Hi !
I have posted a few times as a guest, but finally registered to post this short report on my visit to Sun Peaks BC fron Feb 5 to 12.
After the more than 2 weeks of warm weather, I was exremely lucky to have a return to normal temps in the days preceding my arrival, as well as 30 cm of new snow the day before I got in. Stayed slopeside at the Delta Sun Peaks.
The new snow saved the trip. Conditions were quite good, despite a crunchy base. Discussing with a few locals on the chair, I learned that snow loss during the warm weather spell was much worse at lower altitude and on the South-facing Burfield face. In fact, the Burfield side had melted to bare ground and was entirely closed. Only the last snowfall covered the ground.
The Burfield chair was still accessible from the base, however, as the North-facing "Back In Time" trail on Mt Morissey ends across the street from the Burfield lift. Rides on the this lift allowed to view the great terrain that was closed, such as Expo and Challenger, steep tree-lined runs of near 600 meters vertical. They will wait for another time.
Skiing on the rest of Tod mountain is great and there are a lot of runs of a good caliber on more than 800 m vertical. Sundance mountain (475 M vertical) looks like a typical Eastern ski mountain, with a bit too much trees having been cut and not quite enough separation between certain trails. However, Peak-a-Boo, Three Bears and even the blue square Granny Greene are nice trails.
Mt Morrissey faces Northeast and is a little gem of about 400 M vertical. Trail layout uses to advantage the rolling topography of the Mountain. There is an expert area on the North side of Morrissey which comprises 4 steep runs. As Morissey is a remote lift, it is near-deserted. This is the place to practice high-speed carving while quickly racking up vertical in your near-private high-speed quad.
Grooming on the 3 mountains is extensive. Everything that is groomable seems to be groomed on a 3-day rotation basis. Only the steepest and wooded areas seem not to see the groomer.
There are nice bowls and steeps at the top of Tod. The T-Bar serviced West Bowl is a nice place to learn to ski powder on medium grade terrain. Unfortunately, the T-Bar is hellish as the ropes are too short...
Photos below, show, hopefully in the right order:
Tod mtn seen from Mt Morissey
Sundance mtn seen from Mt Morissey
North side (expert) on Morissey, seen from Tod mtn
Mt Morissey seen from Sundance mtn
Burfield side (trails closed) seen from Back In Time on Morissey
Typical black-diamond trail on Tod mtn (Bluff or Sting, not sure), with Sundance mtn in the background
I have posted a few times as a guest, but finally registered to post this short report on my visit to Sun Peaks BC fron Feb 5 to 12.
After the more than 2 weeks of warm weather, I was exremely lucky to have a return to normal temps in the days preceding my arrival, as well as 30 cm of new snow the day before I got in. Stayed slopeside at the Delta Sun Peaks.
The new snow saved the trip. Conditions were quite good, despite a crunchy base. Discussing with a few locals on the chair, I learned that snow loss during the warm weather spell was much worse at lower altitude and on the South-facing Burfield face. In fact, the Burfield side had melted to bare ground and was entirely closed. Only the last snowfall covered the ground.
The Burfield chair was still accessible from the base, however, as the North-facing "Back In Time" trail on Mt Morissey ends across the street from the Burfield lift. Rides on the this lift allowed to view the great terrain that was closed, such as Expo and Challenger, steep tree-lined runs of near 600 meters vertical. They will wait for another time.
Skiing on the rest of Tod mountain is great and there are a lot of runs of a good caliber on more than 800 m vertical. Sundance mountain (475 M vertical) looks like a typical Eastern ski mountain, with a bit too much trees having been cut and not quite enough separation between certain trails. However, Peak-a-Boo, Three Bears and even the blue square Granny Greene are nice trails.
Mt Morrissey faces Northeast and is a little gem of about 400 M vertical. Trail layout uses to advantage the rolling topography of the Mountain. There is an expert area on the North side of Morrissey which comprises 4 steep runs. As Morissey is a remote lift, it is near-deserted. This is the place to practice high-speed carving while quickly racking up vertical in your near-private high-speed quad.
Grooming on the 3 mountains is extensive. Everything that is groomable seems to be groomed on a 3-day rotation basis. Only the steepest and wooded areas seem not to see the groomer.
There are nice bowls and steeps at the top of Tod. The T-Bar serviced West Bowl is a nice place to learn to ski powder on medium grade terrain. Unfortunately, the T-Bar is hellish as the ropes are too short...
Photos below, show, hopefully in the right order:
Tod mtn seen from Mt Morissey
Sundance mtn seen from Mt Morissey
North side (expert) on Morissey, seen from Tod mtn
Mt Morissey seen from Sundance mtn
Burfield side (trails closed) seen from Back In Time on Morissey
Typical black-diamond trail on Tod mtn (Bluff or Sting, not sure), with Sundance mtn in the background
