Despite less-than-ideal snow conditions in much of the province, local athletic teams such as the Sun Peaks Alpine Club and the Sun Peaks Freestyle Club, reported productive seasons with local athletes taking advantage of quality training grounds in Sun Peaks.
Community support, event hosting capacity and local coaching, plus a bit of heavy, compact snow, contributed to much of the Sun Peaks Alpine Club’s success this season Kelly Dye, president of the alpine club, told SPIN.
With 142 athletes it was hard to name just a few who stood out this year, Dye said, but Sun Peaks was host to a number of events and competitions helping to put local skiers on podiums.
“We held a Ski Cross NorAm in February, [and] to have a NorAm race in Sun Peaks is a pretty big deal,” Dye said.
During this competition, former club member Cameron Currie took fourth place.
In the BC Cup from Feb. 26 to March 1, Morgan Ring, Jade Gilmore, Bodie Ottem, Porter Thomson, and Will Albert represented Sun Peaks Alpine Club. Ava Dye, Maya Robinson, Rosie Karpiak, Finn Thomson, Tora Ogita and Corvin Lott headed up the under 16 category.
The 21st Annual Hub International Nancy Greene Festival, the largest event the club hosted, brought in over 670 kids March 27 and 28, Dye said.
On Friday, Lev Michaud took first place in the dual glalom race and speed event and Matteo Donais secured second for the 2014 class. Mac Yastremsky placed third in the duel course race for the 2015 men’s class. Alexandra Hallett placed fourth for the 2016 female class.
On Saturday Zoey Inkster placed second for the 2020 female class, Chloe Dutrisac took fourth for the 2018 female class and Evan Jenkins third in the 2019 men’s class.
Lev and his father Patrick shared their appreciation for coaches Alice Muirhead and Brynn Applegath and Peter Wilson, ski service tech from McSporties.
“I would also like to thank Sun Peaks Resort,” Patrick added. “Currently, Lev has over 50 days training gates. He started the first week of November, with many weeks to go. This is a direct result of the resort’s investment in snow preservation technology. These investments are providing our local kids a competitive advantage which is yielding results.”
This was the resort’s first season implementing the new Snow Secure snow storage technology on Tod Mountain along the lower half of the OSV trail to the Elevation lift base. Snow Secure helps retain snow throughout the winter, keeping 80 to 85 per cent of its volume.
“The resort having that snow blanket ensured that we had early season training conditions when many places throughout the province weren’t open yet or didn’t have training,” Dye said. “[It] was a huge thing, because we didn’t really have temperatures that were great for making snow in November.”
Support from the resort stands out yearly as something that bolsters local athletic clubs, with Trevor Lott, Sun Peaks Freestyle Club president, also sharing how SPR contributes to young athletes’ success.
Snow was one of the main challenges facing the club this year, as B.C. saw low snowfall province-wide.
“That caused a delay in getting a lot of the training courses set up,” Lott explained, adding Sun Peaks Resort did “an exceptional job.”
“The time and effort the [SPR] grooming team spends to make sure we have a great training facility is huge,” Dye added. “We’re pretty lucky you have this…other ski clubs don’t get this support from their home mountains. Sun Peaks goes above and beyond to make sure we’re succeeding.”
Much of the season’s success is also owed to the support of the community, which has enabled the club to host large events, Dye said.
“It’s been amazing, [the events] have all gone extremely well, thanks to the club members and people coming out and volunteering and the support from Sun Peaks Resort.”
He added the season has been a banner year for training.
“Here in Sun Peaks, the training has been great. [It] hasn’t been the best ski season for skiing as a whole but it’s probably one of the best training seasons.”
Next season, the Sun Peaks Alpine Club is looking to continue to grow, and based on the strong interest in the club’s upcoming programs, the momentum is there, Dye said.
“We’ve built a really strong club, and the level of skiers we’re producing is absolutely amazing, especially in the younger kids. I’m not really able to single any one person or one thing out, because there really are great results across the board.”
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