Winter arrived just in time as Silver Star Mountain Resort opens for season.
With over 43 cm falling within the last few days and a current alpine base of 78 cm, the resort, located 22 km northeast of Vernon, B.C. and just an hour’s drive from Kelowna International Airport, has opened 19 alpine runs serviced by the Comet Six Pack and Silver Queen Quad chairlifts. Additional runs and lifts will be added as conditions allow.
“Everyone’s chomping at the bit to get out there and go for a run,” says Anne Haight, sales and marketing director for Silver Star. “The last few days waiting are always the hardest. It’s been almost eight months since the last run, so there’s always that pent-up anticipation. Our team can’t wait to see the lifts turning again.” Silver Star’s Nordic season opened November 21, and now offers over 38 km of groomed trails and more to follow with each new snowfall.
Lift tickets $20
To celebrate the opening weekend, Silver Star Resort is supporting the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation’s 2014 ‘Light A Bulb’ campaign through its unique Season Opener Lift Ticket Sale. Lift ticket vouchers are being sold until November 27 at the Foundation office at a special price of just $20 per person and are valid from November 27 to 30. All proceeds will be donated to ‘Light A Bulb’ and will help fund the $2.5 million ‘Building a Tower of Care Campaign, Phase II.’
It will be a season of firsts for Silver Star as the resort joins the prestigious Powder Alliance. Silver Star joins 12 U.S. resorts located throughout the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, California, Idaho, and New Mexico where pass holders receive three free days of skiing at each resort. Haight said the chance to partner with 12 resorts in the U.S is an excellent opportunity to showcase what B.C. skiing is all about. Plus the addition of free skiing for its pass holders is another bonus for Silver Star.
“We were the first resort to offer an all-inclusive pass, so it was terrific to be able to join the Powder Alliance,” says Haight. “We are fortunate to have very loyal pass holders, and this is another nice perk for them to take advantage of.”
Every lift ticket at Silver Star offers unlimited alpine access, as well as endless runs at Tube Town Adventure Park, free skating on Brewer’s Pond, and access to the resort’s 55 km of Nordic trails and 16 km of snowshoe trails. And also new for this winter season, fat biking has been added to the mix.
Once the lifts start, it’s all hands on deck for its 70 full-time staff and more than 500 seasonal employees as the event calendar kicks off with the annual Christmas Light-Up celebrations on December 6. The holiday season is also highlighted with its wildly popular torchlight parade down the face of the mountain, followed by fireworks on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Other highlights include the Vernon Winter Carnival’s snow sculpting competition and the 34th Annual Over The Hill Downhill recreation ski race in February. The resort will also host both the B.C. Freestyle Championships and the Freestyle Junior Nationals in March and early April.
Silver Star Mountain Resort is nestled in the heart of British Columbia’s Thompson Okanagan region. Less than a one-hour drive from Kelowna International Airport (YLW), the year round mountain destination offers 3,269 acres of varied skiable terrain with an annual snowfall of more than 700 cm of dry B.C. interior powder annually. Award-winning Silver Star is recognized as one of Canada’s best family resorts. An intimate, colourful, mid-mountain village provides true slope-side lodging. In summer, the Silver Star Bike Park is widely regarded as one of the premier downhill mountain bike facilities in North America.