What’s This Place Really Like?

For those folks that have not been to Sovereign Lake/Silver Star for one of their traditional Fall Camps or for the several World Cup races they’ve hosted over the years, this is a very special spot in the North American ski scene.

Essentially sister ski areas, Sovereign Lake is operated by the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club in cooperation with BC Parks. Silver Star Ski Resort has it’s own trail system right next door along with a very nice size alpine ski area. Between the two systems, there are more than 100km of interconnected trails.

Featuring forests that are reminiscent of both Pacific Coast and Intermountain mountains, the trails wind throughout a gradual ridge that offers up exceptional vistas of nearby mountain ranges and valleys. The gateway cities of Vernon and Kelowna sit in the Okanagan Valley below which is dry and warm enough in the summer to produce exceptional produce and wines. The area reminds skiers of many western U.S. ski spots while having a very unique character all it’s own.

The skiing is simply fantastic with good and plentiful snow about as guaranteed as anywhere on the planet. In early March the temps are comfortable without necessarily shifting into spring mode yet. Yes, altitude (5,500ft) is part of the equation. But it’s within the MWC restrictions and certainly lower than most other western U.S. major resort areas.

The ski trails generally roll quite a bit and have a delightful variety that we have not seen in many MWC venues in some time. Given this is a true recreational system that has added World Cup-quality terrain over time, the balance of power is in favor of just-plain-folks so you’ll find these courses wonderfully suitable for master fitness levels (not too hard, not too easy). The stadium amenities are top notch with an array of permanent buildings and infrastructure to rival venues around the world.

Best of all, there are so many trails with such a diversity of terrain that the MWC/NM races will only be taking up a small fraction of the daily ski options. So on your off days (and for non-racing significant others) there will be loads of skiing available with plenty of chances to ski out to far points on the ski courses to take a peak at the action. Silver Star Resort is working on an affordable joint trail pass for MWC racers and family so you’ll only be looking at a reasonable all-in-one fee to allow unlimited skiing to your heart’s content.

Where Do I Stay?

As with the MWC/NM2008 in McCall, AXCS will not be offering a lodging package with the 2011 event simply because we anticipate many hundreds of U.S. skiers attending -- many in smaller club and regional groups. So we encourage masters to get busy organizing yourselves into these sub-group arrangements over the 2010 Winter for maximum fun, cost savings, and convenience.

Sovereign Lake (where the actual races will be held) is just about skiing so all lodging is either in the Silver Star Village area or down in Vernon. A huge asset to Silver Star is that all the mountain lodging options (literally ALL the lodging) offer ski-in/ski-out access for at least XC trails. Many places are ski-in/ski-out for alpine as well. So you are in ski heaven when it comes to access. Just go out the door.

AXCS National Director J.D. Downing has toured nearly every lodging option on the mountain and found a ton of places that really have little downside. Very little separated many of the Village hotels as nearly all offered at least minimal kitchenette rooms in many different combinations (1 room, suites, family/bunk suites, you-name-it). All the Village hotels also surround a common area with a selection of shops and restaurants so there also isn’t any real difference in terms of location.

As a general rule of thumb, the price of the room matched the quality of the hotel, so if you are looking at a place with a slightly higher price-tag -- that place is going to have a nicer amenity menu. All the hotels have good websites with photos so you should be able to shop around on-line very easily.

For skiers looking for a smaller place with just a few people, the hotel units with kitchenettes will offer a nice balance of price, convenient, and comfort. These will also be often the best options for folks on limited time schedules (meaning, you can’t stay the entire MWC week).

Now, for bigger places for bigger groups, there are many dozens of rental homes, townhouses, and condos spreading out from the Silver Star Village area to select from. Some of these places are enormous (sleeping 12-16 people) while others will be far more modest (4-6 people). Again, there isn’t a huge advantage to most locations since the local roads don’t really cover more than a square kilometer (or two) so pretty much all the rentals are within one big mountain “neighborhood”. On-line shopping is going to be your best route towards finding the place to match your group’s needs. But the first step is going to be coming up with a group to share a rental with -- and a leader to set up the rental.

AXCS Tip: The easiest and fairest way to do a ski rental with ski buddies is as follows.

