Sun Peaks, Canada: Everything a Skier Should Know

Sun Peaks, Canada | Welove2ski — Photo: © Adam Stein / Sun Peaks Resort

The Stats

Altitude: 1199m

Top Lift: 2080m

Ski area: 1488 hectares

Adult lift pass: CDN$360 for six days

In a Nutshell

It’s like a mini-Whistler: small, well-designed, and offering something for (almost) everyone. Beginners and ambitious intermediates in particular will have a ball. Sybarites too – thanks to the Delta Sun Peaks Resort.

Essential Advice for the Perfect Trip

Sun Peaks has come a long way in the years since a Japanese company bought Tod Mountain 20 minutes’ drive from the BC mining town of Kamloops. Nearly four hours by road from Vancouver, it seemed an unlikely location for an international resort.

But Nancy Greene, the grande dame of Canadian skiing (who won Olympic gold in Grenoble in 1968), was summoned to promote newly-named Sun Peaks, while owners the Nippon Cable Company stumped up CDN$ 225 million to build it. The result is a delightful three-mountain ski area set around a well-designed purpose-built village. The accommodation, in particular is world-class. Recently, a further CDN$4 million was spent on a new lift and new terrain.

To sum it up: if you’re looking for shopping or clubbing – forget it. But if you want a quiet, relaxing resort with fantastic snow, an enthusiastic, painstaking ski school, and a good range of runs – not to mention “the best cinnamon buns in the universe” (or so we’ve been told) – then it could be the place for you.

A couple of reporters praise the ski equipment shops in the resort: “Technical support in McSporties and Jardines (to name two of the resort shops) is superb”. Another says: “Great range of ski shops available in Sun Peaks – I would recommend taking a look at Jardines with its friendly staff and excellent service. From choosing a pair of skis to going out on them took less than an hour”.

	The empty slopes.
	Delta Sun Peaks Resort – one of the best hotels we know.
	The well-designed, purpose-built village.
	The brilliant ski school.
	The ski-in, ski-out convenience.

	The mountain restaurants; there’s only one place to go.
	The size of the ski area – yes, it’s quiet, and yes there’s lots of variety, but you’ll want to twin it with one of its neighbours if you’re planning a ten-day trip.