By Adam Donnelly

Sunny spring weather not slowing down skiers at Sun Peaks

Mar 22, 2019 | 4:53 PM

SUN PEAKS, B.C. — Spring has arrived throughout the province, bringing record-breaking temperatures to many locations in B.C., including Sun Peaks Resort.

The higher temperatures have brought spring conditions to the mountain faster than expected — but thanks to a busy spring break, the resort says the 2018-19 season should be on par with the past few years.

With temperatures on the mountain reaching as high as 10 C on Friday, spring skiing has arrived — but judging by the lines at the lifts, people are trying to squeeze every last ounce of winter fun out the season.

According to the resort’s director of marketing and communications, conditions at the mountain throughout the season haven’t been as good as they’ve seen in the past couple year; that hasn’t stopped people from hitting the slopes at almost the same pace as the past two record-setting years.

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“We have had some challenges this winter with irregular weather patterns, but the overall ski conditions have held up really well for us,” Christina Antoniak says. “We’re seeing really strong skier visit numbers, as well.”

President and CEO of Tourism Sun Peaks (TSP) Arlene Schieven says those skier visit numbers check out with TSP’s overall tourism data from 2018-19.

“We use the number of room nights that are sold, and the occupancy levels, because we know that if people are coming to the resort and staying overnight, then they’re eating at the restaurants and shopping at the stores,” Schieven says. “That’s kind of our number one metric, and… that’s been pretty steady with the past coup,e of winters.”

Improvements the resort has made over the past two seasons are also paying dividends for Sun Peaks. Two seasons ago, the resort renovated the food service spaces in the old day lodge and at the Sunburst Lodge on the mountain, which has proven to be a popular move with skiers and boarders.

“We’ve seen growth on that first year, and continued growth through the season,” Antoniak says. “We’re meeting an increase in our skier visit demands on services, so these facilities have really helped.”

Those improved guest services, coupled with the increased capacity as a result of the new Orient quad chair has helped improve the overall experience for visitors and locals alike.

“We knew we were going to see an increase in our skier traffic in that area of the resort, but it’s well exceeded what we expected,” Antoniak says. “We’re seeing double the amount of traffic in that area, and it works really well with the Morrisey chairlift, which is right beside it.”