The super-luxurious Pinnacle Package at Selkirk-Tangiers Heli-Skiing and Revelstoke Mountain Resort take heli-skiing to a new level

By Claire Challen. Photography by Paul Morrison

From my king-sized downy haven at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, I gazed up the slopes of Mount Mackenzie. The vast terrain sprawls across 500,000 acres of skiable terrain in the legendary Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges, showcasing open glaciers and old growth forests cloaked under a stupefying 12–18 metres of snowfall per season. And if sheer size and snow depth aren’t enough, the jaw-dropping scenery will make you just plain glad to be alive.For me, part of heli-skiing’s joy is in the

For me, part of heli-skiing’s joy is in the heli-lifts themselves. Flying close to the mountains with a bird’s-eye vantage point, you’re no longer admiring or dreaming about peaks and snowfields from a distance. Dramatically exposed rock faces and tempting lines not yet skied are right there in your face as you crest one peak after another in what appears to be an endless spectrum of mountains. When I think of heli-skiing, I imagine the wide-open glaciers and meadows shown in brochures.On my first run behind guide Dave Scott on Silver Glacier in the Selkirk Range, I realized it had been too long since I’d had the pleasure of looking down an untracked backcountry slope where I would get to make my own fresh tracks – numerous times – and not even break a sweat working for it. The sun was low in the sky and it grew incredibly quiet as the helicopter’s rotors gradually wound down somewhere far below us. Standing in silence awaiting the call for all clear, there was no sound other than the click of bindings and snap of backpack clips, making me so aware that we were mere specks among these gigantic mountains. Rather than feeling small and insignificant, I felt

On my first run behind guide Dave Scott on Silver Glacier in the Selkirk Range, I realized it had been too long since I’d had the pleasure of looking down an untracked backcountry slope where I would get to make my own fresh tracks – numerous times – and not even break a sweat working for it. The sun was low in the sky and it grew incredibly quiet as the helicopter’s rotors gradually wound down somewhere far below us. Standing in silence awaiting the call for all clear, there was no sound other than the click of bindings and snap of backpack clips, making me so aware that we were mere specks among these gigantic mountains. Rather than feeling small and insignificant, I’ve never felt more alive.

Heli-skiing is known worldwide as luxury in and of itself. But when you start customizing the experience for yourself and friends, things are taken a step beyond at Revelstoke. Groups are provided with their own private helicopter and a senior guide who works to match terrain with ability.

Revelstoke also lays claim to the highest lift-accessed vertical in North America, sitting at 91 metres higher than Whistler-Blackcomb. You won’t see the crowds of Whistler here, however. Nestled about midway between Vancouver and Calgary, and isolated by often snow-choked mountain-passes, Revelstoke requires far more of a commitment to get here. Its isolation weeds out the weekend warriors and queens of the après.

Now famous for its incredible lift-accessed terrain and easy-access hikeable terrain that all typically receive a whopping 12–18 annual metres of snow, Revelstoke’s steep terrain means that you can actually enjoy that snow. There’s little worse than freshly blanketed flat slopes that you have to break a sweat poling through in order to garner any speed.

Revelstoke doesn’t need thunderous applause or confirmation of its worth. It really just needs snow. And that, my friends, is not a problem.