Sun Peaks: West Bowl Express Project Update

Sun Peaks has issued a West Bowl Express project update, they say:

It was just a couple of weeks ago that we wrapped up winter 2023-24, but in only seven months we will be kicking off another season of skiing and snowboarding here in Sun Peaks. Next winter promises to be a big one as we welcome the addition of our newest detachable chairlift: the West Bowl Express.

Excitement is mounting for this new, high speed, quad chairlift and the alpine access it will unlock. Construction work on the lift, a project three years in the making, has already resumed this spring and everything remains on track for a planned opening near the start of the winter 2024-25 season.

For those unfamiliar with the West Bowl, it’s a zone of terrain located in the alpine of Tod Mountain and is one of our highest elevation skiable areas. The West Bowl was previously serviced by the West Bowl T-bar, which operated loyally in this location for over 20 years. When that lift was decommissioned in 2021 the terrain remained open, but was only accessible via a short hike.

We are excited to re-introduce guests to this area of the resort, which features beautiful alpine views on a sunny, south facing aspect. New trails and the return of regular grooming in the West Bowl means the zone is set to offer a fantastic new pod of intermediate terrain with plenty of cruisey blue runs to enjoy. Combined with the Crystal chairlift that opened in 2020, skiers and riders of most abilities will now have more options to enjoy up in the alpine on those gorgeous bluebird days!

Built by Doppelmayr, a world leader in mobility with ropeways, this $12 million capital project brings our chairlift count to eight, in addition to five surface lifts. The major components of the lift have begun to arrive in Sun Peaks and the Doppelmayr team is now on-site to start assembly. We expect to be flying towers, crossarms, and sheave assemblies up to the alpine for installation in May and we will share more updates of the action at this time. Right now, our in-house crews are working on select tree removal over the snow so that this work causes zero ground disturbance.

Lift towers for new West Bowl Express chairlift staged in parking lot.Lift towers and sheave assemblies for new West Bowl Express chairlift staged in parking lot.Aerial view of lift towers for new West Bowl Express chairlift staged in parking lot.

The new lift is double the length of the previous T-bar (with new top and bottom terminal locations), it will provide a quick six minute ride to the top, and there will be new trails and expanded terrain to explore.