Silver Star Mountain Resort - History

History

The Early Days

Vernon resident Bert Thorburn became the first person to ski in the Silver Star area in 1930. He rode his bike up to the end of a logging road in the area and then walked a distance following forestry trails to a forest fire lookout. He camped there for the night and skied down the next day. In 1946 the first rope tow was built on Burney Ridge, 800 ft (240 m) long. It was powered by an old four cylinder engine. The cooling system was a 40 gallon water drum hooked up to the radiator. For $.50, you could ski all day. In 1958 the final three kilometers of the Silver Star road is pushed through by local contractor Ross Postill to the current day village area. Construction of two rope-tow lifts and an A-frame day lodge were also built in 1958. In 1959 a poma lift was installed from the 5,000-foot (1,500 m) level at the parking lot to the top of Silver Star Mountain, replacing the rope tow. In 1964 new t-bars were installed to replace the slower rope tows and 1965 a second A-frame structure was added to the day lodge. In 1967 and 1968 the Summit and Yellow Chairs (6,000 feet) built by GMD Mueller were installed, making Silver Star Mountain one of the largest ski areas in Canada.

Silver Star Mountain Resort Era

In 1981 Silver Star Sports purchased by Norm Crerar, Charlie Locke, John Hindle, Rob Marshall and John Gow and becomes Silver Star Mountain Resorts Ltd. The first Nordic trails were also cleared. In 1983 the Putnam Station Hotel is built and is Silver Star's first on hill hotel. From 1984-1990 many new hotels and amenities are built on the hill. In 1990 the Silver Queen chair was built by Doppelmayr and serves as the bunny hill. In 1991 the original Putnam Creek and Vance Creek express quads were built and opened up extensive amounts of terrain. In 2001 the Schumann family, owners of Big White Ski Resort since 1985, reach agreement in principle with the Honourable Judd Buchanan, (Order of Canada), majority shareholder of Silver Star Mountain Resort on the purchase of the majority assets of Silver Star Mountain Resort. In 2002 Silver Star Mountain Resort invests $10 million in resort expansion plan featuring: The Comet Express, a $5.2 million, six passenger, high speed, Leitner-Poma chairlift which replaces the Vance Creek quad. This state-of-the-art lift is the largest of its kind in Canada, 5,993 feet (1,827 m) in length and with a capacity of up to 3,000 passengers per hour. Trip time is under 6 minutes. The Powder Gulch Express replaced the Putnam Creek quad and is also built by Leitner-Poma. This $4.1 million quad has a length of 2,025 metres and provides access to Silver Star's award winning black and double black diamond terrain for over 1,600 snow enthusiasts per hour. $700,000 is also spent on improving Guest Service infrastructure including a new bakery, a new retail shop, a Wonder Carpet beginner lift, and upgrades to the Tube Park. New for the 05/06 season Silver Star Ski Resort announced third new lift in three years, the $5.5 million Silver Woods project. 420 acres (1.7 km2) of never before skied terrain, serviced by a new Leitner-Poma high-speed detachable quad, the "Silver Woods Express". New for the 06/07 season the "Alpine Meadows Chair" a fixed grip quad chair was built in the Attridge area replacing the aging Mid T-bar. For the 07/08 season the Silver Queen chair was reconfigured.