Silver Star, Ski Resort > Reviews (1)

Silver Star Resort (now owned by the same opperator as Big White) is located near Vernon B.C.

************ The Village*****************
The resortvillage is an interesting collection of "victorian style" town house painted in an eclectic mix of bright blues, yellows and pinks.This lends itself to the very fairy tale cartoon feel to the place. The Village is a pedestrian only one and that gives the area a realaxed feel. It is located on the side of the ski area and as such enables you to ski in and out of it.

*******National Altitude Training center*****

Silver Star is the home of the national altitude training center and as a result there are some pretty cool things to do there that are not on offer at every ski resort. Such as taking advantage of the Indoor climbing wall. It is located in the training center. There you will also find a weight training room and the stage that resort staff display their talents on to keep guests entertained.

******** Alternate Activities**********

Like most of the resorts these days clients are demanding other activities to keep the non skier members of their group happy. Silver Star has paid attention to this growing trend and you will find
ice skating ($3.50 canadian) on a huge pond. Rentals are also available.
Tubing ($3.50 - $19.00) depending on one run or three hours. It is a great way to enjoy the spring aftenoon when all you want is a little sunsine and a non energetic excuse to be outside. The tubes are like big inflated inner tubes from truck tires and there is a lift that tows you back up to the top. It is sort of the "modern version" pf tobogganing. There are lanes that you go down the hill in.
there is also snowshoeing, cross country skiing, ( in my opinion silver star is the best location to choose if you prefer nordic as this is the reson for the altitude centers location)
Helicopter rides, you can now get a trip to the sister mountain (big white)
There are sleigh rides, a spa facility and snowmobiling.

**********Skiing***********

As for myself. When I am at Silver star I only ski there so I can not give you more details on the quality of the services offered in the non skier related activities. The skiing however....let me tell you!
Putnam Creek is the best for challenges. there are several runs to choose from that all funnel down to the chair lift in that valley. My favourite runs down what I am sure is a creek bed in the summer time. Most of the runs on this side have moguls with a few groomed ones to keep those with less skill happy.
If you are looking for more cruising and less of a challenge then choose the front side of the mountain where you will be taken to the top in what has become silver starts newest bragging right.. the commet express. The largest sixperson chairlift in Canada.
Vance creek is another wide open area to go to for cruising.
One of the things that I don't like about silver star is that the front side is often quite busy and there are many intersecting runs.. it makes me a bit nerverous to know that ppl could be popping out anywhere on the way down and with the large blind side of a snowboard it can make for some interesting encounters ..

I guess I could just slow down a bit.. but .. that is the fun of the cruising side of the hill... It is also the reason that I prefer the more challengeing areas as there is more technical skiing where I am not just ripping along.

**********Restaurants*******
There are 14 food outlets to choose from.. I will just mention the few that I have utilized.

Right by the ski runs in the village is the WONDERFULL bugaboos bakery. It is not a large building so you had better plan for an early lunch to get a seat where you will have not only wonderfull views of skiers going by but also daily fresh baked goods and huge hot chocolates and coffees.

I don't recall the name of this restaurant but they had a train theme going on. It was located on the opposite side of the village to the bakery and near to the grocery store. Our party enjoyed not only a wonderfull meal but we were equally entertained by the waiter who was playing gags on his guests by having them blow different horns only to end up with one that was full of flour that was blown and the flour went out all over the place.

***** Accomodation*******

On one trip we stayed in a friends house. Their kids called it the "mustard ketchup, relish" house because of the combination of paint - this crazy paint theme is carried right through the village and agrees with some people for the fantasy side of things.. for myself I just find it distatefull. The quality of the rental was very high. I was here with other members of a ski team for a course and we all had plenty of place to spread ourselves out.

Another trip I took with my husband there. We stayed in one of the hotels in the village. The accomodation was pretty new and had a great roof top hot tub area that we enjoyed immensly in the evening. This place had underground parking. A very nice feature when you are packing up to leave!

***** for the kids*****

We don't have any children so I suggest you check out their web site for what is available .. there is lots.. I am just not able to give you a personal comment on that as we do not use those services.

***** beware*****

be sure to carry a map with you when you are out. You will not want to end up in one of the valleys at the end of the day and not get back to the village with out a slog.

There are some pretty serious green traverses to some areas and that is not fun on a snowboard if you have a boarder in your group. There is much for boarders but just watch out for those traverses... like to putnam creek..

Be sure you know the location of your accomodation. There is much available that will be leaving the village accessable on foot/ or ski. It is allways great not needing to start up a vehicle to get around. There is some accomodation that will leave you a little further out and if you are not interested in slogging through the snow to go out for dinner for more then 10 minutes then you will not want to stay there.

Most of the year temps are very good.. but hey.. it's winter in the great white north and you never know what you are going to get. Be sure to bring extra layers.. remember skiing in the interior of b.c. canada is all about SKIING and not about how you look in the lift line so wear reasonable ski outfits. Leave your feathered outfits for resorts where posing is the norm and apres is what you are going there for.