Sun Peaks

Sun Peaks links three distinct mountains, Sundance, Tod and Morrisey, into a single 1,728-hectare domain covered by 134 trails. Sundance offers wide, sunny intermediate cruising perfect for confidence-building, Tod climbs to the resort's 2,152-metre high point and serves up the steeps and tree zones expert skiers come for, while Morrisey is the quiet local favourite with mellow glades and uncrowded blues. The terrain breakdown is balanced enough that families with mixed levels can ski together all morning and still find a black diamond before lunch. The pedestrian village sits at 1,255 metres, its main street flanked by timber chalets, lantern-lit balconies and steaming patio fire pits. The atmosphere is unmistakably Tyrolean ranch, an architectural style invented for the resort that blends Bavarian carved-wood detailing with the bigger, lower profiles of a British Columbia working ranch. Seventy-five kilometres north of Kamloops, well off the Whistler tourist circuit, Sun Peaks runs at its own pace, which is exactly why Canadian families and savvy Europeans book it instead. Excellent intermediates, families who want a walkable village and skiers tired of queues will all feel at home.