Sun Peaks celebrates another record-breaking season

Apr 16, 2018 | 5:40 PM

SUN PEAKS — This weekend was the final days of the ski and snowboard season at Sun Peaks. The resort celebrated with Tod Mountain Days, a fun two-day spring festival meant to close out the ski season with a splash, featuring the Slush Cup,  an annual tradition at Sun Peaks.

Arlene Schieven, President and CEO of Tourism Sun Peaks was one of the judges of this year’s Slush Cup.

“We have a number of different categories we look at, but obviously the costumes are big… and just the enthusiasm the performers bring to their jumps,” Schieven explained. “

According to Schieven, this year has been a good one at the mountain, as a record number of skiers and boarders visited the slopes of Sun Peaks.

“We’ve already broken the 400,000 mark for skier visits, so that’s a new record for Sun Peaks,” she explained. “For room nights, we’re also expecting to break a record. We were tracking a bit ahead at the end of March, so once we get April numbers we’ll know for sure.”

While another winter season may be in the books, the staff art Tourism Sun Peaks are gearing up for a busy summer slate of events.

“We saw records last summer as well, particularly in July and August,” Schieven said. “Of course we’re hoping for good weather. We’ve got a couple great concerts lined up… Just hoping we’ll see lots of people head up the hill.”

The Slush Cup had plenty of highlights for those taking part and spectating; the best costume might have been worn by Mike Billheimer who was cleared for takeoff but didn’t get too far off the ground.

“I have to give all the credit to Gavin Smith from the events crew,” Billheimer explained. “He needed a volunteer to pilot the outfit and he thought I had the moustache for the job.”

For Billheimer, he’s not sad the ski season is over. It just gives him something to look forward to down the road

“I’ve been a resident for 15 years,“ he said. “It’s just the way of life around here. It’ll be greater next year.”