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Opening Weekend at Sun Peaks Resort - Austrian and First Nations Athletes come together
November 2007
November 18, 2007 – Sun Peaks, BC – British Columbia’s First Nations Snowboard Team traveled to Sun Peaks Resort this weekend to meet up with the Austrian National Ski Team who trains at the resort during the early season. The First Nations Team trained and interacted with elite Austrian athletes and coaches, received autographs, and learned about the life of a world class athlete.
The First Nations team consists of athletes from four bands across the province; Lil’wat, Westbank, Squamish and the Little Shuswap Band. The Little Shuswap Team, created this year, will be training at Sun Peaks as a result of a newly formed partnership between the band and the resort.
“This was a tremendous opportunity for young First Nations athletes to learn from some of the most successful competitors in World Cup Alpine skiing. Athletes inspire athletes and there is nothing more motivating to young competitors than meeting others who have been successful at the sport they love.” states Ashley Tait, Director of Communications for Tourism Sun Peaks and former Canadian Freestyle Ski Team member.
More than just athletes were coming together during Sun Peaks Resort’s opening weekend. Amber Moorman and Doug Stayer, local Kamloops residents, exchanged their vows on the mountain as part of Sun Peaks Resort’s opening day celebrations. A four year tradition on opening day, Amber learned of the opportunity as she was checking the snow report on the Sun Peaks website. “We’ve been together for 9 years and when I saw article on the website, I thought that it would be fun!” said Amber.
The successful opening weekend attracted over 1000 skiers and snowboarders on Saturday, opening day, and Sunday morning brought with it 13 centimetres of new snow.
Sun Peaks Resort is a four-season destination resort located in the interior of British Columbia near Kamloops. In winter, Sun Peaks is British Columbia’s second largest ski area with three mountains surrounding an intimate ski-in, ski-out village. In other seasons, Sun Peaks offers a diverse range of leisure activities including 18 holes of golf as well as numerous events and festivals. Sun Peaks Resort was the first ski resort in North America and is the only resort in Canada to receive the ISO 14001 designation recognizing the resorts environmental policies and practices. Sun Peaks can be accessed by two airport gateways - Kamloops (45 minutes) and Kelowna (2 1/2 hours) and by car, only three traffic lights and a 4 ¼ hour drive separate Sun Peaks and Vancouver, B.C.
