Silver Star Mountain Resort...

Day 8, Feb 10th

Today was the big day trip to Silver Star. Clive, Karmen, Casey and I woke early for breakfast before leaving for the shuttle at 07:30am. We picked up the shuttle 15 minutes later and started the round trip to the village. Our stop is one of the first pickups, which means we have to do the trip to Snowpines Estate each and every time. This was one particular time it worked in our favour because the shuttle filled up with passengers because the workers who live in Snowpines catch the shuttle to work. At the last stop, the driver counted the empty seats and told the mob outside that there were 9 more seats and that's all that could get on. There were about 8 people very peed off when they realised they would have to walk to work or wait for the next shuttle and be late. If our stop was near the end, we'd have been in the same spot.

We reached the shuttle terminal where the big coach was waiting us, but with nobody in sight. Soon enough we were met by a driver, but ushered into a minibus which they decided to take because there were only 9 people doing the day trip. It was much more cramped than the big coach, but obviously got us there and back a fair bit quicker.

This is a couple of shots I took on the way to Silver Star.


Behind the snow clearing truck which goes down the mountain clearing the snow from the road and distributes grit on the road from the hopper at the back...

Some shots of the beautiful lake, half of it frozen, which lies between Kelowna and Vernon...

A vineyard, I guess that's where they make icewine..lol

We arrived at Silver Star just before 10am and after a few happy shots of Casey and I in front of the Silver Star sign headed to the lockers to gear up and place our snowboots and stuff away for the day...

We headed up the Comet Express and after a warmup run down 'Far Out', we headed over to the 'darkside', Putnam Creek. We had a great run down 'El Dorado' which my GPS shows as 5.66kms long. We cruised around 'Aunt Gladys' and poked our noses down the double black shutes which were just as nasty as I remember from 3 years ago. Even Karmen said 'not a chance in hell' that she would attempt them. We came back to the top of the lift and had lunch at 'Paradise Camp', a really nice cafe at the top of the 'Powder Gulch Chair' in that area.

After our feed we skied Gypsy Queen, Wee Willie and Sunny Ridge. They were all great runs, the snow quality was good and I think the pick was Sunny Ridge which starts as a magnificently scenic run thru towering pine trees covered in snow before widening to a good solid blue pitched run with black shutes running off to the side at regular intervals.

It was approaching 1pm when we decided to see another section of the mountain, Silver Woods. After a few runs off the Silver Woods Chair, I decided to call it a day at about 2:15pm. We always intended finishing at 3 so we could get out of our gear and take a few pics of the village before the bus was ready to be loaded at 3:45pm. My lower back has been playing up and it was getting to the stage where it was not enjoyable skiing. The light was so so and it was now snowing consistently so I made my way back to the village whilst Clive, Karmen and Casey stayed out for a few extra runs.

We all met up again just before 3 and prepared for the trip back to Big White. I got some pics of the very pretty village and my equally pretty (in two cases) ski partners...

We arrived back at Big White just before 6pm. We asked the bus driver if he would mind dropping us off directly at Raven rather than having to be dropped off at the village and struggling back home with our gear. He was only too happy to oblige but unfortunately for him, Clive was the last one to leave the bus, so the tip I'm sure he was expecting was not forthcoming...lol

As we exited the lift on the 4th floor, the rest of 'the Gang' were waiting for the lift to head up to the village mall for 'Carnival Night', a fun night for the kids where they have activities and the village mascots to keep them entertained, not to mention free popcorn and fairy floss. A few pics from the night...

We travelled back down the Gondola at 8pm and spent 10 mins around an open fire adjacent to the ice skating rink...

There is no ski school for the kids tomorrow, so the plan is for a sleep-in for all and a quiet day, coming in from the snow early to prepare ourselves for our big night out. Tomorrow night we travel to Kelowna to the Ice Hockey where the local team, the Kelowna Rockets take on the Chilliwack Bruins. It's hot dogs for dinner!!!

Go the Rockets!!!

Later...