First-time visitors to Silver Star love the frontier ambience of the 1890s Victoria Gaslight village.

With a street full of unique wooden buildings in surprising colors, and no cars, Silver Star has a compact touch of elegance, even with eight hotels, restaurants, plenty of shopping and an aquatic center.

The mountain and its village are highly rated for family skiing and village living. It’s the fourth-largest downhill ski resort in British Columbia, behind Whistler Blackcomb, Sun Peaks and Panorama. The resort gets 23 feet of snow, and the average snowpack is 9 feet deep. Silver Star is usually the first British Columbia ski resort to open. The south-facing Vance Creek area consists of gentle slopes and nicely groomed cruisers, while the Putnam Creek face is renowned for its deep powder and challenging black and double-black diamond terrain. After dark, the Summit Chair is lighted up, top to bottom, for night skiing. The town of Vernon is at the mountain’s base, 14 miles away.

Silver Star recently developed the northwest-facing Silver Woods area by adding the Alpine Express quad to access more than a dozen trails and glades for all ability levels. Real estate development includes construction of Snowbird Lodge, luxury condos in the village near the slopes.

Silver Star and Big White are under the same ownership and with one lift ticket, skiers and snowboarders have access to almost 6,000 acres of skiable terrain.

Photo courtesy of Silver Star Mountain/Don Weixl