CES heli ski tour

Chasing The White Gold Rush - Part II

Chasing The White Gold Rush - Part II

PART 2: REVELSTOKE

Mrs Simpson, wife of Don Simpson, the original visionary and former resort developer of Revelstoke, once described Revelstoke to me as ‘It’s like Aspen was in the 60’s’. Of course, I wasn’t around in the 60’s in Aspen to be able to verify, but it’s a pretty complimentary comparison, and I think I can see why. 2011 marked 125 years of the community of Revelstoke, originally founded as a railway town, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built through the Selkirk and Monashee mountains, the town soon saw the tourism potential and named Mt Revelstoke a national park in 1914.

Chasing the White Gold Rush - Part I

Chasing the White Gold Rush - Part I

PART 1: CES TOUR TRIP REPORT

The primary reason for my visit to British Columbia was to host a Total Heliski Member Tour at our operator, whose renowned tenure at Eagle Pass sits opposite the ski resort of Revelstoke. Arriving from the distinctly barren and over-the-top environment of Las Vegas where the party had been undertaking a large electronics industry conference known as CES, it couldn’t have been more of a contrast to land in the hazy, overcast, snow-covered airport of Kelowna early in the afternoon of Jan 14. Our drive up to the lodge made us excitable as our driver broke the news of the current epic snow conditions to us, all the while as the snowfall got heavier and heavier on the windscreen. I was just hoping that we were going to have enough decent weather to be able to fly the next day.