Creating a World-Class Freestyle Training Facility 

Silver Star Freestyle Club 

Established in 1996, the Silver Star Freestyle Club (SSFC) is a not-for-profit organization based out of Vernon BC. SSFC is one of the largest freestyle clubs in Canada, with an annual average of 250 active participants over the past five years. The Club promotes the sport of freestyle skiing in a fun, safe, and progressive team environment offering freestyle skiing and snowboarding programs for athletes aged 7 to 18 during the winter season, as well as dryland training opportunities in the spring, summer and fall.

Mission & Objectives

In partnership with Silver Star Mountain Resort (SSMR) and in collaboration with Freestyle BC, the Silver Star Freestyle Club is creating a world-class dryland training facility at Silver Star Mountain Resort in the area of Lot E.  

The facility will become Western Canada's premier training center for freestyle snowsports. It will support athlete progression and innovation at all levels of development in the sport of freestyle skiing and snowboarding.  Nowhere in Western Canada do athletes have access to a large summer-season landing bag, suitable for progressive freestyle development from youth to Olympic level.  This state-of-the-art training facility will promote talent development by allowing athletes to continue to progress in their sport throughout the year. It will provide athletes from across BC, Western Canada, the Pacific Northwest and beyond with the greatest opportunity to achieve progression, success, and enjoyment in the sport they love.  Importantly, the facility will also contribute to coach development, as well as attract and retain top quality coaches.

Facility Highlights 

Landing Air Bag: Airbags are an essential training tool to allow safe progression in the sport. The centrepiece of the facility will be a state-of-the-art Landing Air Bag.  This landing bag will allow intermediate to expert snowsports athletes to perform increasingly complex aerial maneuvers, land safely, and ride away, simulating true on-snow landing scenarios (see rendering of landing air bag at Lot E location attached).  We will also be relocating our current flat airbag to the site, which will continue to provide skill development and safe progression for beginner to intermediate athletes.  The Landing Air Bag will have a 60-meter dry slope in-run and will be used from May to November each year to support the athletes winter training and competition performance.

Outdoor Trampoline: Trampoline skill development is an important element in freestyle training, allowing athletes to learn air awareness, safely practice spins & inversions, and refine skills before progression to airbag or snow.

Dry slope Rail Garden: Dry slopes are artificial slopes that mimic the attributes of snow. Rails & tubes are elements for tricks within freestyle skiing that athletes master. The dry slope rail garden will feature a progression of elements from easy to difficult. 

Athlete Benefits – the facility will: 

• Provide world-class training, allowing our freestyle athletes to become the best in the world.

• Be the premier dryland training center for freestyle snowsports in Western Canada. It will attract a wide audience, from beginners making their first foray into freestyle skiing or snowboarding, to provincial and Olympic champions.

• Reduce financial barriers to athletes and coaches of all levels.

Broad Community Benefit 

This new outdoor training facility will have a lasting community impact, providing a catalyst for economic growth for the Silver Star community, as well as the broader Okanagan region. 

• With an anticipated 2000 additional athlete visits to the facility annually, this will help tourism industry remain open on a multi-season basis; it will also drive economic activity for local businesses such as accommodations & food services, in historically very low-demand periods.

• The project’s construction and ongoing operations will create sustainable employment opportunities for residents.

• The facility will support job security & labour attraction by creating new opportunities for year-round employment across the tourism sector at SilverStar Mountain Resort.

• It will attract and retain high-calibre freestyle coaches, often a challenge when work is typically seasonal. 

Timeline: 

The project is on time and on track, with all government required milestones completed and approved.  Earthworks will commence in early June and the facility is expected to be operational by September 2025. 

Total Funding Needs: 

Total Cash Funding Requirement to complete project:           $557,660 

Confirmed Cash contributions raised to date:                        $458,000

In-kind confirmed contributions raised to date:                    $110,000 + plus use of land (Lot E) 

Funds (cash) remaining to be raised: $ 149,660

An investment in this world-class freestyle training facility will create a permanent legacy, one that will positively impact the next generation of promising snowsport athletes and the community in the region. For further information please feel free to be in touch with: 

For further information please feel free to be in touch with:

Carson Dorward, President

SS Freestyle

[email protected]