Ski cross country at Silver Star
This is the fourth in a series of updates on cross-country ski areas in the Okanagan Valley.
For the first time in many years, Silver Star Mountain Resort opened for crosscountry skiing almost two weeks later than neighbour Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre.
There is a good reason why Silver Star didn’t open on Nov. 4 — the two-year construction of a new Doppelmayr gondola from the Silver Star Village to the summit, says Shane Landreville, the resort’s Nordic and bike programs manager.
“We each operate our own trail systems but we do a lot of things together, part of which is have a joint opening. This year, we were both good to go, we had enough snow to open, but we still had a lot of projects on the go, mainly the new gondola,” Landreville said in an interview.
"Because of the resources dedicated to that and finishing up certain things, we held off for a week or so while they went ahead and opened. But holy heck, there’s a lot of snow out there. It’s good packing snow (with warmer temperatures); it's a bit heavy, but it will get the skiing surface firm. Both Sovereign and us are happy to have a bit of heavier snow (at the beginning of the season)."
The multi-million-dollar CWA Omega IV gondola will be “fantastic” for cross-country skiers as well as for the downhillers, he said, since not a lot of XC ski areas have lift-accessed trails.
“It might seem counter-intuitive to have cross-country and lifts, but people love that opportunity. It allows, especially beginner skiers, to get up to the top of the mountain easier and then experience the great trails that we have up there,” he said.
The top of Silver Star Mountain “is kind of a plateau so there’s green trails (and) there’s a couple of blue trails up there. You can ski for miles and miles, but it’s a bit of a challenge to ski all the way up there. Cross-country skiers won’t have to dress for what is now a chairlift, just hop in the bubble, get up and head out skiing.”
The gondola will replace the existing (green) Summit fixed-grip double chair which has been loading guests since 1970. The new high-speed detachable gondola cabins will each provide seating for eight with ski and board storage outside on doormounted racks.
The ascent will take four-and-a-half minutes — one-third of the Summit Chair ride time — at five metres per second over a distance of 1,063 metres with a vertical rise of 293 metres, servicing more than 16 per cent of the existing ski/board terrain.
Cabins will have floor-to-ceiling tintedgray polycarbonate windows; 21 cabins to start with an uphill capacity of 1,200 people per hour eventually increasing to 43 cabins. A grand opening is planned for July.
The highlight of current projects for cross-country skiers is a new Nordic centre after renos to what was the showroom for the Firelight Lodge near Brewers (skating) Pond. XC skiers can park there, go inside to change into their boots, store their gear bags and winter boots, for example, rent equipment downstairs, use the washrooms, buy a trail pass and meet their friends.
From that trail head, they can head out on all of the lower and upper trails, including the half-finished Gold Mountain Trail to Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. Silver Star has completed its side of this new “dark green” trail, which now connects to the existing (black) Gold Mountain Trail on Sovereign territory. Sovereign expects to finish its half next summer.
The other existing trails connecting the Silver Star and Sovereign trail systems — the existing Gold Mountain, Aberdeen and Lars Taylor Way — are all rated black.
“We want to use the Nordic centre to create more of a community around crosscountry skiing; people meet there, people come back there. It is the go-to spot for cross-country skiers rather than putting your boots on at the car and leaving from there. This is the hub of everything crosscountry,” said Landreville.
Landreville was recently inspired by Parks Canada wilderness trails at Lake Louise so he laid out a new single-track classic trail with a soft launch this winter. (Sovereign has had single-track back country classic ski trails for many years.)
“We don’t have anything single-track up here, absolutely nothing. Some places have some, but it’s not a big thing around B.C. They certainly don’t have the same grooming standards; they are pretty rough and rolling. It’s pretty cool; you are tight, right in with the trees, just cruising through the trees on this nice trail. We haven’t had a lot of changes or updates to our trails so that's something that is easier to put in than a full-width trail and it’s something that is completely different,” he said.
The new five-kilometre loop, with access off Cross Mountain Trail, is located east of the top station of the Powder Gulch Chairlift and just below the two Vance Creek reservoirs. Look on the right side of the trail map at: skisilverstar.com/sites/default/files/atoms/files/Maps-xc.pdf
“It’s not like going out with a full groomer that has a plate to make trails flat and that has a full tiller.
