The Revelstoke Rotary club is preparing for the visit of about 60 Rotarians when the International Skiing Fellowship of Rotarians holds its annual trip at Revelstoke Mountain Resort next week.
The ISFR is an annual gathering of skiing Rotarians. This year the event is being held in Revelstoke from January 28 to February 4. The week is part gathering and part fundraiser to raise money for adaptive ski programs.
The number of visitors isn’t as big as initially hoped, said Scott Lebuke, who is organizing the event locally. Initially up to 200 Rotary skiers were expected to attend but various issues have caused that number to dwindle to only 60.
“It’s too bad for the town and the hill.”
Still, there are many activities planned for the event. The week will feature a mixture of skiing, parties and tours of various Revelstoke attractions, including the dam, museums and Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.
The big event is the Peak to Valley challenge at Revelstoke Mountain Resort on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The goal for the Rotarians will be to ski 11,000 vertical feet – two top-to-bottom laps of the mountain.
The Revelstoke Rotary Club has enlisted Greg Hill as a ringer for the challenge. He will be seeing how many runs he can ski in one day at the ski hill.
All money raised will be going to support an adaptive ski program at the resort or, if that’s not feasible, support local disabled skiers to access a nearby program.
The closest program to Revelstoke is at Silver Star near Vernon, which is more than two hours drive.
Lebuke said he had talked to the resort about starting up a program and he hopes to resume those discussions.
The money raised will stay in the community, he said.