First, a designated trip leader puts out word to their “first choice” of people to share a rental. Once you have a comfortable number (let’s say 8 people including the leader plus spouse) then you begin searching for rentals on-line. Once you find a place at a reasonable price, you then come back to your ski buddy group with the “it’s now or never time” announcement.

Get a full cost share (deposit or final balance) from everyone joining in on the rental. Everyone has to agree at the time they “buy in” that they will remain committed or else they have to find a substitute with the rest of the group having 100% veto power over any substitute. By getting money up front, the rental leader doesn’t take a financial chance on Joe or Jane Smith pulling out six months later. If Joe or Jane do pull out, they are the ones looking for a good substitute. If an acceptable person or couple is found, that substitute pays Joe or Jane (the people bailing out) so the original rental leader doesn’t have to deal with the money exchange.

This system is very fair and straightforward. It’s worked numerous times over the past decade even with a two week Olympic rental involving over two dozen people.

OK, how do I set up a rental when I’m ready?

The MWC2011 Organizing Committee has designated Silver Star Holidays as the lodging coordinator for the event and these folks are totally on the ball when it comes to group reservations AXCS has found over the years.

The website to go to is: http://www.skisilverstar.com/home_showSection_ID_623.html

Until March 2010 the Group Sales office will only be taking specific requests for a spreadsheet (waiting list) and then after early spring hits they’ll begin matching groups up with specific properties.

The MWC2011 timeframe has been selected at a time of year where mountain business starts to soften so availability should be generally pretty good for U.S. clubs and individuals that set up reservations latest by April 2010. Earlier might get you the widest selection of properties, but since there are so many good options and no real super great locations (as opposed to other spots), this isn’t the type of situation where being first in line is really going to matter.

By far the biggest competition for U.S. groups trying to get bigger rentals later in 2010 will be Canadian masters since we should be in a head-to-head race to see which nation brings more skiers to this event. The smart money in the AXCS Office is that things will balance out to roughly 1/3 each Canadian-European-U.S. skiers (we’ll count the Aussies as Euros even though that’ll drive them nuts when they find out! :-).

Any Other Lodging Suggestions?

Staying in Vernon itself is also an option for someone that would like lower altitude for sleeping at night and doesn’t mind the daily drive up the mountain. Staying in Vernon is also a great option for skiers on a short time line or a tight budget.

Vernon lodging is mostly typical hotel rooms, but the cost is quite a bit cheaper than up at the resort so you’ll be able to afford going out for meals more often. In-town lodging is typically available right up to the last minute so early planning should not be required.

What About Other Logistics?

During the MWC2011 event week there will be the customary free MWC shuttle for participants running between the lodging Village and the Sovereign Lake Center as well as a couple trips a day down to Vernon itself. The trips down to Vernon will offer a chance to walk around a nice downtown area plus visit very large, modern grocery stores. Silver Star also has a couple services that will deliver groceries to your rental unit or hotel for a reasonable fee. With multiple options on (added fee) airport shuttles, it should be possible to attend the MWC2011 without a rental car with little hassle.

For larger club groups, having one car or van on hand will be convenient much the same way it was for “team” groups in McCall. There will be very limited parking at the Sovereign Lake venue (similar to McCall, a bit more, but not much more) so any “team” will only have one space if any is allocated. AXCS will again have a designated location and 1-2 pop-up tents so that skiers can easily find National Director Downing for questions, wax help, protests, etc.. The organizers will also provide as much covered waxing space as possible on-site.

What worked super well in McCall was for western U.S. clubs to come prepared with pop-up tents and plenty of waxing gear (tables, etc.) so that skiers that have to fly in (including other Americans) can have more space in the organizer-provided waxing tents. Exposure isn’t a huge problem with wind storms at the venue (it’s a nice forest area), but a big storm is a big storm so the more covered space we can bring as a nation -- the easier it’ll be on everyone.

Waxing facilities and ski storage will be available on a hotel-by-hotel basis in the village. For folks in rental units/houses the best solution is going to be having your own pop-up tent when your rental does not have a garage or shop. Otherwise you’ll need to do a short commute to organizer-provided waxing facilities mainly at the race site.

The nightly Team USA information meetings and the the two AXCS National Masters medal ceremonies will be held in the Silver Star Village area (as with McCall and the MWC2008, we will use the top three USA skiers in each race as the NM podium regardless of international placings).