REVELSTOKE, BC
Physical Exertion: Advanced / Technical Ability: Advanced – Expert
What to expect in Revelstoke: Huge descents, technical descents, steep descents, and fast descents. This trip is all about going downhill fast!
Revelstoke sits between the Rockies and the Monashees in a quiet valley in British Columbia, right along the scenic Columbia River. With towering peaks on both sides, this epicenter of technical riding is absolutely perfect for pushing your limits beyond what you thought was possible. Because of that, this trip is only open to repeat Chasing Epic clients and those who contact us prior to booking!
For this trip, expect to be challenged beyond anything you’ve ridden on a previous Chasing Epic trip. Revelstoke has the steepest, gnarliest terrain we’ve ridden! This special 7-day trip will focus on the descents, which is why we’ll take advantage of shuttles and a heli drop to get us to the top of each trail. Sure there will be some climbing, it’s a Chasing Epic trip after all.
As we’ve mentioned multiple times already, this trip is for advanced riders only. The trails in Revelstoke are gnarly, steep, technical and fast. Expect small drops, continuous steep terrain, big exposure, man-made features, and just about anything else you can dream of. Each day we’ll descend more than 5000 feet, sometimes closer to 10,000 or more. Your entire body will hurt after these six days of riding.
Airport Options: Kelowna, BC (2.5 hours, pickup included) – Calgary (5 hours)
HOW IS THIS TRIP DIFFERENT?
7 days / 6 nights
6 Days of Riding
Day 4 Heli Drop on Mt. Cartier Included
Majority of Rides are Shuttles
Airport Transfers Included (from Kelowna, BC)
Smaller Group Size (9), Aimed at Advanced to Expert Riders
WHAT TO EXPECT
Day One: We’ll pick you up at the Kelowna, BC airport in the morning and make the 2+ hour scenic drive to Revelstoke, where we’ll get settled into our accommodations and have a little while to set up bikes and get ready. If you brought your own bike, we have a full garage setup for you to get things dialed before we head out for today’s ride.
Speaking of today’s ride, we’ll drive across town to the MacPherson trail system this afternoon, which is a great way to become familiar with the local riding. This will be a series of intermediate-level trails that will help you ease into what’s to come… but don’t relax too much, because there are plenty of steep bits and techy man-made features to keep you on your toes.
Day Two: After cutting your teeth on the MacPherson trails yesterday, we’re ready to show you the goods. We’ll head outside of town with a shuttle drop that will take us over 3,000 feet up. From there, expect a long XC-type climb into the high-alpine, where the views will blow your mind. Once you’ve had enough climbing for the day, we’ll turn around and bomb 10+ miles back into town.
Today’s ride is designed to become progressively more difficult as the day goes on, and that’s exactly what it’ll do. The descent starts as high-speed and flowy, and eventually starts tilting downwards to become steeper and steeper, before the last 1.5 miles really shows you what Revelstoke is all about. Expect to be extremely challenged by the end of today’s ride.
Day Three: Today we’re going to throw you into the gauntlet, and hope your technical skills are up for the challenge. This morning we’ll drive over to Boulder Mountain and do shuttle laps all morning until a well-earned lunch. Expect rock rolls, man-made features, steep trails, technical trails, and just about anything else you can think of. Each lap is about 2,000 vertical feet, and it will blow your mind how fast you can knock out a run.
After lunch we’ll get another shuttle bump to the top of the world-famous Martha Creek trail, which drops over 5,000 feet in about 6 miles. Yes, you read that right. This trail is the ultimate in skills testing, as you’ll be using everything you’ve got for the duration. Martha Creek has it all, with steep tech, rocky tech, rooty tech, and even some fast flow built in for good measure. Yes, it’s that good.
Day Four: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does. Today’s our heli drop on the shoulder of Mt. Cartier, over 7,000 vertical feet above town.
This morning we’ll head over to Glacier Helicopters for a brief intro and safety lesson, before loading the bikes into a custom setup designed specifically to bring mountain bikers into the high-alpine. We’ll land on Mt. Cartier, and begin our adventure with a short hike to the top where we’ll have 360-degree views of our surroundings. Then the fun really starts: an 11-mile, 7,000 foot descent down one of the best trails in the world.
This trail is no joke: it starts with a 1.5 mile section that has tight switchbacks and extremely exposed singletrack, which will grip even the best riders. From there, the trail gets progressively faster and steeper as it drops into the forest and takes advantage of the never-ending vertical. Once again, expect everything to be thrown at you here because it’s Revelstoke. Depending on how beat everyone is, we’ll likely have a chance to do a shuttle lap or two in the late afternoon before grabbing a post-ride beer and dinner at the lodge.
Day Five: Today’s ride is something different than you’ll find on a standard Chasing Epic trip, but there’s still a high chance of having your mind blown. We’ll ride from the lodge over to Revelstoke Mountain Resort, where we’ll hop on the gondola for a 3,500 foot “bump” before beginning our climb for the day. After almost 2,000 feet of climbing (expect about an hour), we’ll be standing atop the longest purpose-built flow trail in the world.
For 10 miles and over 5,500 feet of descending, we’ll be ripping huge berms, hitting table top jumps, and generally flying downhill laughing louder than adults are supposed to. Even if you’re not a park rider, this trail is a blast and is a fantastic way of mixing things up! Besides, you can save a little energy for some bonus shuttle laps this afternoon if you’d like, because it’s always fun to go back and hit Boondocker and Loggin’ Leftovers again!
Day Six: Had enough yet? Just because it’s the last day doesn’t mean we’ll take it easy on you. Today we’re going to head south of town to hit the enduro trails in Nakusp and New Denver. These trails are every bit as natural and gnarly as Revelstoke, but we thought it would be nice to see a bit more of the region. After a quick ferry ride to Nakusp, we’ll spend the morning running shuttles until another well-earned lunch.
