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Sun Peaks Resort

Reap the Rewards of the Resort Less Traveled at Sun Peaks

Reap the Rewards of the Resort Less Traveled at Sun Peaks

All images: Reuben Krabbe


While Whistler Blackcomb gets all of the hype—and therefore, the crowds—for being the largest ski resort in North America, Sun Peaks Resort quietly scores over 230 inches of interior British Columbia cold smoke powder with the second-largest skiable acreage in Canada (4,270) that virtually sees no crowds, ever. A five-minute lift line on the weekends gets the locals grumbling, which means the majority of your time spent on the mountain is actually skiing. Bang, meet buck.

90-percent of Sun Peaks’ terrain caters to intermediate, advanced and expert skiers with just 10-percent of the mountain rated for beginners. Two alpine bowls and 16 gladed areas throughout the mountain keep the skiing exciting and interesting everyday with plenty of chutes, cliffs and hallways to hit. For those who love long, continuous runs, Sun Peaks’ longest trail runs five miles—for context, the longest run at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is four-and-a-half miles. Whether it’s steep and deep, fast and furious or a little rough and rowdy, Sun Peaks’ terrain offers something for every style of skier and with the opening of the new West Bowl Express lift, that offering just got even sweeter.

New for the 2024-25 ski season, the West Bowl Express lift essentially replaces what used to be the West Bowl T-Bar, which hasn’t operated since the 2020-21 season. Where the T-Bar opened up an extra 54 acres, the new lift services 169 acres of sought-after, high-elevation terrain. Most of the West Bowl is intermediate terrain, offering beginner and intermediate skiers a place to progress on the mountain. The West Bowl Express lift unloads at the highest point on the entire mountain and in terms of snowfall, higher is always deeper.

For advanced and expert skiers looking for an adrenaline rush, Gil’s is where you’re going to find it. From the top of West Bowl Express, you’ll take a right and follow Top of the World over to the hike-to terrain. You can either take Gil’s Hike or Skunk Hike for access to steep, gladed runs that see far fewer skiers than the rest of the mountain. This is where you’ll find the best powder stashes days after a storm. These runs eventually lead back down to Gil’s Cat Track or the Boundary Road and connect back The Other Way and 5 Mile. If your legs and lungs are up for it, you can lap it all day for fresh tracks every run.

Beyond the resort, backcountry access at Sun Peaks provides untouched terrain for educated participants. Sun Peaks also offers the Beacon Basin at the top of Sunburst Express lift and is free to use to help brush up on your companion rescue skills before heading out of the resort’s boundaries. The Beacon Basin is equipped with eight transceivers that are buried and can be setup via the patrol panel in various different ways to keep everyone on their toes as if it were a real rescue scenario.

The layout of Sun Peaks Resort makes it the ideal ski destination for those who are looking to maximize their time on skis. Located just 45 minutes from the Kamloops airport, once you’re at Sun Peaks, all you need to easily get around are your skis to because the entire village is designed to ski through. Restaurants, shops and lodging are all at the base of the mountain, for easy and immediate access, whether you’re just coming from last chair or burning off a big meal.

Sun Peaks Resort

When it comes to timing your ski trip, Sun Peaks Resort has a plethora of events planned for 2025, including the fifth-annual Sun Peaks Film Festival January 16-18, Avalanche Awareness and Snow Safety Day on February 2 to help everyone have a safer and more enjoyable time in the mountains, Demo Days February 8 and 9, St. Mingles Day on February 14 for solo riders and Peak Pride February 28-March 2.

No matter if you’re looking for the famed Canadian powder without all of the crowds, a family vacation that has something for everyone or a solo getaway to maximize your ski time, Sun Peaks Resort offers the best of all worlds. World class skiing, short lift lines and a ski-through village will leave you wondering if it ever makes sense to leave.

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