Revelstoke Dam Visitor Centre

Revelstoke Dam is a combined earthfill and gravity dam, a design that pairs a long earth embankment with a concrete section. Construction began in 1978 and the dam was finished in 1983, with the generating station commissioned in 1984. It was designed as a six-unit station, but only four turbines were installed at first. A fifth unit entered service in December 2010, according to BC Hydro, and brought roughly 500 megawatts of extra capacity.

Published capacity figures differ. BC Hydro's 2011 release gives four original units totalling 1,980 MW plus 500 MW from the fifth, or 2,480 MW, while a 2013 BC Hydro visitor-centre release quotes 2,570 MW and describes the station as the second-largest generating facility in the province after the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. Treat the exact total with care and check BC Hydro for the current figure. BC Hydro has also published plans for a sixth unit of about 500 MW; its 2026 materials describe construction starting that year, but as a project plan rather than something visitors will see operating.

The dam backs up Lake Revelstoke, a reservoir of roughly 115 square kilometres. Its filling drowned the Dalles des Morts (Death Rapids) and several small communities along the old Big Bend Highway, the original Trans-Canada route before Rogers Pass was opened. The site sits just above La Porte, a boomtown of the Big Bend Gold Rush and a head of river navigation from the Arrow Lakes. The Sinixt are not represented in the visitor centre's First Nations gallery, even though the dam lies within territory they consider theirs, which is a useful reminder that the river has a longer story than the dam.

The visitor centre was redesigned in 2009. Inside are interactive displays on hydroelectric generation and on the history of the dam and the river, plus a theatre. The First Nations gallery was shaped with the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council (Secwepemc), the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the Ktunaxa Nation, who also helped choose the artifacts and artwork on show.

The highlight for most visitors is the elevator, described by BC Hydro as rising 300 feet (about 30 storeys) from the visitor centre to a lookout at the dam crest. A walkway across the top of the powerhouse gives a closer look at the structure and the canyon it fills. A gift shop is on site.

The centre is seasonal, so check BC Hydro for current opening dates, hours and admission before you go, and for accessibility details. It is on Highway 23 North, a short drive from downtown Revelstoke, which makes it an easy half-hour to hour-long stop beside time in the mountain parks nearby.

Revelstoke is a base for Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, the Rogers Pass area, and the Columbia River valley. On a private tour with Voyzo, a private vehicle and driver collects you door to door, so the dam can slot into a day of mountain sightseeing without anyone worrying about the drive back or parking at each stop.