First signs of winter arrive at Silver Star Mountain Resort

Oct 21, 2022 | 3:55 PM

Excitement abounds for powder hounds as the first snow hit the slopes of Silver Star Mountain Resort.

Although it was just a skiff, it did stick into Friday afternoon at the top of Comet Express, as temperatures changed radically from the warm, dry fall the Okanagan had been experiencing.

“Maybe at the top, it may have amounted to a bit more, but [Friday’s snowfall] was just a dusting of snow for now, but usually that first snowfall is just a dusting, then it all starts to come pretty quick after that,” Chantelle Deacon, communications manager for Silver Star Resort, told Vernon Matters.

“There’s not too much [snow] now and it will probably melt, and that will happen a few more times but then it will start to stick.”

A post on the resort’s social media channels garnered over 70 comments and double the number of shares, as ski and board enthusiasts gear up for the new season.

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The fall has been unusually warm, and it is later than usual for the ski resort to get its first dusting.

“We usually get our first snowfall in late-September, so this is definitely later than normal, just with all the warm weather,” said Deacon.

Despite that, the mountain still remains on track to open for nordic skiing on November 25 and alpine skiing on December 2.

“We know there’s a lot of rain in the forecast for the valley which means a lot of snow up at Silver Star and we are expecting, from what we’ve been hearing, that it’s going to be a really wet late fall/early winter, so we thing that’s going to amount to a lot of snow up on the mountain.”

While the snow starts to fall on the hill, skiers and boarders in Vernon and the North Okanagan will have the chance to pick up some new gear this weekend.

The Vernon Ski Club is running Ski Swap 2022, Saturday at the Vernon Recreation Centre from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

There will be new and used equipment along with clothing for downhill, snowboard, and cross country.

Details on the event can be found at www.vernonskiclub.ca. More information about season passes and mountain information can be found here.

by Kevin Rothwell

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