REVELSTOKE

Ride Name: REVELSTOKE
When: July 20-23 or August 4-7, 2023
Time: 1400
Where: REVELSTOKE
Ride Description or Details:
4 days of guided shuttle rides including a helicopter drop with 7000' of descent on the last day....THIS IS AN ORGANIZED, GUIDED TRIP run by Wandering Wheels out of Revelstoke. Here is a link to what's included https://wanderingwheels.ca/heli-hangover
~~~~~ Optional Details ~~~~~
Meet Location: REVELSTOKE
Skill Level: Advanced
Ride Pace: Moderate Pace, Fast Pace
Type of Ride: Point A to B Shuttle, Shuttle
Rider Limit: 10
Anticipated Mileage: Varies each day
Elevation Gain: 2500' one day, not so much on others
Ride Duration: 4-6 hours
Previous Ride Reports:
Possible Bail-Outs: I have no idea....
Facilities: 3 nights lodging provided...
Food/water suggestions: 2/3 of your meals provided...
Option to Upload:

 

I'm doing this trip next Summer with a few guys and we will have up to 6 spots open, assuming no others book those spots. The trips sell out every year. The cost is $1615 for 3 nights of lodging in their privately owned house/lodge, 4 days of guided riding, shuttles, helicopter drop, 2/3 of your meals, non-alcoholic beverages and a few other extras which are all on the website page https://wanderingwheels.ca/heli-hangover

@Tom the Bomb This type of stuff is right up your groups alley!!! 3 of us in our group with be up there for 10-14 days riding in Golden, Fernie and Nelson before and/or after this tour.

 

I wonder what a commensurate cost would be to host visitors on 4-day guided riding excursion in southern California. Shoulder season would allow for SART and Palm Canyon on back-to-back days. Then there could be a Mt. Wilson night ride, polished off with some of Laguna's finest Mesozoic formations. A rip down Critters on the day of arrival could filter the group into A and B teams.

 

Wow that looks epic! I am gonna work on this. You guys got a condo or something like that up there?

 

Hmmm it has both Revel and Stoke in the name. I have both. And stoke for my Revel.

Doubt I could make this happen however.

 

@Tom the Bomb The company has their own house/lodge in town that is included in the pricing. A photo of the place is on the website. I know it jacuzzi on the back deck but I don't know much else. Since they take 10 guests per trip, I'm guessing it's a 4-5 bedroom as everybody surely gets their own bed.

 

Kinda too bad they're so focused on appeasing shuttle monkeys, they're really skipping some of the best riding. IMO the big reason to go to Revelstoke is the high alpine riding. You can still do that and bag more vert than you'll know what to do with.

Mike, hope you can get in a few days there outside of the tour rather than moving on. Frisby ridge (different from Frisby DH) is a must do. Keystone Standard takes some work to get to for not that long of a ride, but also worth it IMO. It's a bit further north of Martha Creek. I did Martha and Keystone in the same day. If these rides were in the US bikes would have been kicked off long ago. Frisby is fairly bike optimized trail and very climbable. Keystone has a bit more raw backcountry feel. Same with Martha but it's been pummeled by shuttle traffic.

Revelstoke Mtn will be a huge disappointment after riding the other stuff. Their main trail "5620" is about 4,000ft of descent too long. They call it the longest flow trail in the world, I'd call it the most mediocre trail in the world. If you ride it top to bottom you'll never want to see another berm in your life. My suggestion, if you do go, do the climb up to the high point of 5620 on the first lap plus the out and back on Mackenzie Ridge. Then, if you find yourself "over it" by the time you get to the gondola shortcut on 5620, start looking for tech trails to bail onto. 5620 doesn't get any better. Unfortunately the fun trails are kind of inconvenient to get to which means you have to ride a lot of crap flow trail to get to them. A few of the tech trails were closed for maintenance when I was there, so options were pretty limited. There are only 15 trails on the whole mountain. Personally I'd demand to do something else this day. There is much better riding in the area than this.

