Revy the Berner

Revy gearing up for a fun day of cat skiing with his friend, Ben Bartosz of the Vail Powder Guides.

Bernese Mountain Dogs are spirit animals for Mountain Guides.  The breed first appeared two thousand years ago as the Roman Legions crossed the Alps with their mastiffs and bred them with local mountain dogs.  The Walsers moved from the Valais into the high mountain meadows across the Alps in the 13th century and bred their Sennenhunds for three missions:  pulling sleds, guarding livestock, and snuggling with their families during the long winter.

The Walsers also invented ski touring and climbing in the Alps and were the first mountain guides for visiting tourists in the 18th century.  Their Berners went with them everywhere and became adept in alpine terrain in all conditions.  With the advent of mechanized farming and modern transportation, the breed almost became extinct at the end of the 19th century, but were saved by Albert Heim, a famous Swiss geologist and dog breeder who popularized the Bernese Mountain Dogs among Swiss households in the early 1900s.  They made it to America in 1926.

Revelstoke the Berner was a COVID puppy who came to us from his breeder in California in the darkest week of the pandemic.  He was the third of our family’s line of Bernese Mountain Dogs and had the biggest personality of them all – he let you know exactly what was on his mind.

Revy loved to ski and climb with his family and was trained in the field with impeccable manners on the Snowcat or at the Crag.  In his brief life in the mountains, he encountered Bear, Moose and Elk and never backed down. 

Revy joined his fellow Guides and Entrepreneurs to celebrate the Boulder Ventures 30th Anniversary with a climbing day at the Rivera in Boulder Canyon, May 17, 2025.

As our Floor Manager, Revy was a constant feature at Boulder Ventures and hung out by the third-floor elevator to greet guests to the office.  He was also an excellent judge of character:  if you were intimidated by a 120-pound Bernese Mountain Dog barking at you when you came to visit, you’re unlikely to be part of our program.

As if to remind us of how precious our time is together, these big dogs don’t last long.  Revy died on a rainy day at the end of September surrounded by his family and left a Berner-sized hole in our hearts.

Revy the Berner was a good dog.