Ride the Legendary Sunburst Chairlift at Sun Peaks

6 of the finest top-to-bottom descents at one of interior BC's best bike parks!

Mountain Biking Moderate, Difficult, Severe

Description

Whether you're looking for incredibly steep, technical lines or cruisy tracks and easy berms, the Sunburst Express chairlift will take you to them. The hardest routes at Sun Peaks would compare in difficulty with anything at Whistler or the other more famous BC bike parks, and the fun routes around here are as good as you anything you'll find anywhere in Canada. All in all, it's a bike park with something for everyone and the only thing missing is the crowds; Sun Peaks is weirdly quiet. That's great news for those who do come here because even on a sunny Saturday in August you're unlikely to need to wait more than a couple of minutes to board the chairlift and get back up the mountain for another lap. The chairlift is open until 7pm, too, so you're likely to run out of energy long before the lift stops!

Sun Peaks bike park has a nice combination of trail riding and freerides lines, and all potential jumps (we say "potential" because virtually all of them can be rolled over if you don't want to commit) are marked with little orange flags on either side of the trail. Once you get used to keeping an eye out for these they're super handy and really allow you to get lined up for some air time.

For those wanting to focus on honing their skills, there is further opportunity to do so in the Flow Zone - a series of short trails and jump lines which sits right underneath the Sunburst Express, just above the valley floor. Some of the routes at the bike park lead you straight to the Flow Zone, so having some fun on a designated trail and then going into the slightly more artificial-feeling training area is a good use of a lap.

As well as the Flow Zone, the Sunburst Express area has some cool additional features which make it a fun and easy place to ride. To start with there's the Sunburst Lodge, which serves hot food and cold drinks and is situated 50 metres from the top of the lift. There's also a series of 4x4 tracks which intersect the bike park trails at various points, so if you get a flat or an injury, it's never too far to reach an access point. Finally, there's an army of trail crew and park patrol riders in the area, so help is at hand pretty quickly if you run into real trouble. Patrol Dispatch can be reached at +1 250 578 5521.

The overall feel of the riding is that it's quite natural (and not overly manicured) and this, added to the amazing scenery, gives the whole place a wonderfully bucolic ambience. The 6 lines we've described here all go top to bottom, and cover terrain up to black diamond/FATMAP Severe. If that still isn't challenging enough for you, there's plenty of even harder stuff to get stuck into around here...

For now, though, these lines will provide any rider with a fabulous day on a beautiful mountain.