Revelstoke is the heli-skiing capital of the world, where legendary powder, lethal lines and famous names collide
This is a story about flying to Canada to go heli-skiing and then not actually going heli-skiing. It is a tale of waiting, of optimistically crossing fingers and toes, of getting up early each morning to check temperatures and mountain webcams and spending the rest of the day in a series of dive bars staring into pint glasses. Which isn’t to say it was a completely busted flush: my fellow alpine adventurers and I explored every inch of the little town of Revelstoke — birthplace of heli-skiing — just without the heli-skiing. And we had a great time doing it.The point is that heli-skiing is a bit of a gamble. Gwenyth Paltrow lamented losing ‘half a day of skiing’ in Deer Valley when an errant optometrist collided with her and sued. Here, my friends and I were losing three whole days skiing, Gwenyth! But with heli-skiing, I was to learn, the result can be much, much worse. The gamble can cost you your life. The day we arrived, a group of three very experienced heli-skiers were killed in a nearby avalanche. Understandably our professional guides were shaken. The avalanche conditions remained severe and, quite rightly, they weren’t taking any chances.This was the last week of March 2025, the shoulder season for heliskiing, and it was simply too warm: 12℃ at the top made for a very unstable snow pack with an extreme avalanche risk. The guides from Kingfisher Heli — GG, Matt, Francisco and Brandon — would make an assessment each morning of our stay, and what we needed was simple: snowfall, and a drop to freezing temperatures.
(Image credit: Kingfisher Ski)Kingfisher Heli works in exclusive partnership with our hotel, Eleven Revelstoke Lodge, and only heli-skiers stay here. It’s a century-old red-brick townhouse located on a main street downtown. There are 12 bedrooms, freshly renovated and re-opened in January 2025. Groups are usually eight in size because Kingfisher has two Airbus ‘A-Star’ B3 helicopters and they accommodate four skiers each plus a guide, which you need, and the pilot, which you definitely need. Alternatively you can ski with one to three guests and your own chopper, plus two guides. The hotel and heliski package is from £8,759 plus tax, per night, for groups of up to three, and £16,373 plus tax for groups of up to eight. This includes all subsistence and ground transport. A lot of guests dispense with the lengthy commercial option of flying via Calgary and Kelowna (which is a 2.5 hour drive away) and have their private jets fly straight into Revelstoke — just as Justin Bieber, Miranda Kerr and Sir Lewis Hamilton have done in the past.
(Image credit: Eleven Experience)Eleven was so christened because the owner — Chad Pike, a Wall Street guy — loves Spinal Tap, and the place has a rock n’ roll feel. Every space, from the guest bedrooms to the spa treatment rooms features Marshall bluetooth speakers. There’s exposed brick throughout the property. The restaurant, which is open to the public, sits on the ground floor while the penthouse, known as the Clubhouse, is home to a private bar and kitchen, lounge and library. The sauna and hot tub is accessed from its roof terrace. Chad’s wife, Blake, has her own interior design company called Number 12 and oversaw the lodge’s refurbishment.
(Image credit: Eleven Experience)My two-storey suite has the most impressive mini-bar I’ve found in all of my travels. It's bigger than a Wurlitzer and filled to the gills with craft beer and cider and juices from independent farms. Everything is complementary (which means the contents of the minibar came home in my suitcase — not for the first time). Retro travel books and rock biographies abound. The loo is one of those Japanese jobs that lifts its lid when you enter and stages a light show when you’re done.The guides say they’ve never seen the province’s heli-ski zones so ‘red’. There is over 300,000 acres of terrain and three different zones: Valhalla, Sugar and Pinnacle. This tenure, as it’s known, is never available to more than 12 skiers a day, making it a tremendously exclusive experience. We look on the computer screen to see 200 different runs. Some have rather inventive names, such as Patrick Schwazey, Sun Dog Millionaire, Kold Beer, Birthday Suit, Cialis Sunrise and Poopy Pants Chute. Almost all of them are coloured red. Less than half a dozen are green or amber. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal and we must be ready to go if the weather gods allow it.
(Image credit: Janis Spurdzins for Eleven Experience)Brandon, who’s been guiding for 20 years, takes us up to the Clubhouse to demonstrate what to do in an avalanche. No, don’t just curl up into a ball. Yell ‘AVALANCHE!!!’ and ski down at a 45° angle. Try to get out of there fast, but if and when you get knocked off your feet you need to yank a cord to automatically inflate your airbag backpack, which should stop you being as submerged in snow as you might otherwise. It blows itself up into a big T-shape while making the sound of a hoover. We’re each outfitted with a walkie talkie and a receiver which’ll locate you if you need rescuing, or it’ll help you locate a lost member of the group. We’re also given a probe and shovel and taught how to dig someone out. ‘Sounds good?’ says Brandon. He says Kingfisher have never had a ‘full burial’. Next, he takes us to the heli-hangar where one of our two choppers awaits. Brandon gives us an orientation so we understand how not to risk a sudden decapitation. ‘Make sure all your straps and the airbag trigger are tucked in because if it gets caught in the rotor it’ll be a disaster. Sounds good?’ Uh huh. ‘These windows will kick out from the inside if we crash. But don’t leave the cockpit before cutting off the rotors and the fuel line — use these two leavers. Sounds good?’ Got it. I think.
