The Revelstoke Golden Rivalry | Mountain Sledder
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March 9th, 2019
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The Revelstoke Golden Rivalry

In the interior of British Columbia, an undercurrent of one-up-smanship simmers beneath the surface of two towns separated by nothing more than a bunch of mountains and a National Park.

The people who live in Golden sometimes jokingly refer to their hometown as “East Revy”, in a lighthearted stab at the residents of Revelstoke thinking they’ve got things pretty good over on the west side of the Selkirks.

Meanwhile, what do Revelstokians think of Goldenites? They’re probably too busy shredding deep snow to worry about it most of the time. Except when their freezing levels go through the roof and it’s pouring rain in town in January. Meanwhile to the east, it’s still cold enough that Tourism Golden’s Instagram is blowing up with scenes from a winter wonderland.

Why does a Revelstoke Golden rivalry exist? Let’s take a look at what both towns have to offer.

Revelstoke Golden Rivalry
Riders come from all over the world to experience the mountains and deep snow of Revelstoke and Golden. Those of us who live here are pretty dang lucky, including guys like Rob Alford (far left) and Riley Suhan (far right).

The Revelstoke Golden Rivalry

Revelstoke

To be fair, Revelstoke has a reputation as one of, if not the, best places to go mountain sledding in the universe. It gets a ton of snow, with a snowpack depth that rivals the Coast. The snowfall comes in big, regular storms throughout the winter.

Revelstoke’s Monashee Mountains are really well-suited for sledding as well. Riders can get up high and explore the rounded upper portions of these mountains pretty easily. You can go far and test your mettle in these hills that are less “pointy” than the mountains closer to the Rockies.

Revelstoke Golden Rivalry
The view of Revelstoke from the Veideman trail en route to the Boulder Mountain snowmobile area.

The Revelstoke Snowmobile Club manages two large, groomed areas with warmup cabins: Boulder and Frisby. If you get sick of burning donuts around the cabin, there are plenty of “secret” places to go get lost for a day or two—literally.

Revelstoke Golden Rivalry
Frisby Ridge has epic views to the east and west along its entire length, as local rider Nadine Overwater knows well.
5 things Revelstoke has that Goldenites are jealous of:
  1. A super kickass pool facility with a lazy river
  2. Dirt bike track and trails
  3. Lake Revelstoke
  4. Super deep snow
  5. The caesars at Big Eddy
Revelstoke Golden Rivalry
Cody Borchers enjoying some of Revelstoke's picturesque mountains.

Golden

An ace up Golden’s sleeve is its physical location a little farther east. Not because it’s closer to Alberta’s dense population of mountain riders, but because temps in G-town stay relatively colder, which gives falling snow that “Champagne Powder” quality. We’re talking blower pow!

Cooler temps also help preserve the snow as well. On the Coast for example, snow conditions are good for a few days after a storm, then they firm up pretty quickly. Not the case in Golden! You can go exploring weeks after a snowfall and still find soft, untracked snow that you can easily sink a spindle into.

Revelstoke Golden Rivalry 4
Golden sits smack dab in the Rocky Mountain Trench, with tons of riding in the Purcell Mountains to the west.

The Golden Snowmobile Club, aka SledGolden, manages three groomed areas, one of which, Quartz Creek, has a warm-up shelter. The club has also built a portable warm-up shelter than can be dragged into the Gorman Lake area for winter, and usually it can be found in the treeline area below the lake.

5 things Golden has that Revelstokians are jealous of:
  1. Closer to a big airport (Calgary)
  2. Way better whitewater rafting
  3. Newly renovated movie theatre – legroom for days!
  4. Two full-service snowmobile dealerships – Polaris and Ski-Doo/Lynx
  5. More bluebird days on average
Revelstoke Golden Rivalry 5
Golden has plenty of bluebird days just like this that are great for exploring the local terrain. Rider: Riley Suhan

Otherwise, Golden and Revelstoke are pretty similar in many ways. They are both Resort Municipalities, which mean they’re very well set up to cater to visitors with a variety of amenities and different things to experience, including:

  • World-class resort skiing and snowboarding
  • Backcountry Lodges
  • Dogsledding
  • Snowshoeing
  • Ice skating
  • Heli-skiing
  • Cat-skiing
  • Hot tubbing galore
  • Winter festivals
  • Craft breweries
Revelstoke Golden Rivalry
Where do you want to go today? Rider: Andrew Munster

Maybe the best thing the two towns have going on is their close proximity to one another. Located just 150km apart, it’s easy to travel to the area then spend a couple of days riding the zones near each town if you want. It’s less than a two hour drive from one town to the other through the incredibly scenic Rogers Pass, so you won’t lose riding time travelling between them—you can just get up early and ride wherever you want.

Mostly though, these two Interior British Columbia towns have more in common than either side might like to openly admit—lest the façade of a true Revelstoke Golden rivalry crumble to pieces.

 

– MS