Overseeing nearly six kilometres of scenic par-72 golfing along the shores of the Columbia River, Dean Jackson has budding plans to keep two-thirds of these links available to the public in winter as well 鈥� for cross-country skiing.
The Revelstoke Golf Club general manager's plan, in collaboration with the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society (IGS), is to restart a lost practice of grooming a four-kilometre loop along five greens straggling the river.
"We can't wait to have the people come back and enjoy the trails," he said. "We don't monitor it. We don't have a donation box. We just want people to come and enjoy the property, because it's stunning out there in the winter."
In past decades, a volunteer residing next to the 15th hole would come out during winter to set a track across the snow-closed golf course for Nordic skiing, doing his best with the limited resources he had.
"The trail didn't get set, I would say, on a regular basis," Jackson explained. "Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't."
The volunteer eventually left, taking his equipment with him, and though the snowpack in town the last couple years didn't yet warrant restarting the groomer work, Jackson is committed to getting the public back on the links this December.
"We just want to make sure they (at IGS) know the proper route, and we're just really excited to be doing it again," he said.
Sometime in May or June, the club is meeting with IGS to draw a trail map for the groomer operator to set. Jackson emphasized that four kilometres is a sizable ski network to maintain, recalling that in the years back when it was groomed, even few skiers would make the circuit more than once.
"It used to be done by somebody just on their own initiative, and that's really how these things happen," IGS president Roger Galbraith recalled.
While community members in Columbia Park had been discussing bringing the tradition back, Jackson said lack of grant funding to finance the grooming equipment created a barrier. But IGS, according to Galbraith, is now looking to allocate some of its 2025 Resident Directed (ReDi) Grant and Revelstoke Credit Union funds toward fuel and maintenance costs for one of their groomer vehicles.
"People from Columbia Park have approached us because they miss having (the ski trail) so much," Galbraith said, recalling initial conversations about the idea when he first joined IGS a year ago. "It was like, 'Gee, remember the good old days when the course used to be groomed?'"
Rather than roll out their larger Favero Snow Rabbit 3, IGS may choose to fit their Suzuki pickup truck with a more compact Ginzugroomer sled attachment, according to Galbraith. The wheels on the truck can even be swapped in for caterpillar tracks, making it a highly versatile option for grooming.
Galbraith noted that how much maintenance the course will need in the winter is hard to gauge, and subject to snowpack conditions and how often people ski on it. There are also considerations such as whether visitors want to use it for skating as well, which requires more grooming than for skiing or maintaining a walking trail alongside it. Compacting snow and ice on the greens themselves can also be harmful to the golfing, meaning IGS will carefully follow a set trail map.
"They (Revelstoke Golf Club) don't want it on the green or tee box, so avoiding those," Galbraith noted.
Mike Gravelle, who runs Skookum Revelstoke and sits on IGS's board, lives in Columbia Park adjacent to the golf club's 11th hole and is fully on board to help get the network groomed next winter.
"Mike's been really enthusiastic," Galbraith said.
Gravelle told Black Press Media he's also willing at IGS's word to store the groomer truck and other equipment at his home next to the course, and happy to rally any volunteers needed for upkeep.
"People want that access to go Nordic skiing," he said, adding there's also promise for locals who want winter trails for fat biking. "I'm 100 per cent in support of it."
IGS is continuing to build momentum grooming tracks around the city, including this last winter the Meadows in the Sky Parkway on Mount Revelstoke. Now that this partnership with Parks Canada has kicked off successfully, Galbraith looks forward to focusing this year on getting things started at Revelstoke Golf Club too, as a more accessible, beginner-level ski track.
"When my daughter-in-law arrived from England for the first time, she'd never skied in her life," he said. "The first place we went was the golf course."
Updates on the reopening of the winter ski trail will be announced via Revelstoke Golf Club's social media.