(Image credit: Tal Roberts for Eleven Experience)
(Image credit: Tal Roberts for Eleven Experience)As someone drawn to Bondian things, and having always intended to die in a good anecdote, the attraction to heli-skiing has long been a strong one. Heli-skiing was pioneered by an Austrian, Hans Gmoser, who came to British Columbia in 1965 to ski in the remote Bugaboos backcountry and fancied a chopper might be more agreeable than a very long and steep hike. By 1970, it had gone commercial and Revelstoke was and remains its epicentre. With 25 helicopters heading out each day, it caters for around 50% of the world’s heli-skiing (British Columbia, as a whole, makes up 90% of the world’s heliskiing). It is also the capital of snowmobiling, although sadly that’s off too — the only snow sport available is piste skiing at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, on nearby Mount Mackenzie. And the weather is filthy. It’s bucketing down so hard I need wipers on my goggles. I’ve been outfitted with ultra-wide skis designed for powder, not this yucky brown slush that looks like Bobby Sands came and staged a protest.
(Image credit: Kingfisher Ski)
(Image credit: Tal Roberts for Eleven Experience)A few runs and we’re done, soaked to the core. What else has Revelstoke to offer? When I travelled 4,500 miles I did not have the Revelstoke Railway Museum on my bingo card. However, there is a five-pin bowling alley that makes a mean margarita. Then there is Canada’s own contribution to the world cocktail atlas — the mighty Caesar, a Bloody Mary with tomato juice swapped for the vinegary tang of Clamato juice. Also the Shaft, which was a new one on me: a pleasing espresso martini meets white Russian, ideal for combatting jetlag. For artisanal mixology, Monashee Spirits will impress even the most spoiled imbibers, and take note of its location next door to the town’s undertaker. Cannabis dispensaries are plentiful, for it is legal in Canada and ski bums live off the stuff. After everything else closed, we joined those same plaid-shirted ski bums at The Last Drop for live music and table football.On our penultimate day we got in a pair of helicopters and took a spectacular flight across the tenure to see what we could have won. Above the clouds, the sun shone and the scenery was spectacular, but evidence of avalanches was all around. One even occurred as we flew over, smashing through trees and down onto the road below, dragging huge boulders and dirt with it. One and a half metres of snowfall the previous week had warmed up and created these ‘big slab’ avalanches. We landed the helicopter a couple of times on the guides’ favourite ridges, and the snow looked so inviting but, as Brandon described it, this was ‘leg-breaking snow’. Our pilots, Burt and Jean-Marc, took exciting lines through the peaks and troughs, and the mountains were almost close enough to touch. We then made the highlight of my trip: visiting a dive bar by helicopter, landing next to a rank of rusting pick-up trucks. This was an ambition that I did manage to fulfill, and the redneck Roadhouse in Cherryville was everything I hoped it would be, with fine burgers, beer, country and blues music. It was like something out of The Blues Brothers.
(Image credit: Kingfisher Ski)At roughly £2,000-a-head per day, a trip heli-skiing without any heli-skiing is an awkward proposition. However, there’s no negotiating with Mother Nature. Eleven/Kingfisher will credit you with days you’re unable to ‘get vertical’, as it’s the aviation fuel that’s the most expensive outlay. Come back next year and try again. I certainly hope to do so. The ideal time to go is obviously earlier than the end of March. In fact, the guides are very specific: the third week in January is the best time to come. One imagines getting a booking for that week next year could therefore be difficult. I’m told that on those dates this year my room was occupied by Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO and creator of ChatGPT. It’s no surprise that a megabucks adventure holiday such as this would appeal to the Silicon Valley tech bros.What’s heli-skiing like? That’s the story I set out to write but, due to unforeseen circumstances, let’s ask ChatGPT instead.Here’s the prompt: ‘Write a short closing paragraph in the style of Adam Hay-Nicholls about what it’s like to heli-ski in Revelstoke.’It's wildly intoxicating to be dropped on a knife-edge ridge with nothing but gravity, guts and a pair of fat skis to get you down. In Revelstoke, you’re not just skiing — you’re dancing on the brink, flirting with danger in a way that sharpens the senses and quiets the noise of modern life. The chopper fades to a speck, and suddenly it’s just you, the mountain, and the whisper of fresh powder. It’s reckless, magnificent and liberating. It makes you wonder why you ever settled for chairlifts. There you have it. Thanks for your help, Sam Altman, and thank you Eleven Revelstoke Lodge. ‘Til next time, hopefully.
