Ski Silver Star Mountain Resort and initially it can mistakenly give you the impression of being compact. The Silverstar ski and snowboard terrain seems that it’s small enough to be able to easily keep track of the family, but at 1,323 hectares, the size of the Silver Star ski resort is certainly not petite.

Silverstar skiing is very well suited to strong intermediates, but there is a good mix of terrain for all ability levels. The only minor exception would be slopes for hardcore experts. Whilst the Silver Star Mountain Resort in BC has some double black terrain, there’s nothing that would make expert or extreme skiers tremble at the knees.

There are four main areas at Silver Star Mountain. Vance Creek on the front side is predominantly territory for beginners and intermediates, with corduroy galore. Attridge is a small area next to Vance Creek, and has gladed runs as well as blue and black slopes that are often deserted. The Silver Woods area offers mainly intermediate and mellow gladed runs. Putnam Creek is the advanced zone on the back face, with predominantly black and double black terrain.

Grooming is not really Silver Star’s forte which is surprising considering its niche market. Silverstar Ski Resort grooms an average of 25 to 35 runs per night, which includes green, blue and a few black runs. To put this in context, there are approximately 63 trails that are either green or blue, so that’s a lot of trails that aren’t groomed. We visited during a peak time and found a significant number of blue runs not groomed. In the Silver Woods area there were only one to two blue runs groomed, whilst in the Alpine Meadows area there were nada.

SilverStar Lifts

A new gondola opened in 2018-19 which runs almost parallel to the Comet 6-pack express chair lift, so whilst helping with Comet lift queues, it doesn’t provide access to any additional terrain. It does however provide a warm lift for access to upper cross country trails and for beginners, and delivers future proofing for mountain top dining or a hotel.

In addition to the 6-pack, there are only 2 other high speed chair lifts, whilst the others are fixed grip slow chairs. For the novices, there are magic carpets right next to the village.

Night skiing is available on Friday and Saturday nights. The Silver Queen chair is open for beginners, and the gondola provides access to blue and black trails.

Silver Star Mountain Resort Crowds

Lift queues are generally not a big issue at Silver Star, although on peak weekends it gets rather busy at the base of the Comet 6-pack chair because lots of the most popular groomed runs feed in here.

The Alpine Meadows area is significantly less popular, in part due to the slow lift and ungroomed runs.

There are many runs on the back side (Putnam Creek) where it is very peaceful. You can enjoy the serenity, and not contend with “moving targets”.

Lift Tickets

Lift ticket prices for the Silver Star Mountain Resort in regular season are average for a western Canadian ski resort, but they bump up the rates around Xmas and New Years and also in mid February. Lift tickets for a full day also include free access to Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, fat biking trails, tubing and skating. Little tackers aged 5 and under ski free.

Silver Star Snow Conditions

Temperatures at Silver Star are perfect, cold enough to keep the snow in pristine condition yet mild enough for pleasant chair rides. Only the gondola has built-in protection, whilst other chair lifts are generally OK as many parts of the mountain are sheltered. The average annual snowfall of 7m+ is generally light and dry.

Many runs off the Powder Gulch chair are north facing so the snow stays divine. Much of the front face is southeast facing, so don’t expect the snow quality to be quite as pristine.

Ski Silver Star for the Beginner

The Silverstar ski area offers plenty of variety for beginners. Novices can confidently ride the magic carpets next to the village. The Silver Queen chair is another great beginners’ area and can be convenient for those with accommodation nearby. More confident beginners can hit some of the long trails off the Comet 6-pack chair, but these will really test the endurance. Snowboarders keep your eyes peeled and pick up speed before flat sections on some of the green runs.

Skiing Silver Star - Intermediates

With 40% of the trails rated as blue, Silver Star is very good for intermediates, although the lack of grooming could be a shortcoming for skiers and snowboarders who like to cruise on the corduroy. Keep an eye on the grooming report and grooming signs to pick your plan of attack. Silver Star skiing is much more suited to very strong intermediate riders who are happy to play on ungroomed slopes. There are also lots of mellow gladed areas to get the short turns happening, and the groomed black runs are a lot of fun for ripping.

For the Family/Kids

The Silverstar ski terrain has plenty for families, with quite a few lifts offering terrain for all levels so that the family can remain together. Silver Star has a lot to offer families including magic carpets, night skiing on the weekends, and easy ski-in ski-out access to the village and the Silver Star accommodations. Considering all the off-slope action as well, we have given Silver Star a Best Skiing in Canada award for the family friendliness.

Terrain Park

Peanut Park is a small terrain park for the little peanuts or beginner park riders. The main Silver Star terrain park has a few intermediate to advanced lanes so that you can pick your challenge level on jumps and other hits. Like many Canadian ski resorts, there is no half pipe.

Advanced Skiing Silver Star

With 35% of trails rated as black, Silver Star Mountain Resort has plenty on offer for advanced riders. Confident advanced skiers and snowboarders can also tackle some of the double black runs.

Gotta love the winch-cat grooming! Silver Star generally has 2-4 black runs groomed each day which are fabulous for blowing out the cobwebs. The Caliper Ridge under the Powder Gulch Chair is a favourite run to get the eyes watering.

In addition to fast groomers, the Putnam Creek area has plenty of runs that are ungroomed. The only downside of this area is that it is only serviced by one lift, so the cat tracks to get into and out of the run become a bit boring and “ground-hog day”-ish. You get a lot of déjà vu on 25 North, Sunny Ridge, Sunny High, Eldorado and Aunt Gladys. Also these access trails are blue runs, so the actual component of the run that is black or double black seems rather short. The upside of the Putnam Creek area is that due to the aspect, the snow quality is often superb.

Powder hounds might also find some untracked excitement in the Attridge area a few days after a snowfall.

Ski Silver Star - Experts

The Putnam Creek area has some double-black diamond runs, which relative to other resorts might not be considered double-blacks, but nonetheless are steep and will challenge expert skiers somewhat. Freefall is a favourite, although the steep pitch is only fairly short, and the steep gradient into Chute 5 feels like it lasts for only about 5 metres.

Some of the other great double blacks are accessed off the Home Run T-bar, so the ratio of lift time to challenging ski time is not great, but for those who love a good rest, this inconvenience won’t bother you.

A major limitation of the terrain is the trees. The trees have either been heavily gladed like on Free Fall, so they don’t offer real tree skiing, or the natural trees are too tight, whilst many of the double blacks are just open funnels of bumps.

The only real spot for off-piste skiing and riding is the Summit area which is sub-alpine.

Even the sidecountry terrain at Alder Point is rather disappointing, which is accessed via a 15-20 minute hike/pole/traverse. The point itself is reasonably open but it tracks pretty quickly, whilst all the terrain on the way out to the point is too heavily wooded.