This season I moved from Revelstoke to Vernon so I could ski with the slopestyle team here in town, which has been really good. The big thing I miss about Revelstoke is opening day of RMR. Theres basically half the population of the town on the ski hill that day. I missed opening day this season so I thought I'd write about the last few years and my experience of opening day. Enjoy

The lift lines in Revelstoke on opening day are brutal, usually around 4-5 hours if you get there at 7AM. Lifts open at 8:30 and you won't be skiing until nearly 11. So for the last few years my friends and I have skipped school the Friday before opening day to set up a tent in line so we get first chair. We usually have our tent up by 1PM the Friday before, and by 8PM theres around 20-30 people all camping out in tents (about half the people are our friends, the other half are ski bums) Someone usually starts a fire and we all huddle up for warmth, and some of them are having a beer. By 1AM we go to sleep, its really cold in just a sleeping bag so we're usually wearing our snow pants. Even then you don't get much sleep, we usually wake up around 4 and then theres about 100-200 people in line. We have Eggo's for breakfast and then drink a coffee or 3, someone usually has caffeine pills too. (they don't work) By 7AM the hype is real. Everyone is in line with all their ski gear on, tents are taken down, parents have come to pick everything up. By 8 the lift line is so long you can't even see the end, I'm guessing its in the 1000's now. The lifts start turning at 8 and everyone realizes its almost time. When the lifts finally open we pack 8 people into a gondola. 10 minutes later were at the top ready to ski down to the bottom of the chair. Once the doors open its a free for all. Every one rushes out of the gondola and clips into their skis or snowboards. From there its a sprint to the chair. The ones who make it on the chair first are getting the first turns of the season and usually a few face shots. By 9:30 the lines for the chair are around 20-30 minutes. By 1PM were all exhausted from getting basically no sleep and skiing so hard. To wrap it all up, Is is worth it? Hell yea, the feeling of "I was the first man skiing this season" is so worth it. The bragging rights, the face shots, and the experience make it all worth it.