same time, the tourist accommodation isn’t crowding out the town, the town still has soul.”
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town → appreciate → soul
Given its deep-in-the-mountains location, outside winter, Revelstoke still draws in the visitors and has plenty to entertain the locals.
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Revelstoke → give → locals
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
