Silver Star is one of Canada’s insider tips. The charming ski resort near Lake Okanagan does without any glitz and glamor because it also has a lot to offer snowboarders and skiers.

„In winter, Silverstar’s Main Street is a ski slope. Past the many colorful wooden houses, snowboarders and skiers glide to the lifts, hotels and apartment buildings, or to one of the small eateries. Almost everything here is ski-in, ski-out. It doesn’t get more relaxed than this, especially since not a single car far and wide disturbs the winter idyll in the small ski resort near Vernon.

Silver Star: the two faces of the ski paradise

The front side of the ski area appears rather tame: families with children cavort on gently rolling beginner slopes, pleasure skiers cruise on wide runs across the woods. „“But Silver Star has two faces,““ warns Norman Kreutz. Silver Star’s ski school director grew up in Cologne, Germany, and is a minor celebrity in Canada as a longtime chief instructor for the Ski Instructors Association. Norman’s playground is not the gentle front side, but the back side of the mountain: „“We call it the Dark Side of the Star,““ the resort’s ski director tells us. Around the Powder Gulch lift, the slopes are black or even double black. Double Black Diamonds are the ultimate challenge in North America. Norman’s favorite runs have names like Free Fall, Nirvana or Paradise, and not without good reason. Many runs are unprepared – a dream for expert skiers, who for some time now have also been able to set off directly from Silver Star on heliski tours with Kingfisher Heliskiing.

Silver Star is also particularly popular with Nordic skiers. The trail systems are well maintained and in operation very early in the season. „“Although the summit of our ski area is only 1915 meters high, Silverstar is snow-sure from November to April,““ Norman tells me during a break at Bugaboos Bakery Cafe just off the slopes-Main Street. Emigrant Dutchman Frank Berkers serves Canada’s best cappuccino, freshly baked croissants, delicious soups at lunchtime, and fine cakes in the afternoon.“