About 2,000 people showed up for a beautiful opening day at Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR).
RMR opened for the first time this season, with the first gondola headed up the mountain at 8:30 a.m. With bright skies and fresh snow, the day started the resort off on a high note for the season. First in line was Paul Hunn, who’s been in Revelstoke since 2013.
“I was here about 23 and a half hours early for the opening,” said Hunn, who was geared up and ready to go.
Hunn had his dog with him until about 7:30 a.m. when more people started to show up. He also admitted that he didn’t need to get there so early this year.
“These guys” said Hunn pointing to the people behind him in line, “didn’t get here until 6, so I could’ve turned up at 5.”
Although he was there well in advance and potentially in vain, Hunn didn’t mind the wait. He spent the day before and the evening walking the dog and hanging out in line. Hunn said he’d been a ski bum in seasons prior and had seen seasons where camping out was the only way to get an early spot in line.
Kevin Manuel, director of marketing for RMR, spent the morning amping up the crowd for the first gondola and throwing out some prizes.
He said that it was the first time the resort was able to open from top to bottom on the opening day. Between the snow making crew and the last-minute snow, there was no predicting a better outcome for the resort.
Once Hunn made it up on the first gondola, it was a race to the chair after that. Once he made it to the chair, he said he was excited for the first few laps.
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