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BC COLD WEATHER SNAP

Sun Peaks Ski Resort down more than 60 per cent in visitors during cold snap

Dec 30, 2021 | 1:35 PM

The freezing cold temperatures and arctic air this past weekend added another layer of challenges to Sun Peaks Ski Resort.

The resort in the Kamloops area says some lifts were shut off over the weekend to cope with the elements and ensure staff and guest safety.

“It doesn’t like to operate when it gets too, too cold out there,” Chief Marketing Officer Aidan Kelly says. “Some of it was just related to guest safety and staff safety as well, in terms of if anything was to go wrong mechanically with one of those lifts when those guests were on it. Some of the more problematic lifts for moving people off, we decided not to operate.”

Kelly says the holidays saw a significant decrease in skiers, adding to the obstacles that the pandemic and highway closures have already brought to the resort.

“From what we see in a typical holiday period, we were down between 60 and 70 per cent in terms of people that were out skiing on the mountain — so that has an impact for us,” Kelly says. “And then that trickles through all of the village businesses as well — the cafes, the retail stores.”

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