Dan B.
Yelp
My family has looked for several years for the perfect, family-friendly ski resort to take our kids; Mostly near Tahoe. We have finally found a great place; not anywhere near Tahoe.
We were first told about Silver Star by a neighbor who grew up in nearby Kelowna, BC. He bragged to us about this little small-town-like resort near his hometown that looked like a brightly painted Victorian ski village. It wasn't too big, it wasn't all that crowded, it had a good ski school, and was riddled with side trails and ski bridges to maximize ski-in and ski-out capability for those staying on the mountain. We didn't really get it...until we tagged along with his family two years ago, and saw it for ourselves. Now we're back for a second visit, and I'm proud (and amazed) to be the first one to review it.
This is almost an ideal family mountain, especially if you rent a house for several families (like we do), and get the benefits of rotating child care and shared meals. It has a great ski school, plenty of green runs for the kids, but with a good percentage of blue and black runs to make things interesting for the parents. It's also in some sort of magic weather pocket, so snowfall (powder, thank you very much) is very regular throughout the winter. (On our last trip we received a few inches every night). The short lift lines (and the ability to sit down at a restaurant with no wait) were also major pluses for us.
And one more plus, at least for me - Canadians are so NICE here it's a joy. The winter staff here is great too - most of them are from Australia, with the reminder from England, Scotland, plus a few Kiwi's. (The resort is Australian-owned).
With the Winter Olympics going on right now in Vancouver, it's even more of a special place to be right now. Canadian flags and Pride is on display almost everywhere you go. People are excited, and in this spirit they are even holding family-friendly ski contests on the mountain all week.
Time for the nits:
- It's a smaller mountain, so if staying here for several days, it can start to feel a little stale. It's a good thing the regular snow makes changes to the conditions.
- The shuttle only runs every 30 minutes. Seems like they could cut this time in half for busy periods.
-The outdoor ice skating location is too far from the amenities of Main street.
But still a great place overall. Granted, for californians like me, it's the extra cost of a plane trip, but I'm happy pay that price for such a great family ski spot (and miss the traffic and crowds of Tahoe). I just wish we could afford to do it more often.
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Update Feb 2014: We've now completed our 4th family trip to Silver Star. Counting ski days, I also realize I've skied here more than any other spot. So I guess Silver Star has become my "home mountain"...? We're already planning our trip for next year.