Tales From The Trails: Aaron Clarke on the Art of Grooming
Revelstoke Mountain Resort is famous for many things: the longest vertical drop in North America, some of the best snow on the continent, and sprawling freeride terrain in every direction. But the most overlooked feature of the resort is actually one of its greatest strengths—its groomers. RMR has the most perfect corduroy laid on some of the most heavenly pitches in the world.
“We're a powder resort, but it doesn't snow all the time, right?” says Aaron Clarke, the mountain’s Slopes Manager and head of grooming, as he schusses down Critical Path below the Stoke Chair to inspect last night’s work.
“And even when it does, there's a percentage of people that still want a groomed run to ski.”
Indeed, black-diamond skiers and riders have always been propped in the demographic pyramid by a strong foundation of blue and green skiers. But the thing is, even though RMR is renowned for its freeride terrain, it’s also got groomers just as geared for experts. Pitch Black, Snow Rodeo, Hot Sauce, and Devil’s Club are the most famous—steep, uninterrupted runs that feel like Kitzbühel’s famed Hahnenkamm course. Together with other runs, they link 1,713 metres (5,620 feet) of grooming from top to bottom.
Clarke’s absolute favourite groomer on the mountain, though, is an extremely rare treat. Like an eclipse, it doesn’t happen very often—or even every season. It’s when he gets to groom Separate Reality, a steep fall-line adjacent to the Stoke chair in avalanche terrain. But on the right snow year, when everything aligns, and he can coordinate with patrol, he’ll push a little laneway right down it from the very top of the mountain.
“It’s quite the honour to be able to put that down and make people's day when you do a really nice job,” he beams while hoping he gets to do it this season. Those are the days he gets texts from his friends first thing in the morning, showering him with kudos.
Clarke has been grooming for 24 years now. He started in Jasper and then moved to Revelstoke to groom at the former Powder Springs ski area for two years before it turned into RMR. Since then, he’s watched the resort grow, along with its fleet of snowcats. Today, Clarke has 25 people working for him—moving snow, thickening scraped areas, and curating edgeable surfaces fit for royalty every single minute the mountain is closed. For most skiers, his team are the very ones delivering the product.
“We had a cat working here for seven hours last night,” he points out, sliding past a nondescript high-traffic intersection that most people think little about but would be impassable on the daily without the grooming team’s vigilance.
“I think people would be really surprised to know how much time we spend pushing snow uphill to keep the runs the way everybody wants them,” he explains. “And I think people would also be really surprised at how much weather and temperature affect what you can do in a snowcat.”
Moving snow uphill each night according to the wiles of temperature and humidity might be the very definition of a Sisyphean task. Working an eight-ton machine that often relies on winch cables takes a calm, thoughtful person who has a lot of patience. But mostly, it takes passion to be able to problem-solve all night because snow is constantly changing.
Grooming is a career and trade he’s been honing for over two decades. Even though other administrative duties tug at him these days, he’s still getting better in the machine each night. Prepping for the Natural Selection Tour in March, for example, has also become a big part of his season—rebuilding old cat-skiing roads to facilitate the event.
Having kids has also changed the way he sees the mountain, through their eyes, and as a parent. Ultimately, though, he gets to make all kinds of people smile every day. But he’s quick to note the 25 stalwart operators working for him who strive for perfection each night and how grateful he is. Alongside his assistant, Grooming Supervisor Niall Glass, a now 30-year-veteran who’s been with Clarke since day one.
“You can only accomplish so much as one operator; it takes a team to make a resort successful,” he says, before laying his edges in once more, just to triple-check the product.
- Words by Matt Côté
