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Three and a half months in Revelstoke


It’s been almost a year ago that we’ve chosen Revelstoke as our first destination of our round the world trip. We’ve been sitting on a balcony in Italy late in May 2015, looked at the various candidates and thought: let’s go to Revelstoke. Our criteria? Decent skiing (well, Revelstoke boasts the highest vertical drop in all or North America – check. Four lifts? Hmmmm.), a proper village (the population is a bit less than 8000 people – check.), good schooling for Molly and Max (three elementary schools in Revelstoke – check.)  and affordable accommodation (we found a place to stay on Airbnb for an acceptable rate – check). We got in touch with schools and skiclub with very encouraging exchanges – it started to feel good. Nevertheless, we tried to manage our expectations, particularly with regards to the ski resort (thinking if it’s not that great we can still hop around to other places) and had hopes that we and the kids would meet a few nice people.

Boy, were we up for a surprise! We arrived on Friday, the 18th of December 2015. Saturday was a training day at the ski club, so Max was quite keen to meet the boys and girls he was going to ski with for the next few months. I drove him to the hill and met his coaches: Gill, Filip, Ben and the two Mikes from Ontario and Austria. The following day was Molly’s first training day and we met a whole bunch of people from the ski club and other parents. Pleasantries were exchanged with a few “uh, we have to meet up for dinner/beer/skiing” – I took that for the usual make-you-feel good, but unfortunately rather superficial approach of your typical US American. Little did I know that Canadians are different! Much different! Phone numbers were exchanged and when we came to the ski hill on Monday it took just a few minutes until the first SMS arrived: “You at the hill? Wanna meet up?” – ‘course we did! That was when Darrell gave us a first rated tour around Revelstoke Mountain Resort and we got a first impression of the incredible possibilities on this ski hill. Anna and I were so delighted – we couldn’t believe our luck. Everything was there: enormous amounts of snow and great skiing all around with everything from wide pleasant meadowy lines to steep, narrow couloirs. But – above all: an incredible friendly, enthusiastic, ski crazed community, with all people open, fun and – my impression – happy with their choice to live the ski life in Revelstoke. Thus, my little review starts with the aspect, that I loved most here – the people! Shendra and Chris arranged a fantastic farewell BBQ for us at their incredible place right at the Columbia river – and all our friends, who we had the pleasure to meet in this quarter of a year in BC were there!

Farewell BBQ I
Farewell BBQ, hosted by Shendra and Chris. Beautiful location, spring evening – couldn’t be nicer to say “See you soon”.
Farewell BBQ II
Saying Good-Bye to our friends from Revelstoke with BBQ and fire.

It was quite hard to leave Revelstoke after this intense period – our little family had grown to a very relaxed and happy team with a fun driven life powered by new friends and an incredible ski hill. Continue reading “Three and a half months in Revelstoke” →

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Three flying boys


When I was 10 years old I thought a 6-seater gondola was the most luxurious way to access a ski hill. Max, on the other hand, being used to 8-seater chairlifts with a bubble and bottom heating, has discovered a much more interesting way of getting onto the mountain:

3 boys in a heli
Three excited boys (from left to right: Reed, Max and Parker – all in in their red Revelstoke Ski Club jackets) getting a lift in a helicopter to access fresh powder.

Parker’s Dad managed to get them onto a CMH helicopter – the opportunity of a life time for the three lads Continue reading “Three flying boys” →

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Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks


Yup, folks – yet another race weekend for the Breadbaskets. This time we had been hyped up by our local friends: the Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks was supposed to be a lot of fun for racers and parents.

Sun Peaks Ski Resort
Sun Peaks makes a good attempt at looking like an Alpine village. Quite successful, actually, on this bluebird Saturday morning.

And a lot of fun it was: over 500 kids came together, starting on a bluebird Saturday to compete in four skills events: skier cross, speed trap, jump and moguls and a glalom (that’s a mix between giant slalom and slalom with slightly tighter gates than a GS – two runs with combined time). Organisation was perfect, the event rolled along very smoothly: the bigger kids competed in the skills events on the Saturday and had their two run combined time glalom on Sunday, whereas the younger kids fought it out in the glalom on Saturday and the skills on Sunday. And that’s what it looked like: Continue reading “Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks” →

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Racing in Silver Star – Up’s and Down’s


Yet another race weekend in Canada. This time it was a boys’ weekend: Max and a race buddy of his from Revelstoke’s U12 and the two dads had a condo booked in Silver Star – a resort that we had already visited for a previous race. The condo was great: ski in, ski out, two bedrooms, so no need for messy sleep sofas or Murphy beds.

Skiers meditate
One would hope the young racers watch Ted Ligety or Felix Neureuther. But no – a horrible remake of “The Longest Yard”, starring Adam Sandler as American Footballer, is holding the youngster’s attention.

Despite the apparent lack of professional pre-race meditation the first race day went pretty well: Continue reading “Racing in Silver Star – Up’s and Down’s” →

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Impressions of Kicking Horse


Race weekends are fun: the kids are having a great time meeting and competing with lots of other kids (in Kicking Horse we had around 170 starters) and the Breadbaskets get to see other ski resorts.

