Gondola up 1170m
Climb 500m/7km
Descent 1700m/15km
5620 is a new flow trail that starts just below the top of the Stoke Chair on Revelstoke Mountain Resort. It just opened a week ago (July 26th) so we got lucky to be some of the first people to ride the trail over August Long Weekend! Revelstoke doesn't have a bike park, but with the new lift-access trail, I think we will be seeing something in the near future. If you happen to be out in Revelstoke anytime soon, hit this trail before it gets too shralped!
We bought our day pass ($35) that allowed us to ride the gondola all day and walked straight on the lift (this ain't Whistler folks!). But, from the top of the gondola you don't get to drop in right away. It's a 7km, 500m climb up the Stoke Trail to the start of the trail. The trail is well built and not technical, but it is a bit relentless. The climb took us about 1.5 hrs with lots of breaks to enjoy the views.
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| Loading the gondola for a 1170m bump |
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| Feeling fresh on the Stoke Climb, lap |
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| Kyle Duran smiling on the climb |
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| Endless fields of wildflowers |
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| Bryce grinding it out on the switchbacks |
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| Kyle train! |
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| Summertime ski hill views |
About half way up, you emerge from the trees and have views up to the top of the Stoke Chair which is more or less your destination. The trail stays off the road and is gloriously shady until you hit the alpine where you switchback through epic alpine meadows. Para-gliders were shuttling the ski hill road and launching right beside the start of the trail which made for a good show as we climbed!
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| Para-gliders launching from the top of the trail |
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| Almost at the top! Feeling the altitude on lap 2 |
We stopped for a snack at the top before gearing up and dropping in. The descent is 15 km with a 1700m elevation drop of machine-built fun. It felt like a roller coaster ride all the way to the bottom. There were endless tables, step-ups and other small hits along the way but the highlight was the swoopy, vertical berms "as big as houses" snaking down the mountain. We whooped and hollered the whole the way and my cheeks were numb from all the smiles. As Kyle so eloquently put it, "this much fun shouldn't be legal."
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| The crew, ready to descend! |
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| Fast and fun |
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| Coming in hot! |
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| "This much fun shouldn't be legal" - Kyle Milino |
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| Transfers and berms |
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| More berms |
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| Berms for days |
The descent took a long time! We kept having to stop and shake out our tired arms and chat about how much fun we were having. The trail was in perfect shape and felt endless. Finally we hit the base after almost an hour on the trail. We munched some sandwiches and fueled up on caffeine for another lap! The lift runs until 3:30 pm which gives you a chance to fit in a few laps and still hit the patio for happy hour. They do have a sweep that starts at 5 so just make sure you are at the top by then. The climb was a bit slower on lap 2 but the descent was even more fun! That was $35 well spent.
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| Lake side happy hour! |
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