If you are skier you know that weather can make or break your day on the mountain. But the same is also true: any weather is good weather as long as it adds to the powder accumulation. On my recent trip into interior British Columbia to take on Sun Peaks Resorts varied slopes, I experienced the power of weather as it dueled for my love on the mountain.
Driving up Highway 1 from Washington State, the roads were bare – hardly any snow even clung to the road ditches. Worry started to sink in. Back in the Oregon, I couldn’t even fathom that Canada wasn’t getting dumped on. That week in the Cascade Mountains, the local ski resorts received inches of snow. Some of that must be falling in Canada then too? Well with blank roads – that’s right not blanketed roads – we quickly sailed into Kamloops without a flurry falling.
“Did we take a wrong turn somewhere back there?” My mom asked in jest. “It looks like we are in Montana [in summer].” With brown, dry and windblown rolling hills stretching as far as the eyes could see, it was hard to image that we were in fact in Canada, but we refused to give up hope. Finally climbing a little in elevation, whitish brown patches started to spring up between the pine trees and then bend after bend it transformed the brown valley floor into a white carpet of crunchy slush. In the short 30 minute drive from Kamloops north to Sun Peaks Resort my excitement increased like the snow-pack. Two days of awesome downhill skiing glimmering in white piles.
Day 1: The Snow
One the first day of skiing we woke up to snow flurries lightly falling to ground and low clouds hugging the mountainous terrain. As the soft stuff padded the spring slopes, my skies sailed through the runs with delightful ease – making even my spastic turns feel picture perfect.
Starting the day off in the snow. Here I am with my parents at the base of the mountain.
Looking up the Sunburst Chairlift
With 3,678 acres of skiable terrain at Sun Peaks Resort, we skied down the runs in silent solitude. The peaceful slopes and cozy tree-filled runs made the socked-in day about me and the mountain, nothing else. It was a wonderful, rejuvenating experience – breaking away from technology, my iPhone and work – and focusing on nature and simple the ground and snow before me.
Empty slopes at Sun Peaks Resort
Day 2: The Sun
With blue skies bouncing from tree top to tree top, the mountain came alive on day two. Showcasing the terrain’s variety and Canada’s beautiful, vast wilderness, the sunshine warmed up the slopes for soft skiing but in a different way than the day before. The fresh powder melted but the runs still remained fun and fast to carve through – plus the views from the top were spectacular!
Skiing down one of the forested run on Morrisey Mountain.
View from the "Top of the World" - aka the highest chairlift point 2,080m (6,824')
With seven chairlifts, multiple trails and glades and a fantastic variety of runs (10% novice, 58% intermediate, 32% expert), Sun Peaks Resorts’ mountains makes it hard to even repeat a single run in two days.
My mom stopped on the ski run with the blue skies and white topped trees behind her.
Thanks to the kind folks at Outdoors Northwest Magazine for the awesome ski package! I won two nights’ accommodation to Nancy Greene’s Cahility Lodge in Sun Peaks Resort plus 2, two-day lift tickets for this end-of-winter vacation from a twitter contest. A ski in, ski out hotel right at the base of the lifts on British Columbia’s second largest ski mountain, the Cahility Lodge made the ski weekend feel simple, relaxed and 100% about the slopes – as any ski trip should be! Follow @OutdoorsNWMag on twitter for fantastic articles about the outdoor recreation, hiking, running, fun contests and more!
Discover the winter wonders and summer surprises at Sun Peaks Resort.
Read my wine blog post about the delicious Après Ski options at Sun Peaks Resort.
What is your favorite place to ski? Comment below!
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