So, the last weekend, as you know, let us to Kicking Horse. Kicking Horse is in the Purcell Mountains, one step closer to the Rockies from the Selkirks, where we’re usually roaming. Kicking Horse is the name of the ski resort, approximately 20 minutes from Golden, a rather charmless village at the Canadian Highway No. 1.

We stayed in a classic motel not too far from the highway, the Days Inn in Golden. These inns are not the most charming of all places, but they are very convenient.

The Day Inn - Motel in Golden
Breadbaskets and bad-ass monster truck in front of room #106 at the Days Inn in Golden. Drove the baggage right into the room. Charming, isn’t it?

As practical as this might look, the view across the parking lot was a different story: Continue reading “Impressions of Kicking Horse” →

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Kicking Horse – Yet another race


The Breadbasket kids were at it again, this time in Kicking Horse, about 2 hours East of Revelstoke in the Purcell Mountains.

And the results were beautiful: Continue reading “Kicking Horse – Yet another race” →

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Tree hugging


 

In some countries “tree hugging” is known as having originated from the Chipka movement; a non-violent protest against deforestation. Here in Revelstoke we have “Glades” which are mapped out tree-skiing areas where trees have been selectively cut down to provide nice, easy skiing. These tree-glades I can just about manage with a few “oh no – I’m too fast!”, “braaaaakkke…!”and “shiiii….t” and still I end up straddling a few of the bastards. One time I even went head-first into one, when my ski released in an awkward moment, and I ended up having to pull myself out by the help of tree branches. It was not a dignified and elegant sight. I picked branches out of my gear for hours.

Trädkramare
Tree hugging Sweden-style: “Don’t you even TRY to cut down this sick elm…!” Image SVT.se / TT arkiv

But I was little prepared for our Backcountry trip on Tuesday where we, due to high risk of avalanches, ended up skiing the Teddybear Trees. I thought: “I can manage a few baby trees, that can’t be that hard?” But HELL… the trees stood as imposing and tight as a North Korean Military Parade. I was NOT happy on my Telemark skis and wish I hadn’t so boldly stated that “aahh – don’t worry about me, I can alpine ski these babies down ANYTHING”. Like hell I could…. Continue reading “Tree hugging” →

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50 Days of Skiing…


…in a row. To make it short: do I have enough now? Nope. It’s fun, a lot of fun, actually. Revelstoke Mountain Resort is a superb ski area.

The whole family on a bluebird day. Bunny Molly, Mad Max, Powder Anna and Dan Vader.
Telemarking – I love the, albeit not always visible, elegance of the movement. Super smooth, demanding on the thigh muscles but easy on the knees – I love the free heel.
Climbed Subpeak (well, it’s actually only 115m altitude, but the path leads up pretty straight, so is demanding for the part time ski bums) on a foggy day. Worth it? Worth it!
Clouds on the lower mountain. Sometimes rain. But so far always great on top. Apart from the two days of crusty sheets of ice.
Bluebird on the higher mountain. Clouds on the lower mountain. Typical Revelstoke.

The guys who run the show here say the mountain has three weather zones – and they are right. Continue reading “50 Days of Skiing…” →

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Ski Race in Sun Peaks


With quite a few training days under Max’ belt it was time for the first race weekend in Canada: the Breadbasket family hopped into their truck and drove the three hours to Sun Peaks. Skis were well prepared, edges sharpened. The wax application was done later on Friday evening in a Dad’s waxing session, which involved discussing snow temperature and a comparison of Mount Begbie’s Tall Timber Ale with its High Country Kölsch. Tie, I would say.

Turned out that Max’ training is working out: as one of the youngest starters in the U12 (that’s kids born in 2004 and 2005) he ended up 6th and 11th (with a little crash) in the giant slalom and 11th and 7th in the slalom out of 31 starters in both disciplines.

Max proudly shows his award after reaching 6th place in the giant slalom.
Max proudly shows his award after reaching 6th place in the giant slalom.

The racers were very keen to finish among the Top 10, since the fastest 10 kids were asked on stage, where Nancy Greene, 1968 Gold Medalist in Giant Slalom in Grenoble, handed out the awards – clearly a highlight for the youngsters.

Nancy Greene, who won Olympic Gold in 1968 in Grenoble, congratulates Max to his 7th place in Slalom.
Nancy Greene, who won Olympic Gold in 1968 in Grenoble, congratulates Max to his 7th place in Slalom.

One word about Sun Peaks: Canada’s second largest resort (Whistler is the biggest) offers nice, wide, blue runs – paradise for some, but Anna and I were missing Revelstoke’s more challenging terrain (one skier called it big mountain heaven – I would agree). That said, the race organisation was fantastic: almost 150 kids in U12 and U14 raced in great conditions, despite the heavily falling snow – the local club has done a great job there!

Sun Peaks tries hard to resemble a charming European mountain village.
Sun Peaks tries hard to resemble a charming European mountain village.
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