Preparing for opening day

SPR readies for ski season with multiple projects

Preparing for the winter season, Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR) has been busy readying for changes on the mountain due to the new Orient chairlift by making improvements to gladed areas and updating the groomer fleet.

Chief marketing officer for the Resort, Adian Kelly, explained the new chairlift will change the flow of skiing towards the East Village. With new access to some existing runs, a return run that connects to Rambler, and a newly cut chairlift run, Orient is this season’s largest change.

“We were clearing the lift line for that new chair, we just discovered that that’s going to be some really great skiing. It’s a nice wide run under the chair that will add a new ski experience on that side,” said Kelly.

SPR had a dedicated bush crew working throughout the summer to improve gladed areas on the mountain. Kelly stated some of the areas on the trail map were getting pretty thick and they wanted to start tackling it.

“We’re hopeful that’ll be a multi-year project. We’ll work our way around the whole mountain over the next couple (of) years. I think people that are out there doing some gladed skiing and poking around will see some noticeable improvements for this year as well.”

Nordic skiers will also see some improvements this winter as SPR crews performed mechanical brushing on the trail network.

The SPR grooming department will continue to update its machines by retiring two of the older snow cats and replacing them with new PistenBullies.

“We’re modernizing the cat fleet this year. We got two new snowcats coming in. One of which is a Pistenbully Park Pro, that’s going to be a nice addition for some of the work in the terrain park,” said Kelly.

The final change the public will notice this winter are upgrades coming to the Sunburst Lodge, which was renovated last year.

“We are up there right now doing a renovation on the bathrooms of the Sunburst Lodge that will be ready for opening day.”