Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine Winter Clubs feature: Revelstoke Ski Club

This story is part of a feature that first appeared in print in Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine’s December 2021 issue. Read the entire e-edition here:

Revelstoke’s winter clubs are pillars of the community. No matter how you choose to slip, slide or shred on the snow and ice, there’s a group of volunteers and enthusiasts ready to welcome you in.

For our Revelstoke Winter Clubs feature, we invited local winter sports activity clubs and club-like organizations to share an update on their activities, tell us about what they have planned this season, and let potential new members know how to get involved.

Here is what the Revelstoke Ski Club had to tell us:

Madelyn Skerry speeds down a race course at RMR. Photo: Rob Sidjak

Revelstoke Ski Club

Established: 1891
Members: 140 youth skiers and their parents, 24 coaches

Q: What are the main activities of the Revelstoke Ski Club? 

A: The Revelstoke Ski Club provides alpine ski programming for youth aged six to 17 and a fun social community for parents and volunteers.

Working with guidance from Alpine Canada and BC Alpine, our qualified coaches instill a lifelong love of skiing, while developing fundamental skills and eventually progressing to competitive racing and freeride skills, depending on the child’s program choice.

We teach mountain safety, teamwork, and respect. Our skiers come back year after year because they feel a strong sense of achievement from improving their skills and developing confidence on the mountain, and they feel connected to their teammates and coaches.

Our entry-level program, Carvers, runs every Sunday from January through March, and is for kids aged six to nine. Once skiers are eight years old, they can opt into our two-day U10 Extended team, where they ski all weekend, plus a half day mid-week, from December into early April. At 10 years old, skiers choose to join the Race or Freeride team. Some members dabble in both!

As skiers get older, they participate in our off-season dryland training programs, and they also travel more for competitions, starting fairly locally and then competing all across B.C. and Alberta. Keen racers can progress to our regional Okanagan Zone team as early as 16 years old, and eventually to the BC and Canadian Ski Teams.

Q: What is new with Revelstoke Ski Club over the past year?

A: Although we weren’t able to compete last winter, we had a great season of focused development at home and saw huge improvements among our athletes. We’re thrilled that it looks like we’ll be back to racing and freeride competitions this winter.

We had to adjust to restrictions and couldn’t hold our two main fundraisers last year — Ski Swap and the Snowflake Wine Fest — but ran a very successful online auction, thanks to many very generous local donors. The auction is going ahead again this year, and we were able to host the Ski Swap again this fall. Our club couldn’t operate without our amazing volunteers!

This year we have our first full-fledged U18 team. We’re really excited about the prospect of having our athletes compete through the end of their time in high school. This year the U18 team is entirely focused on Freeride, with veteran coach Mike Turnbull at the helm. We hope to soon have full U18 teams in both our Freeride and Race streams.

The Revelstoke Ski Club received a Community Initiatives Programs grant from Columbia Basin Trust to undergo a gender equity review this year. We are working through this review to better understand how we can achieve gender equity in the near future – we want more girls and women in ski racing and freeride!

Q: What activities or events does the Revelstoke Ski Club have planned for the 2021-22 winter season?

A: In addition to our regular programming, we are hosting two races for the Okanagan Zone this winter.

There will be a Nancy Greene Ski League Race on January 30 — a dual slalom for skiers 11 years old and younger. We’ll also be hosting the Okanagan Zone Finals on April 2-3 — this will include both a Slalom and a Giant Slalom for skiers aged 10 to 17.

Many of our skiers will be participating in the Junior Freeride Competition at RMR from March 10–13. We are slated to host the under-14 Provincial Championships in March of 2023 and are very excited to bring the best young skiers from across B.C. to Revelstoke!

Q: How can potential new members get involved with your club?

A: We welcome new members and volunteers! Check out our website for all the information about our youth programs and volunteer opportunities.

Typically, families register their children for our Carvers program at age six or seven, then they progress from there. It’s also possible to register older children, as long as they’ve had some prior experience in a ski program and are a good fit within their age group.

We welcome volunteers who don’t have kids in the program, especially to help out with our races. It’s a really fun social environment for adults and no experience is required. All the relevant email addresses are on the “contact” page of our website – we welcome any questions or inquiries!