ROAM: Revelstoke’s Hidden Outdoor Art Gallery on North America’s Longest Ski Run

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Skiing Meets Art in Revelstoke – A Unique Mountain Experience

You’re skiing the Last Spike in Revelstoke, the longest run in North America. You don’t even get halfway down the 15.2 kilometre run and your thighs are burning, your head is spinning. Can you make it down without stopping? But wait. What’s that? Did you just see a bunch of gargantuan and brightly-coloured ice cream cones, complete with vanilla ice-cream swirls on top, in the middle of the forest next to the ski run?

No, it’s not your ski-fatigued brain; what you are seeing is art. On a grand scale. Revelstoke ski resort in British Columbia is home to the world’s largest (and snowiest) art gallery. This is R.O.A.M. (Revelstoke Outdoor Art Movement), where over 60 pieces of large and small-scale art installations are bestrewn around the mountain; hidden in gladed tree runs, peeking out from behind ski signs and turning up in the most unexpected places.

How to Find Revelstoke’s Secret Art Installations

So how do you find them? That’s the tricky (and fun) part. There is no map. Or website. It’s all about discovering it for yourself. Or as local artist Rob Buchanan told me, “It's like this accidental delight that you come across.” Although, I’m cheating a bit in my hunt for art by joining Rob and fellow artist Jess Leahey on a gallery tour. Although this gallery tour entails sliding around on skis.

Everyone knows these renowned paintings and artists; The Mona Skisa by Leonardo Da Vinski and the Selfski by Vincent Van Snow. These are just two of 22 pieces of art, that come complete with ornate frames and are mounted on tree trunks in a ski run aptly called the Masterpiste Gallery. Each piece pays homage to some of the world’s most famous paintings, but here’s the creative twist; each piece is crafted from recycled skis and snowboards.

“We kind of hijacked this zone,” Rob told me as we are admiring Blue Nudeski by Henri MaPiste (can you see a pun pattern forming here?). “It was called Skid Row, and it was just kind of the remnants of where they had skidded logs out when they were cutting runs. It wasn't groomed or anything, but now it gets groomed every night.”

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The Story Behind ROAM: How Revelstoke’s Ski Art Movement Began

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From Rejected Street Art to Mountain Masterpieces

Art wasn’t an easy sell to the city fathers of Revelstoke, but Rob had a brainstorm after his initial presentation to create some street art in downtown Revelstoke fell flat. “Before ROAM and I had this idea to put art in the alleys and I had created some mockups of some stencils, similar to Banksy. I presented it to the city, and they didn’t think it was ‘art’.” Rob laughed, “What the heck did they expect? The Mona Lisa?”

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Turning Old Skis Into Art: A Creative Sustainability Movement

It was then that Rob had his big light-bulb moment. “I’ll make the Mona Lisa,” he thought. “And I’ll make it out of skis.” Rob then created an almost three-metre-high Mona Skisa (by Leonardo da Vinski) for a wall in a city alley.

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Using discarded skis and snowboards was a genius idea. “They're built for temperature, moisture and sunshine,” Rob said. “They're pretty much indestructible, so they're the perfect outdoor medium.” They also come in so many colours and patterns. “I'm the kind of person that when there's a large lift line and everyone's getting a little agitated, I love it, because I look on the ground and I see all these colours on the skis and snowboards. I almost want to put little cards on everyone's skis to say, ‘Hey, when you're done with that…’”

How Art Became a Part of Revelstoke’s Ski Culture

It was artist Jess Leahey who had the idea of putting art on the mountain. Except Jess initially skipped the getting permission part and, with some fellow artists, put a bunch of gorilla style art out onto the ski hill. Deciding to do it legit, they met up with the resort management and said that they had this “crazy idea about putting art on the hill”. The resort folk loved it, and in the past three years 16 different local artists have contributed to ROAM’s 65 pieces of art.

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The first official piece on the mountain was the “Wheely Bad Advice”, which came about when Jess heard some jaded local's advice for visitors. Like most of the art on the mountain, it’s hidden away so that you stumble upon it. You’d get quite a surprise, too because it looks just like a prize wheel on a game show except when you spin it you get such helpful advice as “ALWAYS FRY BACON NAKED” or “FROST ON METAL POLES TASTE DELICIOUS”

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A Gravity-Powered Gallery: The Unexpected Side Effect of Skiing

We continue our gallery tour and stop underneath a constellation of colourful balloons made from used ski goggles that are strung up between snow-laden conifer trees on a double-black diamond run. “There's also some other cool side effects to these art pieces,” Jess said. “The runs in Revelstoke are so long, it's hard for ski patrol to find people when they call for help. They're like, where are you? And you can be like, I'm in Yam Town, or I can see these ice cream cones.”

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You can be moved by art, and in this case people’s skis can have a meaningful backstory. As we stood in front of a Skida Kahlo “painting”, Rob told us that he used some old skis that belonged to a local girl who was originally from Sydney. “Basically, her whole adult skiing life was represented in this ski,” he said. “So, it has so much meaning to her seeing this piece of artwork.”

I love it that ROAM has managed to bring sport and art together. Rob explained it beautifully: “The sport is how you move through the art. We call it a gravity gallery. It's like skateboarding through the Louvre.”

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