The Mt Cartier trail has been closed for a couple years due to an "unsafe" bridge, which is bullshit since it isn't really unsafe, (unless you're a bureaucrat,) it is still in place it just got pushed slightly off level. I still rode this trail, but it's the sort of closure that would prevent tour companies from accessing it. Far as I know there is no timeline to replace the bridge so I'd definitely check with the tour company before booking and expecting to ride this trail. Tour co's have been doing heli drops on Martha Creek instead since this one has not been available. I'd be super pissed if this substitution was made. Martha is an easy drive up if you have a shuttle driver. You could still go do Mt Cartier on your own. The 7k hike a bike just makes it epic and would probably be good for you With a heli drop it's almost not worth it IMO. Bottom half is fun but the rest of the trail is kinda meh. It's the views that make it worth while. Take the whole day and enjoy it. The descent only takes an hour.

It's a bit out of the way if you're planning to hit Golden, but Sol Mountain is well worth the visit. Think endless granite slabs and alpine lakes with incredible views. There is a nice lodge that caters to MTBers in the summer. Much less $$ per day than the tour you're looking at.

My only other sage advice is pick the later date. I was in Revy Aug 10-16 and the high elevation stuff had just opened a few days before. If it's a big snow year again the July dates will have limited trail access.

 

This sounds like very sage advice. If I were going, I would say thank you.

 

Yeah, at least two us will be up there at least 2 weeks and we'll bounce around a bit. Golden and Fernie keep getting suggested. I have acquaintances that did the Chasing Epic 6 day trip this past Summer and said it was the most amazing riding they've ever done. Since I know what and how they ride, thats a pretty bold statement.

I'll look up your suggestions and see how they look but you and I are two different animals....while realizing it's sometimes a necessary evil, I despise hike-a-bike and all out suffering like climbing up Palm Canyon. I'll take a shuttle 100 times out of 100.

 

Dates are set....August 4-7 and (5) spots are gone already. 5 spots left. They own their own lodging in town that doesn't suck.

 

Yeah, skip the 7k HAB to Mt Cartier then That was more of a poke than serious suggestion. Hopefully the trail is officially open again so they can fly. In terms of HAB avoidance, the only other one that might not be worth it is Keystone Standard. There is some HAB each way, more of it being on the way back out which people won't like.

Upper Frisby Ridge is very rideable though and very worthwhile. As is Sol Mountain which is crazy considering the terrain the trails go through.

I stick by my suggestion to skip Revelstoke Resort during the tour. It would be absolutely terrible value to burn a day of the tour there when you could get shuttled on other stuff instead and then buy a $50 lift ticket once the tour part is over if you still want to ride the resort. With only 15 trails there is no value in having a guide there.


I haven't been to Golden or Fernie in 20 years so can't comment on those, but have heard good things as well. Nelson is awesome. The trails there are a step up in difficulty though compared to Revelstoke, so if you are having trouble on the steeps in Revy you might not like Nelson as much. Nelson builders like two things - big rock slabs and steep chutes.

Merry Creek in Castlegar is awesome. Rossland is another one I haven't ridden in 20 yrs aside from Seven Summits, and it used to have some good stuff above town and at Red Mountain. I stopped in at Mt Abriel in Nakusp and was impressed. Good variety of fun trails. Most of these places have built climbing trails so you can ride up if you aren't able to shuttle.

 

Unfortunately I cannot commit just yet. Still working on it though

 

Here's a couple pics from each ride for some stoke. Full TR to come at some point : )



Frisby Ridge






Martha Creek






Keystone Standard Basin






Mt Cartier






Revelstoke Mtn Resort






Sol Mountain

 

@evdog - I have two requests for you...

1.) Please get out more. You seem to lead a very sheltered life when it comes to riding. Same ol' boring trails.

2.) Learn to take photos. Yours are always so blurry, dull and lifeless. Maybe do an over-the-shoulder selfie once in a while.




PS: I can see that your Revel is stoked!

 

That’s some amazing photos!! @pdqmach26 @pperrelle