How a mining-era mountain became SilverStar

SilverStar has been a ski destination since the 1930s, a commercial ski hill since 1958 and a year-round resort village since the late 1980s. Every era left something you can still see: the original Cabin Colony chalets, the first A-frame lodge (now The Pinnacles Suites), the colourful 1980s village and the 2018 gondola. Here is the short history, then the facts that tend to surprise new owners.

Before skiing: huckleberries and silver

The mountain sits in the ancestral territories of the Syilx (Okanagan) and Splatsin (Secwépemc) peoples, who used it for hunting and berry picking. Tourism North Okanagan gives an Indigenous name for the area, akst̛x̌ałq, meaning “where the huckleberries grow”. If you hike the upper trails in late summer, you’ll see why.

In the early 1900s prospectors registered mineral claims across the mountain with names like Prince of Wales, Aberdeen and Silver Star, and there was extensive exploration until mining stopped after the late 1940s. The mountain’s name comes from that mining era; the Silver Star claim is the likely source, although no primary source says so outright. The mining theme still shows up in street and building names around the village, and in the Klondike-style look of Main Street.

Sources: Tourism North Okanagan; BC Parks, Silver Star Park.

Timeline

1. 1930Bert Thorburn makes the first recorded ski descent in the area.
2. 1946The first rope tow goes up on Burney Ridge: 800 feet long and powered by a four-cylinder engine.
3. 1957Silver Star Sports gets provincial approval to develop a ski hill.
4. 1958The road is finished, two rope tows and an A-frame lodge are built, and SilverStar opens as a community ski hill. That A-frame is now The Pinnacles Suites.
5. 1959A Poma lift replaces the rope tow, and Cabin Colony, the first residential area, gets its start.
6. 1964–65T-bars are added and a second A-frame is built.
7. 1967–68The Summit and Yellow chairs are installed.
8. 1981Silver Star Sports becomes Silver Star Mountain Resorts Ltd.
9. 1983Putnam Station Hotel is built.
10. 1984–1990Hotels and amenities expand and the colourful, Victorian and Klondike-style village takes shape.
11. 1989The Knoll opens as the first major residential development, with about 190 properties. Silver Star Provincial Park is established on March 21, 1989.
12. 1991The Putnam Creek and Vance Creek express quads open. The Cabin Colony subdivision is finalized with 23 single-family lots and 12 bare-land strata lots.
13. 2001The Schumann family buys the majority of the resort’s assets.
14. 2004The Regional District of North Okanagan adopts the Silver Star Official Community Plan (Bylaw 1925) and Zoning Bylaw (Bylaw 1926). Both still govern the resort today.
15. 2005A zoning amendment renames “Meadowlands” as Alpine Meadows.
16. 2006The Ridge neighbourhood is introduced.
17. 2012Jane Cann inherits full ownership after her father, Desmond Schumann, dies.
18. 2018The Doppelmayr eight-passenger gondola, the Schumann Summit Express, opens. It reaches the summit in about four and a half minutes. The same year, an RDNO amendment prohibits cannabis stores and lounges in the Silver Star community.
19. 2019The resort is sold to POWDR Corporation of Utah.
20. June 2024RDNO amends the Silver Star zoning bylaw to add a densification provision, in line with the Province’s small-scale multi-unit housing rules.
21. November 2025POWDR sells SilverStar to Pacific Group Resorts of Park City, Utah, which calls it its flagship. General manager Herwig Demschar stays on and there are no operational changes for 2025–26.
22. February 2026SilverStar adopts Pacific Group’s “Mission Affordable” discount ticket program, with midweek adult tickets from $115.
23. April 2026SilverStar joins the Ikon Pass for the 2026–27 season.

Sources: Wikipedia, Silver Star Mountain Resort; Wikipedia, Silver Star Provincial Park; RDNO Bylaw 1926 (consolidated); Powder Canada; Castanet; Vernon Morning Star.

Why the village looks like a gold-rush town

The painted village you see today was mostly built between the mid-1980s and 1990, when the resort grew from a day hill into a place people stayed. The owners chose a Victorian, Klondike-era theme: brightly painted false-front buildings and a Main Street with no cars. In winter Main Street is a ski run, so you can ski from the top of the mountain to the door of a village hotel or condo.

The Knoll carried the look into the first residential neighbourhood in 1989, with stone entrances and period-style streetlights. For buyers, this can matter: the zoning map includes a Heritage Conservation zone, and some stratas and building schemes may set rules on exterior colours and materials. Check before you plan an exterior renovation.

Interesting facts owners like to know

• Two spellings, both correct. The resort brands itself “SilverStar”. Government documents use “Silver Star”, as in the Silver Star Zoning Bylaw and Silver Star Provincial Park. YouYou’ll see both on a title search.rsquo;ll see both in listings and official documents.
• Four faces. The ski area has four faces: Vance Creek, Attridge, Silver Woods and Putnam Creek. Knowing which face an area feeds is the fastest way to understand its ski access.
• High village, big snow. The village sits at 1,609 m and the summit at 1,915 m, for 760 m of vertical. Average snowfall is about 700 cm a year, and the longest run is about 8 km.
• Nordic giant. SilverStar’s roughly 55 km of groomed cross-country trails connect to Sovereign Lake’s roughly 50 km, which Tourism Vernon describes as the largest daily groomed Nordic network in Canada.
• A park next door. Silver Star Provincial Park covers about 5,573 ha, with black bear, moose, deer, lynx, grouse and owls. Snowmobiles must stay on designated trails.
• The first lodge is still standing. The 1958 A-frame lodge is now The Pinnacles Suites.
• A museum on top of the mountain. The Silver Star Mountain Museum has several spots in the village and one at The Lookout, a forest fire lookout you can reach by gondola in summer.
• A summer powerhouse. The bike park is described as Canada’s second largest, with about 70 km of cross-country trails, including the IMBA EPIC-rated Beowulf, and it hosted Crankworx in August 2026.
• No snowmaking, yet. The resort has relied on natural snow. After a thin 2025–26 season it tested snowmaking equipment from three manufacturers at Putnam Creek.
• No cannabis stores. An RDNO bylaw amendment in 2018 prohibits cannabis sales and lounges in the Silver Star community.

Sources: SilverStar Mountain Resort; Tourism Vernon; BC Parks; HikeBikeTravel; Vernon Morning Star, Feb. 11, 2026.

What history means when you buy

Age tells you a lot about a SilverStar property. Cabin Colony’s older chalets have character and tree cover but often need roof, insulation or foundation work, and their steep lots are expensive to build on. Knoll homes from the 1990s are in a settled, walkable area with suites allowed. Alpine Meadows and The Ridge came after the 2004 bylaws, so their rules on rentals, suites and fees are clearer and more consistent. The neighbourhood guide covers each area, and the buying guide lists what to inspect.

Curious about the valley below? Vernon has its own long history; Sean’s Vernon real estate hub covers the city’s neighbourhoods and listings.