Skiers and snowboarders will find a fresh new face greeting them as they arrive for their first day of the season on Canada’s Best Snow.

Sunshine’s Creekside building, the large clock-tower structure that faces the main parking lot, is getting extensive interior and exterior renovations over the summer. The bell has tolled on the tower itself, and the rest of the building has been torn to barely more than a steel skeleton as part of a major refit for the fall.
When skiers and riders arrive for the Nov. 11th season opening (weather permitting), they’re find a beautiful new facade that will make the building barely recognizable. The architecturally designed exterior will be finished in glass and the natural stone found on the resort, to more closely reflect a contemporary mountain look.

More important are the changes on the inside. The Creekside restaurant is getting nearly twice as much floor space, about 35 more customer seats and a completely new kitchen. The bar is being relocated to the north-east corner of the building, and there will be a new entrance. The retail outlet, meanwhile, is moving to the second floor of the building, accessible by a new staircase in the tower area. The Grab ‘n Go coffee shop will move to where the retail shop was last year, and retail moves to larger space upstairs. The skier services area on the second floor remains where it is, but with a crisp, updated look.
The building was constructed in the late 1970s as the base terminal for the resort’s first gondola. When the gondola was replaced about a decade ago with the eight-passenger Poma model, the building was refitted for guests, with lockers, the Creekside restaurant, hotel check-in and skier services.

The major renovation is just part of a multimillion-dollar investment in Sunshine Village this summer to improve customer convenience and the skiing and snowboarding experience. The other big project this summer is installation of the new Strawberry Express high-speed quad lift, a legacy to the 2010 Games in Vancouver and a lasting tribute to the Alberta athletes who competed there.
In fact, more than $60 million has been invested in recent years, in projects that include: the new Sunshine Mountain Lodge, new lifts, gondola and other improvements to the resort. The new West Wing of the Lodge opened last December, to rave reviews from the media and guests alike.
It’s the reason that Sunshine remains Alberta’s favourite ski and snowboard report, according to a major annual poll.

“We’re putting money back into Sunshine, to make it the best possible experience for our guests,” says Ralph Scurfield, Sunshine’s CEO and principle shareholder. “Our goal is constant improvement.”