Peak condition

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2010 (5952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHANCES are you’ll never see a lineup at the base of the Burfield chair, the first chairlift you see when driving into Sun Peaks Resort.

That’s because this low-speed quad was the first lift installed at this slice of paradise back in 1961, when this resort located near Kamloops in the northern fringes of B.C.’s Thompson-Okanagan region used to be called Tod Mountain. But this throwback chair gives you access to some of the best steeps, glades and bowls the resort has to offer.

Of course, you can access the majority of the good stuff by exercising the option of loading the Burfield chair at mid-mountain, as many people choose to do. But if you visit Sun Peaks and want to feel like you have your own personal lift and exclusive use of select black-diamond runs, I strongly recommend a couple of laps off the lower Burfield.

That said, Sun Peaks has much more terrain worthy of exploring. In fact, three mountains worth, all serviced with the kind of high-speed lifts us spoiled North Americans have come to expect. One of those lifts, the Sunburst Express high-speed quad, is one of only a handful in North America that features chairs with protective bubbles that can be lowered on those breezy or colder days. The lift runs smack up the middle of Mount Tod, the central peak in the Sun Peaks trifecta and the one holding the vast majority of the resort’s 122 named runs.

You could spend a couple of days exploring the intermediate and expert runs — including several gladed areas — serviced by the Sunburst and Elevation chairlifts. But on bluebird days, it’s worth the trip up the Crystal chair to gain access to some wide-open bowls, chutes and other challenging runs.

To the east of Mount Tod is Sundance mountain, where the Sundance Express services an area primarily reserved for those who like to take it easy. Much of the area is designated a slow-skiing zone, including the Monster Energy Terrain Park.

Mount Morrisey is the third peak at Sun Peaks. It’s located west of the village and offers a different aspect then the south-facing Tod and Sundance slopes. Ride the Morrisey Express to the top and take your pick of the mostly easy cruising runs, perfect for a family outing or just a change of pace from what the other peaks offer.

B.C.’s second-largest mountain resort — trailing only Whistler-Blackcomb — was named second-best ski resort in Canada by Condé Nast Traveller magazine. It’s not hard to see why.

My wife, two daughters and I spent the majority of our time on the slopes riding the Sunburst and Sundance chairs, but I did manage to coax them onto the Elevation lift for a few laps. From there you can access the Nancy Greene International Race Centre and the OSV run, a fun cruiser that’s perfect for cranking some high-speed turns.

The OSV is also the preferred run of Austria’s national ski team when they train at Sun Peaks, as they have every November since 2005 in preparation for the start of the World Cup season. This year, the Austrian ski and snowboard teams returned in February for a tune-up right before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Speaking of the Vancouver Games, did you catch the opening ceremonies?

Nancy Greene, Sun Peaks’ director of skiing, was among a select group of Canadian athletes chosen to light the Olympic torch, sharing the honour with Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, Rick Hansen and Catriona Le May Doan.

Greene and her husband, Al Raine, have been instrumental in the development and promotion of ski tourism in British Columbia, first at Whistler and, since 1994, at Sun Peaks, where they built the Cahilty Lodge. Until January 2009 when she was appointed to the Canadian Senate, guests at the resort had the opportunity to ski with the Canadian skiing legend almost every day. Senator Greene still makes herself available to ski with resort guests most weekends. Her husband helped form the Nancy Greene Ski League, which started in 1968 and is still being offered by ski clubs across Canada. Both are members of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.

We missed out on the opportunity to meet the Canadian skiing legend, Canada’s top ski racer through the 1960s who won gold and silver medals at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics and overall World Cup titles in 1967 and ’68, and the woman voted Canada’s female athlete of the century.

But I did have the pleasure of meeting and skiing with Al Raine, general manager of the Cahilty Lodge and chairman of the board of directors of the Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Association (Tourism Sun Peaks). Raine took a fortunate group of skiers on an introductory tour of the resort and set the stage for a great trip for my family. We can even claim him as one of our own. It turns out the former Canadian alpine ski team coach was born in Dauphin, Man., but his family moved to the West Coast shortly after his birth.

Raine’s a great skier and charming individual who is well-suited to his role as ambassador of this great four-season family destination, the first ski resort in North America and the only one in Canada to receive the ISO 14001 designation recognizing its environmental policies and practices.

Other winter activities offered at or near the resort include backcountry cat skiing, heli-skiing, cross-country skiing, bungee trampoline, dog sledding, skating, sleigh rides, snow bikes, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, snowshoe golf and tubing at the tube park. There’s also a sports centre offering a hot tub, outdoor heated pool and a kids’ pool.

The resort’s unique, charming ski-through also boasts an impressive collection of restaurants and shops. A family favourite was Jardine’s, located in the Hearthstone Lodge, where courteous, professional staff took care of all our equipment needs.

So there you have it. Three mountains, 360 degrees of dry, easy-to-ski powder (almost six metres annually) covering close to 4,000 acres of varied terrain. There are 122 runs to choose from, including 12 named gladed areas, two alpine bowls, the terrain park and 40 kilometres of groomed and track-set cross-country ski trails. All this can be enjoyed with more than 2,000 hours of sunshine annually. What are you waiting for?

rob.knodel@freepress.mb.ca

Rob Knodel is a Free Press copy editor who missed his calling as a ski bum.

IF YOU GO

Drive: Road warriors can drive west along the Trans-Canada Highway and make it from Winnipeg to Kamloops in about 20 hours. It’s less than an hour from there to the slopes.

Fly: Can fly to Kelowna and rent a vehicle for the three-hour drive or book the shuttle bus service from the airport in Kelowna or Kamloops. WestJet and Air Canada offer daily direct flights from Calgary to Kamloops. Air Canada also flies daily from Vancouver to Kamloops, as does Pacific Coastal Airlines. Resort shuttles are also available to and from Big White (near Kelowna), Silver Star (near Vernon) and Whistler-Blackcomb.

Accommodations: Sun Peaks has a charming ski-in, ski-out, ski-through alpine village with a wide variety of accommodations (hotels, condos, townhouses, chalets, B&Bs; some 7,000 beds in total) all within a short distance of the slopes. We stayed at the new Delta Residences, part of the Delta Sun Peaks Resort hotel, in a two-bedroom suite complete with three flat-screen televisions and access to the facilities offered at the adjoining Delta Sun Peaks hotel (indoor-outdoor pool, three outdoor hot tubs, sauna, steam room, exercise room, etc.) In a word: awesome.