REVELSTOKE, BC
Physical Exertion: Intermediate+ / Technical Ability: Advanced – Expert
Trip Category: Big Mountain Enduro
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 Kootenays 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. We partner with the local guides at Wandering Wheels for all of our trips.
This trip is for advanced riders only. The trails in Revelstoke are gnarly, steep, technical and fast. Expect small drops, consistently steep terrain, big exposure, man-made features, and just about anything else you can dream of. Each day we’ll descend more than 5,000 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
One Day at Revelstoke Mountain Resort
Majority of Rides are Shuttles
Airport Transfers Included (from Kelowna, BC)
Smaller Group Size, Advanced to Expert Riders Only
Interactive Revelstoke Trail Map
WHAT TO EXPECT
Day One: We’ll pick you up at the Kelowna, BC airport in the afternoon (more details included in your trip packet) 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 before dinner and drinks at the house. Rest up, we’ve got 6 big days of riding ahead!
Day Two: 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 1500 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 Three: Today’s ride is one of our favorites anywhere… we start with a 3,000′ shuttle “bump” to a trailhead high above town before grinding out a pretty mellow 7-mile, 2000′ climb to the high alpine where you won’t believe the views. We’ll be very surprised if there’s anyone around other than our group, to be honest. Want to keep climbing? Sweet, our guides will take the ambitious few even higher and further into the back country to make for a longer ride!
Once we’ve topped out, we’ll turn around and drop almost 6,000′ back into town: you’ll get flow, tech, and some of the steepest trails in town. This one is the “ultimate” big ride for a Chasing Epic trip, we know you’re going to love it.
Day Four: Time to head south of town to the Kootenays- New Denver and Nakusp. After a scenic ferry ride, we’ll hit the shuttle laps hard on raw, rugged, backcountry style trails all day. New Denver and Nakusp offer a glimpse into some different terrain for this area of BC, but still so damn good.
Expect the forearm pump to be strong today, but don’t worry… we’ll cure those sore muscles by ending at the beach for a post-ride beer and snacks before heading back to Revelstoke later in the evening. Depending on how many laps we can get in, expect about 7-10k of vertical today; you know, just another day in paradise.
Day Five: 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 Six: 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! Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR) is always adding new trails every year, so we’ll have multiple options for add’l laps in the afternoon, making for a hell of a day!
Day Seven: Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and this is where we must depart for reality. But wait! We’ve got a few more hours of riding left, which means we’ll head back over to Boulder Mountain to tackle some of the trails we haven’t hit just yet. This morning we’ll get another 5-6,000′ of shuttle laps in… before actually calling it good.
