Perfect Pairings

Ski, sip and spa on a winter tour of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.

- Leslie Anthony

Only steps away from SilverStar village, I duck into towering white spires of hemlock and spruce. Growing in that pointed, perfect, mountain way, their radical tapering at this altitude is an adaptation to shed snow and rain directly to the roots; life is tough in the alpine, and organisms command every advantage they can. Biology aside, moving among these “snow trees” is sublime, clad as they are in the sound-absorbing splendour of yet another snowfall. They are sentinel, solace and sanctuary on the winter landscape.

These snow trees are a hallmark of SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia’s Thompson Okanagan region, and you can experience them on a range of trails in various ways, including fat biking and cross-country or downhill skiing. But for this short evening jaunt, minutes after checking into the Snowbird Lodge, I’ve chosen snowshoes.

In the forest, snowshoeing delivers a slow-motion appreciation and intimacy that the speed of skis can blur. You see the myriad animal tracks criss-crossing unbroken snow, the tiny birds dashing between snowy skirts, the moss-sicles swinging on pine-scented zephyrs. Snow here is light and fluffy, meted out in tolerable doses, something a coast-dweller like myself — used to massive, heavy dumps fresh off the Pacific — can appreciate. In this Interior snowbelt, winter starts early and is refreshed frequently with moderate amounts; the trees get flocked, then flocked again. Eventually, in a good winter such as this, they become gelid cones, anchored to the snowpack. As I wend my way through, a breaking storm releases a molten sunset to the west, flushing the treetops amber and salmon as gunmetal gathers between them.

Considering it’s only my first hour of a four-day ski and wine tour in the North Okanagan, nature has done an exceptional job at arranging something worth toasting.