Prearranged with a bunch of great people, who have been going to the mountains for a ski and shred week for a long time, we headed to Sun Peaks.
Getting up there pretty much took us a day. We jumped on the ferry in the morning and drove through Vancouver to Hope and Kamloops and finally up the mountain to Sun Peaks. The drive was already a great experience, since we haven’t been on the mainland yet. There has always been so much to explore on the island and there still is. Anyway.. on the way up we saw bald eagles circling above us, lots of swans and sea gulls on the fields along the highway and even two bald eagles just sitting in the grass. Higher up on the way I swear I saw a wolf too .. or maybe it was a coyote although I thought it was too big for a coyote. Oh well.
Once up there we settled in our chalet Mogul Mansion. We had a couple of other similar chalets as well, since we were a large group. And we loved the place. I can tell you that a hot tub session straight off the slope and out of the boarding gear is hard to beat.
So what did we do? Snowboarding of course! After no boarding the last years in Australia we got back into it and I quickly got a hang of it again. It was great to explore a new place and cut new lines through fresh powder. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention it. We had snowfall all week apart from a picture perfect Wednesday. It couldn’t have been any better.
Sun Peaks is one of the biggest ski resorts in British Columbia, but compared to the resorts back home in Austria it is rather small. Three four seater chairlifts, a three seater and three T bar lifts are all there is. But they cover three mountains and if you know your way around there is plenty to board. I developed a special liking for the many black run mogul slopes and the ungroomed black runs on the Burfield lift. I had a few powder runs of Challenger, Expo, Burfield lift line, Sunny Side, Chute and others. I love the name of all the runs. Intimidator, Cruiser, Peek-A-Boo. How awesome! Oh and don’t forget. There are nearly no lines waiting on the lifts.
I had five days of powering on and off the slopes. I even had a few runs on the local half pipe and the terrain park. Although my airtime still needs some improvement. I will be working on it next time up in Mt Washington.
In the days up in Sun Peaks Yen went for a snowshoeing trip out in the back country and had a great time. Next time I will do that as well. She even saw a Snowshoe Hare – how cute! And of course she tremendously improved her boarding.
Anyway.. before I stop my rambling there is one thing I wanted to mention. You gotta check out some of the pictures we took in the gallery. Have a look at the shots I took in the village. If this doesn’t look like an Austrian ski village in the alps I don’t know. It is so similar. Reminds me of Dorfgastein. I just couldn’t find any old buildings or a church. Haha.
Okay. That’s it. Over and out. Gotta get ready for more boarding and also kayaking. After all winter is paddling
season here.
