British Columbia: from €130,000The penthouse in Snowbird Lodge is a pretty impressive affair, all dark wood, granite-topped countertops, high ceilings, plasma TVs, large wraparound deck with views over mountain and valley - and what's this?
A hot tub on the deck, yes, like pretty much every single property in this British Columbia ski resort - but not any hot tub. This one has a pop-up plasma TV, sound deck, flashing light system and a cooler for your drinks.
Posh or what? Well, not perhaps as posh as Whistler, western Canada's best known ski resort north of Vancouver. That's a high-end ski resort of "minks, Porsches and augmented women" in the pithy opinion of local Silver Star estate agent Don Kassa.
But property prices in Whistler (site of the 2010 winter Olympics) are about twice those in Silver Star, a rapidly growing resort about four to five hours' drive east of Vancouver, one-and-a-half hour's from Kelowna, a regional British Columbia airport.
It's a compact very family-friendly mostly ski-in/ski-out resort distinguished by its North American Victorian-style "painted ladies" houses - timber buildings painted in vivid colours that stand out against the pristine snow.
The resort's main street has good restaurants, coffee shops, a handful of stores, one hotel and the Silver Star ski school: schoolchildren on a "ski day" off, tourists from Asia, Australia, the US, a sprinkling of Brits, even Canadians group there each morning to meet their ski instructors.
Silver Star isn't big on the European radar at the moment, although an increased number of canny British and German skiers made their way there this winter, as a lack of snow devastated Continental ski resorts.
This is unlikely to happen in Silver Star, where the ski season runs from November to mid-April; so far, they haven't got, and don't need, a snowmaking machine.
So if you're keen on skiing, or interested in an investment that's off the beaten track to Irish eyes, Silver Star is worth looking at.
It's a relatively new resort, started in the 1950s by locals from Vernon, the small city down the hill from the resort; development began in earnest in the 1980s/1990s, and in 2001, it was bought by Australian ski resort operator, Schumanns. Silver Star marketing director Anne Haight, who worked until recently in Banff/Canmore in Alberta, says that there is plenty of scope for more growth.
"We have 3,000 acres of skiable area and could go as high as 7,000," she says (Banff has 7,000, Whistler, 8,000 acres.) It has 117 runs (from beginner to advanced/expert). The US national ski team named it its top cross country (Nordic) ski resort.
Both Haight and Kassa insist that property development will follow development of the skiing facilities: ski-in/ski-out, meaning that homes are very close to the slopes, is the resort's watchword.) Properties range from apartments costing around €130,000 (Cdn$200,000) to large three-storey houses from €700,000-plus (Cdn $1m-plus).
Available right now are about a dozen apartments in Snowbird Lodge, a development of 56 high-end apartments at the end of the resort's main street costing from €420,000 (Cdn$650,000.) The smallest two-bed 93sq m (1,000sq ft) units are handsomely fitted out in the same style as the penthouses. And the building is directly beside a ski slope; and when you're finished, you can ski straight into the basement ski storage area before heading for the lift and a dip in the hot tub.
Building of slightly more modest Snowbird 2, nearly beside it - where one and two-bed units will cost from €226,000 to €355,000 (Cdn$350,000 to $550,000) will start this summer and go for sale off plans in six to eight months' time. Owners can put units into a rental pool, and will get 55 per cent of the income.
Firelight, a development of two-bed homes at Brewer's Pond (a skating rink in winter) have just gone on sale, and in the area generally, up to 300 homes are in the pipeline.
www. skisilverstar.com
www.firelightlodge.com
www.donkassa.com
Getting there: costs around €800, flying to Vancouver or Calgary, then to Kelowna