“We’re using a snowmobile with a grooming implement behind it which leaves the combing and sets a track. If it gets pretty icy, it can turn up some of the snow as well,” he said.
Silver Star has also invested $10,000 to upgrade trail directional signs, install safety signage on one-way trails, and making the World Cup Trail all one-way-only both for safety and for a nicer ski, he said.
World Cup is “a crazy, fun trail with some great ups, great downs, but some unbelievably tight blind spots where I’m absolutely shocked nobody’s been shmucked, never mind having a groomer, a big cat, on the trail at the same time as skiers. That makes me nervous,” said Landreville.
In addition, Silver Star’s lighted night loop is now multi-use so skiers can bring their dogs, fat bikes and children in pulks a.k.a. chariots. In the past, there was just one multi-use section of these two green/blue four kilometre trails.
Dogs are now also allowed on Meadow and Sidewinder trails after 4 p.m. when there is not as much traffic. Pawprints on the trails will disappear after overnight grooming.
Landreville has worked at Silver Star in various capacities for more than five years. He ran the Supercamp cross-country for three years. Silver Star launched its downhill season on Thursday.
*** In other outdoors news, Big White Ski Resort launched its 2017-18 downhill season at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday with 50 per cent off lift tickets. Thanks to recent snowfall, three lifts — Ridge Rocket Express, Plaza Chair and Lara’s Gondola — provided access to 19 runs.
The alpine snowbase was a respectable 95 centimetres, thanks to more than 14 centimetres of snow since Sunday and 26 centimetres during the previous seven days.
Big White celebrated opening day with a party at the bottom of the Ridge Rocket Express that included live music, free hot chocolate and lots of giveaways. Mascots Loose and Lucy Moose welcomed back skiers and snowboarders.
On top of this, limited edition Opening Day 2017 stickers were handed out at the bottom of the Ridge Rocket Express lift to the first 500 waiting in line.
Hours of operation for opening weekend can be viewed at: bigwhite.com/explorebig-white/mountain-info/hours-operation New season pass holders can watch a video by Big White’s director of snow sports Josh Foster for everything they need to know about the mountain at: youtu.be/EukerMLEeYc
*** You can experience one of the most unusual cross-country running events in the Okanagan on Dec. 13.
The 2017 Glow Glow Run, organized by Rene C. Unser of PACE Sports Fitness in Kelowna, is a 90-minute trail run with three leaders to accommodate different speeds.
“PACE will provide glowsticks to runners so we can light up the trails on our holiday run. Feel free, however, to show up with as much glowing creativity as you want. You can never glow too much,” said Unser.
Participants should register before Dec. 12 — at pacesportsfitness.com/2017-glowglow-run.html — and then meet at 6 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Rose Valley Elementary School in West Kelowna. Everyone will need a headlamp for the trails in Rose Valley Regional Park.
PACE will give all the proceeds to the West Kelowna Trail Crew, which builds and maintains trails in the regional park.
“It’s a hard time of year to stay motivated so this makes it easy for everyone to get out for a fun workout and give back to those in our community who are less fortunate," said Unser, adding PACE (Positive Attitude Changes Everything) loves to give back to the community. PACE hosts a variety of charity runs throughout the year which are open to anyone to participate in.
*** Big White Ski Resort is excited to announce the Express Bus will now operate seven days per week for the 2017-18 winter season making it easier than ever for guests to get to the resort.
In previous years, the Express Bus only operated Monday through Thursday during school holidays. But new this year, the Express Bus will make one pickup at the McDonald’s in Willow Park Shopping Centre in Kelowna at 8:10 a.m. and leave Big White at 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday.
Normal operations will continue Friday through Sunday and on school holidays with the full roster of pickup locations and times.
The added service allows easier access to the resort for shift workers, seniors and locals in general. It is expected to be popular with participants in the Masters Monday program.
“The new seven-day schedule adds huge value for Express Bus season pass holders and anyone looking to ski or ride some midweek Okanagan champagne powder,” said Michael J. Ballingall, Big White’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing.
For the full schedule, pickup locations and pricing, go to: bit.ly/2zlJdC4.
J.P. Squire, a.k.a. the Ski Sheriff, is an avid outdoors enthusiast. You can contact him with your outdoor news at jp.squire@telus.net.