Sun Peaks, BC, Dec. 25-31

I spent a week at Sun Peaks skiing and boarding with my wife and 7 year old daughter. It was great! We had two days of brilliant sun above the clouds, and 4 days of snow. Temps were comfortable, generally in the 20's (or should I say -4 C?) There were green trails off almost every lift, so we could ride up together as a family and take turns skiing with our daughter while the other parent got to look for powder stashes. The mountain (Mt. Tod) is a big whitecapped hump, reminiscent of Sugarloaf, but with a couple of smaller mountains connected in making a ski circuit possible. The total vertical is just under 2900'. Also the peaks continue on into the backcountry behind the top of the lifts.

For $200 CDN I spent one of the sunny days in the backcountry snowcat boarding, and it was worth every Loonie. The runs weren't long, but it was a full day of making new tracks. Amazingly there were only two others in the cat with me, which is half their capacity.

Although Sun Peaks lacks the truly craggy alpine terraine you'll find at Whistler/Blackcomb or Fernie, it does have a few double black diamonds to get your thighs burning.

We got to meet Nancy Greene and I rode a lift with Don "Gonzo" Gagnon, the current Canadian speed skiing record holder. Cool, eh?

It's a great family place with: a tube park, dog sledding, snowmobiling, a bungie trampoline, an extensive x-country/snowshoe trail network, sleigh rides, skating, a pool, hot tub, and more.

Next time we go we'll take Alaska Air with direct flights from Seattle to Kamloops, rather that the round-about route we took via Vancouver.

[Powderqueen]

Was Hank your guide on the snowcat?

We did that trip 2 yrs ago and Hank really gave us a good tour. Yeah, the runs were short, but sweet. I liked Sun Peaks.

Did you get to other ski areas in the Okanagan? They have good snow up there.

No, but I met Hank in the Base Lodge. We had a young guy from Calgary named Mike as the guide. It was his first year with this operation. At the end of the day he admitted that he had brought us down a few shots through the trees that he was trying for the first time.

We just stayed at Sun Peaks, didn't even rent a car, but yeah, Big White and Silver Star look good too.