Over the past 40 years, I’ve made the pilgrimage north to British Columbia to ski its legendary powder. Last season was no different. I crossed the border headed to Revelstoke, BC — the mecca of powder skiing.
I met up with some friends from New York on our first stop of our powder skiing adventure. My longtime friend and former US Ski Teammate John Witt brought three of his ski buddies from his home mountain in Killington, Vt.: Robert Zeolla, Andrea Labarbra and Jeff Ridha.
John and I have been doing a BC “pow” trip religiously for the past 15 years, and the last five winters we’ve been cat skiing with Chatter Creek outside of Golden, BC. Since John and his crew were traveling from so far away, we wanted to hit another resort so they felt like they got their money’s worth. This year we decided to meet in Revelstoke, which is home to several heli-ski operations and the ski resort Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Revelstoke is the real deal when it comes to a ski-town vibe.
As usual, it was snowing when I pulled into the Sutton Hotel at the base of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Our plan was to ski Revelstoke the first day, and heli-ski the next day with Selkirk Tangiers Heli as a warm up before we went cat skiing.
Day 1
Six inches of snow fell overnight, so we made sure to be in the gondola line 20 minutes before first load. When we walked out of the hotel into the base area, the line was already 100-people deep. You could sense the anticipation.
A 20-minute ride up the Revelation gondola put us at the 5,500-feet level, where we clicked in our skis and made our way over to the Stoke chair, a high-speed quad that whisks you to the top of the mountain. The views are spectacular from this perch overlooking the Columbia River and across the valley to Mt. Begbie.
Earlier that morning, I found out through social media that two old freestyle skiing friends from the 80’s were wrapping up their five-day powder highway skiing road trip at Revelstoke on this day. Tom “TK” Kelly and Tom Hathway were John and my rivals from the Central Division of the US Freestyle Ski Association. I see Hathaway yearly as he relocated his family to Spokane, but John and I hadn’t seen TK since 1985. Our crew spent the afternoon skiing with these guys reliving the old days and catching up on life each chair lift ride. Throughout the day it snowed another 6 inches.
Tom and TK ended their trip that afternoon, but for John and I and the rest of our crew it was just getting started. There’s no better way to wrap up a fun ski day than a little apres. We slipped into Rockford, a bar/restaurant at the base of the mountain where we put down a few cold ones and enjoyed some appetizers.
We called it an early night as the next day we were scheduled to fly with Selkirk Tangiers Heli skiing.
Day 2
The next morning, we were greeted with some scattered clouds and sunshine. When we checked in at Selkirk Tangiers we were told the snow accumulation the previous day was 10 inches, and that was on top of fresh from days prior. The anticipation level was high especially for Andrea who had never been heli-skiing. Our guide put us through the mandatory avalanche and transceiver training, and then before we loaded into the A-Star, our pilot gave us a safety briefing.
Selkirk Tangiers flies in the Selkirk Mountains with access to more than 500,000 acres of wilderness. They’ve been in business over 40 years and have more than 400 established runs. Their terrain varies from incredible tree skiing to glades, and on those bluebird days some wide-open glacier skiing with magnificent seracs. This is the ultimate in heli-skiing.
As we flew over the ridge tops getting to our zone, our eyes were the size of saucers as we looked out at all the untouched powder. The pilot landed the bird perfectly between the two flagging sticks in the Land zone. We unload and positioned ourselves into a huddle near the front passenger skid while the guide pulled our skis out of the basket.
We gave Andrea the honors to get first tracks through the glades. Then we bounced by helicopter from one ridge top to another, each run seeming to get better than the last. We were able to get in several runs before we broke for lunch, which was hot soup and tea, some gourmet sandwiches and then some sweet treats for dessert.
After lunch we loaded into the bird for a few more runs. As the day progressed, we kept moving into terrain with some features and steeps. We wrapped up our day with a long 3,000-foot vertical run to the valley floor. Talk about feeling those legs burn. What a way to wrap up an epic day.
We made our way back to the ski resort, and we celebrated with an amazing dinner and drinks back at the Rockford Grill. For a Sunday night it was hopping. Fun times in a ski town!
Day 3
The next morning, we packed up our gear and started the two-hour drive east on the Trans Canada Highway towards Golden, BC, where we would spend the next three days in the remote backcountry skiing with Chatter Creek Cat skiing. To get to the lodge you need to fly in by helicopter.
Chatter Creek has some of the most visually spectacular terrain out of anywhere I’ve ever skied. Its tenure is nestled in the western slope of the Rockies with access to more than 58,000 acres and more than 120 miles of cat roads.
The excitement builds when the helicopter drops in elevation just above the valley floor and starts navigating up the drainage. Suddenly, two massive log lodges appear and it’s like something on a postcard. Each of these lodges are approximately 10,000 square feet and connected with a large breezeway. All the log structures on the property were logged and milled on site because trucking in the lumber would be too costly.
It was snowing lightly when we arrived, and apparently it had been snowing all day in this zone. You could feel the vibe from the other guests anticipating the next day. A 5-star dinner, a nightcap and a little socializing and it was time for bed.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night. I could hear the wind howling. I looked out the window and the snowstorm had picked up significantly through the night. It snowed 23 inches overnight. That much snow that quickly can be tricky and can limit where you can and cannot ski. We finished breakfast and geared up. Matt put us through the mandatory avalanche and transceiver training before we headed out.
After our training we loaded the snowcats and headed up the mountain on one of the many miles of cat roads built to access the vast terrain. Due to the large amount of snowfall mixed with the overnight winds, Matt informed us we’d be staying on lower angle runs in the trees until stability increased.
Sometimes that much snow is too much, especially on low-angle slopes. It was extremely hard to get up enough speed to keep moving. The first two skiers down were always the guinea pigs. They broke trail so the next few people could carry enough speed in their tracks. Thankfully, by noon, the snow in the trees was settling out and our skis weren’t diving so deep. We wrapped up the first day with cold beers waiting for us at the cat making the 15-minute ride back to the lodge pass quickly.
The next day, the weather and conditions were perfect. Avalanche hazards dropped, the snow settled and we had some scattered sun. Life was good and our crew was on fire. Everyone was having an incredible time. With excellent visibility, we headed over into the Burn, one of Chatter Creek’s signature runs. What makes the Burn so special is that the snow is always consistent because there are no tree branches to drop onto the slope.
Over the course of the next two days our guide Matt took us to some incredible zones. We skied all sorts of terrain from tight trees, some wide-open glacier type skiing and one of my favorites, the Legendary Pillow Line at Chatter, a huge boulder field covered in snow. The best way for me to describe it: it’s like riding a bucking bronco. The objective is to get air off the rocks, land, ski and repeat all the way down this 1,000-foot vertical ride. You jump in and hang on for the ride of your life!
This is my 10th time visiting Chatter Creek, and this place never gets old. The beauty of the Canadian Rockies, epic snow and insane terrain always makes Chatter a favorite.
If you’ve never experienced snowcat skiing or a skiing road trip, you need to do it once in your life and while you can. As the legendary ski filmmaker Warren Miller once said, “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do.”N
By: Bob Legasa
As seen in the 2025 Winter/Spring edition