KEY POINTS:
It's 11pm on a mid-winter Saturday in Revelstoke, Canada, and catchy country song She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy blares out of the speakers at a busy Irish-style pub, while snowmobile videos spring off the big-screen TV.
A group of European heli-skiers sit placidly with their cashmere sweaters draped
around their shoulders, sipping imported Belgian beer. Next table over a rowdy bunch of snowmobilers are getting loaded on whisky and Coke, decked out in jeans and jackets splashed with snowmobile logos.
Every winter this small British Columbian town of 8500 is overrun with wealthy heli-skiers and snowmobilers from oil-rich Alberta. And while the two groups are like chalk and cheese, there's one thing that unites them. They're all men. Like the overwhelmingly blokish population of fictitious Alaskan town Elmo featured in Men in Trees, there's a noticeable shortage of women in the noisy bars most nights.
But things are about to change in this testosterone-fuelled adventure town because the local tiny ski hill will soon be transformed into a monster four-season resort. Revelstoke Mountain Resort will boast North America's longest vertical skiable slope of 1829m, opening the area up to hoards of skiers, families - and lots more women.
Revelstoke's current ski hill, Powder Springs, has one archaic two-person chair lift and a handful of runs.
But the snow is truly epic - between 12m-18m of the white stuff smothers the local mountains every year and clusters of trees huddled close spice up the fun.
There's no need to line up at the chairlift for 30 minutes or spend $24 on lunch, unlike most large Canadian ski resorts. A mere $7 is enough for lunch and the rotund cafe lady shouts out your order when it's ready. Over the winter she becomes a familiar friendly face.
Come December, though, the ski hill will change drastically. An eight-person gondola and high-speed quad chairlift will be in operation, and the year after, Revelstoke Mountain Resort will claim North America's longest skiable vertical slope. Mountain bike trails and a golf course will be the resort's summer draw card.
More than $73 million worth of homes at the yet-to-be constructed mountain village has already been sold. Revelstoke house prices have rocketed, many doubling and some tripling over the past two years. A house for less than $366,000 is a rare find.
Not everyone is happy. Locals are worried their sleepy mountain town will lose its laidback feeling, where motorists stop for pedestrians crossing the main road and locals greet strangers on the street. They don't want their town to become super-expensive and swanky, like the ski town of Whistler, a seven-hour drive away.
Revelstoke is nestled between the spectacular Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges, as well as Vancouver and Calgary. Whatever direction you look in, fir and cedar tree-covered mountains pierce the sky. The emerald blue Columbia River carves a path beneath the mountains, its frenetic pace means it never freezes over.
The town's roots lie in the railway after Canadian Pacific Railway linked the east to the west in the late 1800s. Houses from that era still dominate two-storey wooden A-frame buildings with sash windows. The railway remains a major industry and the ever-present sound of train horns blaring reminds the town's inhabitants of that.
Revelstoke drew me in with its promise of deep powder and friendly locals. Plus, I loved that Kiwi and Aussie backpackers bypassed the town for the glitz of Whistler and Banff.
The promise of snow certainly came true. Revelstoke's township endured its deepest snowfall in 10 years with 5m, while on the nearby mountains 16m of prime powder - about the height of a four-storey building - fell.
I've never gone skiing or snowboarding before, but the chance was too good to miss. Learning to snowboard made for a sore but rewarding winter. Let's just say my first efforts gave me an inkling as to what it must be like to be hit by a vehicle. Watching 8-year-olds whiz past me was ego-deflating. However, the sight of majestic Mt Begbie rising up from the dividing Columbia River and mild temperature (average -5 degrees) made up for the pain.
Once you've conquered a ski hill, heli-skiing is the next step. Make that a rich person's next step. For around $1466 a day (accommodation and food provided), skiers and boarders are dropped off by helicopter on a remote mountain to carve fresh tracks in thigh-deep powder all day long. Courtesy of my work at a hotel contracted to accommodate heli-skiers, I was lucky enough to heli-ski for free. The wide expanse of snow-capped mountains in every direction, gliding through untouched powder and protecting my face as the chopper landed a mere two metres away will be cherished memories forever.
Snowmobilers are an even bigger source of revenue for Revelstoke. Every winter around 18,000 snowmobilers converge on the town to carve up the mountains steep chutes, deep valleys and several thousand acres of terrain. Snowmobiles sound like a cross between a chainsaw and a motorbike and look like a motorbike on skis. And boy, do some of them have power. The high-end ones cost $73,000 and can race up a 60-degree face. Riding on a snowmobile feels surprisingly smooth as they glide over bumps and jump off ridges.
Any snowmobiler will tell you nothing beats their machine because it can reach terrain no skier or boarder can access and it's just you and your machine racing against Mother Nature.
With Revelstoke's striking beauty and all it has to offer snow lovers - and mountain bike enthusiasts in the summer - the planned growth seems inevitable. But it also seems inevitable that cheap lunches at the ski hill will get the chop.
It'll be a hard slog to retain Revelstoke's small-town atmosphere and charm. Locals are determined they won't lose out to exponential growth and that young families shouldn't be forced to move out because of soaring real estate prices.
Time will tell. But one thing's for sure, it won't do the place any harm to bring a few more females into the mix.
Checklist
Getting there
Revelstoke is a 6hr drive (565km) east of Vancouver, British Columbia and a 4.5hr drive (417km) west of Calgary, Alberta.
Air New Zealand flies direct from Auckland to Vancouver three times a week for around $2400 return.
Qantas flies daily to Vancouver with a stop in Los Angeles. Prices start from $2100.
You can take a 1.5 hour flight from Vancouver to Calgary, Alberta for around $485, then hire a car.
Where to stay
The average cost of a motel is $100. The sole backpackers in town, Same Sun, charges around $30 for a dormitory bed and around $60 for a private room.
Skiing
A ski pass will be around $65.
Further information
Find out more at www.discoverrevelstoke.com (Revelstoke Mountain Resort), www.revelstokecc.bc.ca (Revelstoke's official tourist website), www.sledrevelstoke.com (Revelstoke Snowmobile Society) or www.cityofrevelstoke.com (Revelstoke City Council).
