Top of Holy Cow Nordic Trail

By Hike Bike Travel (January 2017)

With 135 trails covering the full gamut from perfect corduroy groomers to long cruisers, glades, bumps and powder, Sun Peaks Resort earns the title as Canada’s second largest ski resort. Along with its three mountains and a cute, colourful European style village its got Nancy Greene, a gold medal Olympic athlete, Canadian senator and mountain host extraordinaire.

Sun Peaks is about a 50 minute drive from Kamloops and its airport. Take a shuttle to keep life simple as you won’t need a car once you reach the village. You can count on a stress free vacation at Sun Peaks with everything you need from ski rentals to groceries, restaurants, cafes and shops all within a few minutes’ walk.

The other huge attraction to Sun Peaks – at least for me – is the out of this world cross-country skiing. With your Nordic pass you can take a chairlift to the start of the Holy Cow run and then spend the next few hours skiing back to the village. It’s as close to heaven I’ve been on skis.

Read the full story on the Snowseeker’s website on what’s it like to experience Sun Peaks two ways – on both downhill and cross-country skis. If you get the bluebird days with the snow that I had, you’ll never want to leave. See for yourself in the photos below.

Early morning chairlift
Early morning before the lifts have opened
Groomed corduroy
Expertly groomed corduroy and lots of it is what you’ll find at Sun Peaks
Snow ghosts at top of Crystal Chair
Nothing but snow ghosts at the top of Crystal Chair
Bluebird Skiing Days
Great combo of bluebird skiing days, empty hills and perfectly groomed runs
View from Sun Peaks
You can see as far as Wells Gray Provincial Park from Sun Peaks
Clear skies in January
This is what a Thursday in January looks like
Snow ghost reflections
Snow ghosts reflections
Perfectly groomed run
Perfection!
Umbrella Cafe
A warming hut near the Morrisey Express chair
Back in Time
Skiing “Back in Time”
View of Shuswap Valley
Looking out to the cloud filled Shuswap Valley
Sun Peaks Village
Everything is within a few minutes walk in the village of Sun Peaks – and yes you can ski through the village
Bolacco Cafe
Get your coffee and memorable pastry fix at Bolacco Cafe in the village
Nordic Skiing
Any of the groomed trails can accommodate skate skiers as well as class cross-country skiers
Top of Morrisey Express
Take the Morrisey Chairlift to access the Holy Cow trail
Nordic Ski Trails
This is heaven on skis
Top of Holy Cow
You won’t want to leave the top section of Holy Cow when you get views like this
Nordic Grooming
Does cross-country skiing get better than this?
Backcountry Ski Trail Sign
Look for signage at the start of the ungroomed backcountry trails
McGillivray Lake Outpost
The McGillivray Lake Outpost – a cozy warming hut
The Covered Bridge
The Nordic ski trails start and end at the Covered Bridge

Thanks to SnowSeekers for making this trip possible.

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