Cross-country Ski - Silver Star Provincial Park

On a Thursday we drove from Seattle to Vernon, BC, where we stayed for a weekend of skiing in nearby Silver Star Provincial Park. On the way, we stopped south of Kamloops to ski for a few hours on the Skate Lake ski trails maintained by the Overlander Ski Club. Snow there was thin but cold and generally well-groomed and the skiing and trails were fun.

On Friday we skied at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, a 25 minute drive from Vernon. We had a stellar day of skiing: the trails, the snow, the grooming, the huts, all were a delight. The Sovereign Lake Nordic Club maintains a central lodge (two stories, each with a wood stove) and a warming hut (Black Prince Cabin, also with a wood stove), which was a great lunch stop.

Saturday we skied at SilverStar Mountain Resort, adjacent to and connected  with Sovereign Lake's trail system; together, the two areas have 105 km of groomed trails. A Nordic day pass at SilverStar includes two trips on the gondola to the top of Silver Star Mtn. In the morning we used our gondola ride to ski the upper trails, where another warming hut, Captik^wł Cabin, would make a good stop for lunch. In the afternoon we used our second ride to ski from the top down to Sovereign Lake and then around the base of the mountain back to SilverStar. This was another day of fun and interesting skiing, with some views from the top.

A note of translation: the (very fun) trail from Silver Star Peak to Sovereign Lake, Aberdeen, is a black diamond, as are a number of other trails we skied at Sovereign. While in western Washington Nordic trails designated by a black diamond are generally steep, none of the Nordic trails we took having a black rating were particularly steep; in general the black diamond designation seemed to be more about how committing a trail is  and how much up-and-down it has rather than for its steepness.

Sunday we returned to Sovereign Lake for a morning of skiing in heavy snowfall, then headed back home, stopping at a Nordic ski store in Vernon that impressed us with its selection and the expertise of its staff.

We concluded that the skiing in Silver Star Park was very much worth the drive from Seattle and that basing in Vernon is a good option.

Driving conditions were generally good except on Coquihalla Pass (between Hope and Merritt) where, on the drive up, snowfall and snow and ice on the road made for  overturned cars and trucks and jack-knifed semis; drivers should be prepared for the possibility of challenging driving conditions at Coquihalla.