Sun Peaks MTB Guide: Bike Park, Trails & Lifts (BC, Canada)

British Columbia's second-largest ski area becomes a two-mountain bike park each summer, with 89+ km of trails, 595 m of lift-access vertical and a season that runs from mid-June through late September.

By the IMPT Travel desk · Published 2026-05-30

The first thing most visitors notice on the Sunburst Express chairlift is the silence. Tod Mountain rises out of the dry pine forest of the BC interior, and from the bubble-equipped quad the view stretches over Sun Peaks village to the Bonaparte Plateau beyond. Then the lift unloads at roughly 1,850 m, riders drop into the loam, and the silence ends. Sun Peaks Bike Park covers two mountains, 89+ km of marked trail and 595 m of lift-access vertical, and the network climbs from machine-built family flow at the base to the steep, rooted freeride lines that have made the resort the returning home of the Canadian National Downhill Championships.

The signature descents

Tod Mountain holds most of the marquee trails. Steam Shovel (black freeride) is the line that anchors the resort's reputation: split into upper and lower sections, it strings together oversized tabletops, step-downs and bermed turns that demand committed riders. Super Nugget, a similarly graded jump-and-berm line, has become a Pinkbike favourite for POV edits. For intermediates, Bermalade (blue flow) delivers the classic machine-built berm sequence the park is known for, while Canada Line (blue jump line) runs 4.2 km of sculpted tabletops and sweeping berms that build air time without punishing mistakes. Stella Blue (blue-black freeride) is the bridge trail between the two: pump-track sections, fadeaways and clean lips for riders stepping up to black terrain. Beginners and families gravitate to Level Up (green flow), accessed from the lower lifts and Progression Park.

Lift system and park structure

Two high-speed quads do the heavy lifting. The Sunburst Express, fitted with bubble enclosures, opens the upper Tod Mountain trails and is the lift most downhill riders ride all day. The Sundance Express serves a parallel set of trails and is often quieter on busy weekends. At the base, the Bike Park Carpets feed the Progression Park, where lessons, rentals and a graduated skills area let newer riders work up to chairlift terrain in a controlled environment. A dirt-jump zone called Flow Zone sits beside the village, useful on lift-off days or for warm-ups. With two mountains, two chairs and surface lifts in one ticket, lap volume is high: experienced riders routinely log 1,500-2,000 m of vertical in a half-day.

Getting there without flying private

Sun Peaks sits 45 minutes from Kamloops and roughly 50 minutes from Kamloops Airport (YKA), which is the lowest-impact arrival option for visitors already inside Canada — short hop from Vancouver or Calgary, then a shuttle. Several scheduled services run the YKA-to-village transfer, including Peak Shuttles, Sun Star Shuttle and SNOWBUS, with one-way fares typically between CAD $40 and $80 depending on shared or private booking. From Vancouver, the drive is roughly four hours up the Coquihalla; riders coming from further afield can rail-and-bus via Kamloops, which removes the second flight and is the more defensible option for European visitors weighing the carbon of a connecting hop to Kelowna or Kamloops itself.

Season windows and what to expect

The bike park opens in mid-June and runs daily through late September. The 2026 calendar published by the resort has lifts spinning 13 June to 7 September from 10:00 to 19:00, then continuing daily until 27 September on a shorter 10:00 to 17:00 schedule. Early-season conditions in June can be tacky on the upper mountain and dusty below; July brings the busiest weeks and the firmest, fastest trails; September is the connoisseur's window, with cooler temperatures, lower crowds and the larch starting to turn. Smoke from interior wildfires is the one wildcard — late July and August have historically been the most affected, and the resort posts air-quality updates when conditions warrant.

Racing and events

Sun Peaks hosted the 2025 Canadian Downhill MTB Championships from 25-27 July as part of the Dunbar Summer Series, drawing over 300 competitors. Johnathan Helly took the Elite Men's title and Andréane Lanthier Nadeau the Elite Women's. The resort also stages Canada Cup rounds, the Peaks Pedal Fest and Junior National events through the summer. Race weekends are worth either targeting or avoiding depending on appetite: the venue runs at full intensity, but several signature trails close for course use.

Where to base up

The village is compact and pedestrian, with lodges, condos and rental apartments arranged within a short walk of the Sunburst and Sundance bases — useful for ride-in, ride-out logistics and for evenings on the patios at Masa's or the village square. Lower-priced rooms cluster in Kamloops itself, though the daily commute eats into ride time. Riders chasing the quietest mornings and the strongest lap counts tend to book in-village for at least two of three nights.

At a glance

• Trails: 89+ km across two mountains
• Lift-access vertical: 595 m
• Lifts: Sunburst Express, Sundance Express, Bike Park Carpets
• Season: mid-June to late September
• Nearest airport: Kamloops (YKA), ~50 minutes by shuttle
• Headline event: Canadian National Downhill Championships

A rider's-eye descent through Sun Peaks Bike Park, showing the loam, berms and lift-access fall line that draw national-level downhillers to Tod Mountain each summer.