Sun Peaks lures Austria's world-class downhill team
Olympic champs practise in B.C. Resort village almost complete

KAMLOOPS--They've always been considered world-class, but Austria's downhill skiers had their best Olympics ever in Turin.

Coincidentally, perhaps, the team spent the early part of its ski season training on the slopes of Sun Peaks Resort near this B.C. city.

The world's best ski team has signed a five-year contract to do all its early-season training at Sun Peaks. And the resort village will be the squad's home-away-from-home during the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia.

Attracting the world's finest skiers and international jet setters is not unusual for B.C.'s top ski hills. But what makes or breaks a ski resort is the ability to attract families and young adults.

And to keep those families, young singles, couples and average skiers coming back with their skis, mountain bikes, hiking boots, golf clubs, skates and strollers, developers are relying heavily on fractional ownership of hillside residences.

Sun Peaks is the second-largest ski resort in B.C. and claims to be the most popular family ski destination in the Rocky Mountains.

Sun Peaks Village, 50 kilometres north of Kamloops, is designed like a Tyrolean village from northern Italy.

Nancy Greene Raine, Canada's star of the 1968 Winter Olympics, built the first hotel in the village and can usually be found there giving ski lessons to kids.

Now the area's final residential property is scheduled to be built in the quaint village and the 41 condominium suites are being sold in one-quarter shares ranging in price from $99,900 to $183,900.

The one- and two-bedroom suites are fully furnished and each condo will have direct access to Delta Resort, the only four-star hotel in the B.C. interior. All suite owners and residents will be able to use the hotel's various amenities.

The Residences at Sun Peaks went on sale last month.

"This is the last development property in the village centre and The Residences will be finished to the standard of a typical four-diamond hotel," says Darcy Alexander, CEO of Sun Peaks Resort Corp.

Sun Peaks gets its name from the more than 2,000 hours of sunshine that bathe this valley each year. The south-facing valley bowl is created by three looming mountains. The lifts and ski runs on each mountain feed into the village. The pedestrian-only streets in the village are snow-packed so that you can ski right to your door.

Nippon Cable, a Japanese firm that manufactures ski lift cables and other industrial cables, bought the resort in 1992 and has pumped nearly $500 million into its infrastructure and development.

Engineer Peter Nixon, who helped build Erin Mills in Mississauga, is in charge of construction at Sun Peaks. He says it's the only ski resort in Canada and second in North America to earn an ISO 140001 environmental rating.

The International Standards Organization environmental rating only goes to recreation developments that avoid harming or disrupting land, air and water.

The 324-hectare village is part of a 14,164-hectare playground and Nixon says the design concept is to avoid the density and traffic congestion of Whistler, the largest ski resort in B.C.

"We've created an all-season resort here. In summer, we have golfing, hiking, biking, fly-fishing, horseback riding and just plain sightseeing with these beautiful mountains. In winter, we offer some of the world's finest ski conditions and facilities," says Nixon.

"But you can also go snowmobiling, go for a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh or ride in a sleigh pulled by a dog team. We have an NHL-size outdoor rink for hockey and skating. You can go for a spa treatment and, of course, the beauty of these mountains in winter takes your breath away."

He says Sun Peaks attracts many visitors and homebuyers from Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario.

The condo development, to be managed by Delta Hotels, will have underground parking, as do other hotels in the village.

Single-family homes within walking distance of the village are priced in the $1 million range.

Nixon says Sun Peaks sells individual lots in the valley, but controls the architecture of the custom-built homes to maintain the Tyrolean village atmosphere.

For more information about the project, see residencessunpeaks.com



This article appeared in the Toronto Star