A hum of excitement was in the air on the morning of Nov. 23 as Sun Peaks Resort (SPR) welcomed a staggering 4,000 guests to opening day under bluebird skies.
Across the Village Base, big smiles and greetings of “happy opening day” were exchanged as guests lined up for their first laps on the Sundance and Sunburst lifts. Volunteers handed out waves of fresh cinnamon buns to eager riders and even the Kamloops Blazers’ mascot Digger made an appearance.
First in line to ride the Sunburst chair were Gavin Coyne, Dayon Traynor and Eric Traynor, who gathered at 4:30 a.m. to secure their spot in the lift line.
“We’re planning on going right over to the West Bowl,” Coyne said. “I think that’s the consensus.”
“Gotta break that new chair in, right?” Dayon Traynor added.
The newly-opened West Bowl Express proved to be one of the largest attractions of the day.
Following a contest on SPR’s social media, eight lucky winners and their guests made history as the first to ride the new expansion. Celebrating the moment with a ribbon cutting and ringing of the newly-gifted cast iron bell, the lift attracted quite the excitement as guests from across the mountain joined in to try the new chair.
“Everyone was just amazed by the chair, the terrain [and] conditions,” Aaron Macdonald, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at SPR LLP said. “It was our best visitation to date on an opening day. We were just over 4,000 visitors. Everyone had big smiles on their faces… It was very memorable for sure.”
While the initial opening date of Nov. 16 was pushed by a week, those seven days of cooler temperatures and fresh snowfall contributed to a much snowier opening weekend.
“The weather couldn’t have been more perfect,” Macdonald said. “We had that perfect bluebird day.”
Speaking to the conditions of the mountain, Macdonald attributed the shift in weather for nearly 80 centimeters of powder on the mid-mountain base.
The weekend opened with all chairs turning and just over 100 runs, or about 70 per cent of the mountain open, including the nordic skiing trail network. Looking at the season ahead, Macdonald anticipates a La Niña weather system to bring optimal conditions for snow making, promising exciting turns for skiers.
In addition to a promising season for snowfall, guests can also get excited for a jammed pack season of in-resort and on-mountain events.
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