ABOUT SUN PEAKS
Sun Peaks Resort is a four season Destination resort located in the interior of British Columbia near Kamloops. Sun Peaks has three mountains that allow for 360 degrees of intimate family orientated skiing in the wintertime. Sun Peaks offers a diverse range of leisure activities including 18 holes of golf, mountain biking, hiking as well as numerous events and festivals.
Sun Peaks can be accessed by two airport gateways - Kamloops (45 minutes) and Kelowna (2.5 hours) and by car, only 4.25-hour drive separates Sun Peaks and Vancouver, BC.
WESTJET SERVICES & AIRPORT EXPANSION
West Jet announced daily flight service to Kamloops, BC starting at $39. West Jet now provides direct flights to Calgary, and Vancouver. This opens a direct line to Albertans, one of Sun Peaks' largest drawing areas for tourists and offers affordable flights for visitors to and from Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.
The Kamloops Airport has undergone an $18 million dollar upgrade, including a 50% expansion of the terminal building footprint and future upgrades to the runway and navigational aids. These improvements will support continued tourism, business development and job growth in Kamloops, and the diversity of the surrounding region.
ISO 14001 CERTIFIED SYSTEM
As a leader in protecting the environment, Sun Peaks Resort Corporation management system has been certified to ISO 14001.
Sun Peaks Resort was the first ski resort in North America to be certified under ISO 14001, and still remains one of the only three that have attained this honour. The other two resorts are Aspen Snowmass, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
ISO 14001 is the environmental management system (EMS) standard for the International Organization for Standardization. The standard provides a systematic approach to managing the significant aspects and allows company management to establish environmental policies and objectives through the allocation of resources, training assigning of roles and responsibilities, and modifying practices, procedures and processes.
SUN PEAKS LAUNCHES ONTO THE WORLD STAGE
Sun Peaks has splashed onto the international stage with a top 10 ranking in of the world's leading travel publications. The Conde Nast Traveler poll ranked Sun Peaks as the 2nd best ski resort in Canada, and 10th in North America. Over 32,000 Conde Nast Traveler readers voted in this 13th Annual Ski Poll. Resorts were judged on terrain and conditions, lifts and lines, après-ski activities, dining, and town ambience. Cadogan Guilds of the U.K. also declared Sun Peaks the Best Family Resort in North America for 2008.
SUN PEAKS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Many of you may have heard that Sun Peaks recently became a resort municipality. Hot on the heels of this major event was the announcement that we would be starting a school up at the hill. This is a huge step for our small community and will be a major draw for people to start moving here full time. For more information click here. For a picture of the inaugural season in Sun Peaks click here (present in the picture are Local politicians Terry Lake (MLA), Nancy Green (Senator) , Al Raine (Mayor of Sun Peaks)).
Sun Peaks is a great place to live year round or just getaway. With 4 seasons of fun that includes skiing, golfing, and mountain biking Sun Peaks is one of the best Resorts in Canada. Skiing at Sun Peaks is a unique experience that has visitors coming back year after year. With dry powder, a great variety of easy to advanced runs, and 4 major chairlifts to keep wait lines to a minimum you might think Sun Peaks is close to paradise! The improvement district at Sun Peaks has kept track of the value of Sun Peaks over the years and here is what they have found:
Year | Value | % Change |
2005 | $332,550,197 | - |
2006 | $402,949,107 | 21.17% |
2007 | $497,917,505 | 23.57% |
2008 | $560,004,106 | 12.47% |
2009 | $579,500,106 | 3.48% |
| Average | 15.17% |
Sun Peaks has a ~30 million dollar waste water and water treatment facility. These facilities try to ensure that Sun Peak residences have a safe supply of water and that our waste water doesn't affect the surrounding environment too negatively. To pay for these facilities the water and sewer usage is metered. The cost of sewer and water works out to approximately $3.90 per 1000L. Generally, owners have said that costs for water and sewer aren't too substantial because water isn't used for things like lawns and gardens, or washing a car. More information about Sun Peak's utilities can be found on their website at Sun Peak Utilities.
Sun Peaks Tourism Program
The Sun Peaks Tourism Program is a non-profit company that is used to promote the whole resort to the world. If you own property in Sun Peaks whether you are a business, residential owner, or even the Sun Peaks Corporation you pay fees to this association to increase tourism to this area. The amount that owners pay depends on how many "pillows" a residential or commercial property has or the amount of square footage. The pillow term is used instead of beds because even though a unit may only have one bed if two people could sleep on that bed there would be two fees paid out quarterly for that one bed. Every year Sun Peaks Tourism releases a report and you can view 2008's by clicking here.
One of the main reasons Sun Peaks has become a municipality is because it allows the owners at Sun Peaks more control of where their tax dollars are spent and encourages further development including schools, hospitals, and conference centres etc. Sun Peaks has been trying to become a municipality for more than 12 months but one of the reasons it hasn't been successful relates to an unresolved Native Indian claim about the Douglas area. Here is a link, click here, to go directly to some background information about this issue. There is also a dedicated website for more information regarding the Sun Peaks becoming a municipality, Sun Peaks Municipal website. The Sun Peaks Municipality now has its own website at http://www.sunpeaksmunicipality.ca.
- Sun Peaks - the rental market
Some owners decide to rent their property out on a nightly basis when they don't plan to use it themselves. Like all second or third home destinations in Canada Sun Peaks has appreciated past the point where buyers in today's market can expect to make money renting their property out. If a property is rented out on a nightly basis in Sun Peaks chances are good that it gets rented out 30% or less over the course of one year. Comparably Whistler properties are closer to 60% or less.
Here is an example of the projected revenue versus expenses for nightly rentals at Sun Peaks. Below Fireside Lodge is featured: