Winter in the Okanagan
51 outdoor destinations for winter across the Okanagan Valley.
Ski resorts, Nordic centres and snowshoe trails, plus the parks that stay open for winter walks.
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Adventure Skating Loop & Shinny Pond – Apex
Apex's Adventure Skating Loop is the thing visitors photograph and then can't quite explain to friends: a kilometre of Zamboni-smoothed ice looping through the forest, so that you skate between the trees rather than around a rink, with the snow banked high on either side and the lights coming on as the afternoon fades. The resort calls it famous with some justification — there is nothing else like it in the Okanagan. Beside it sits the Shinny Pond for pickup hockey (sticks stay on the pond, not the loop), and a new Skate Shack at the start of the loop, near the road into the village, sells skate passes and rents skates and helmets on weekends (Friday and Saturday noon to 8 pm, Sunday noon to 6 pm), with rentals also available daily from the main rental shop — a deposit is required, and after hours the skates go into the dropbox at the Gunbarrel Saloon. For 2026/27 a full-day skate pass is $15 for ages 13 and up and $7.50 for 12 and under, good for both the loop and the pond. Everyone on the ice wears skates, helmets are recommended, and strollers and carried children stay off the surface. It is weather-dependent natural ice, maintained daily when conditions allow, and part of Apex's Friday and Saturday night line-up along with night skiing and tubing — so plan a lap under the lights and then thaw out at the Gunbarrel.
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Apex Mountain Resort
Apex is Penticton's home mountain, a short 30-minute drive from town — 33 km, and 23 km from Penticton Airport — with 2,000 vertical feet and 1,112 skiable acres of north-east-facing terrain that catches the region's dry champagne powder, about 500 cm of it a year. Its 85 runs break down as 11 novice, 27 intermediate and 43 advanced, served by a high-speed quad, a triple chair, a T-bar and a magic carpet, and four terrain parks step up from the kids' Little Nuggets through Okanagan and Prospector to the big-feature Claim Jumper. Friday and Saturday nights are Apex's signature: from 4 to 9 pm the T-bar and Magic Carpet run under lights for night skiing on the Okanagan Run and the lit Okanagan Terrain Park, the tube park glows for night tubing, the skating loop is open late from its new Skate Shack, and the Gunbarrel Saloon — voted Canada's best après-ski bar ten times running — sits at the bottom of the run; Friday nights come with half-price lift tickets and rentals. Off the slopes, the Tim Hortons Tube Park and the kilometre-long Adventure Skating Loop through the trees each have their own page on Okanagan Roam, and Nickel Plate Nordic Centre is 6.5 km further up the road. When you arrive, take a left at the Y for the main parking lot; a winter shuttle runs from Penticton on weekends. Apex operates in winter only.
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Baldy Mountain Resort
Baldy is the South Okanagan's ski hill, tucked between the desert country around Oliver and the West Kootenays, with a summit at 2,310 metres and a day lodge at 1,726 metres giving 1,315 vertical feet of skiing on 360 acres of trails, 240 of them gladed, fed by 25 to 35 feet of dry powder a year and famous for its tree runs. It is a small, friendly, family hill that started in 1968 and still runs on that spirit: short lift lines, the Eagle Chair deliberately rested on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that Thursday is 'Big Pow Thursday', and a terrain park for those who want it. New for this winter is cat skiing — a snowcat from the top of the Eagle Chair to Baldy's upper terrain, 180 more metres of vertical and 120 acres of new lines, running Friday to Sunday by single ride or private booking with an Eagle lift ticket. The Magic Carpet stays open until 7 pm on Friday and Saturday nights for tubing and beginner skiing under the lights, the tubing lane runs straight off its top, and for something completely different you can borrow discs at the ticket office and play winter disc golf on the course beside the Sugarlump Chair. About 13 kilometres of snowshoe trail, with rentals and guided tours, has its own page on Okanagan Roam, as does the volunteer-run McKinney Nordic snowshoe area on the road up. The Corduroy Café and the upstairs Baldy Bar anchor the lodge, and in summer the Roundhouse Station Coffee Bar opens Fridays and Saturdays alongside the Pine & Peak Artisan Markets. The access road turns to gravel near the top: winter tyres are strongly recommended.
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Baldy Snowshoe Trails
Baldy's snowshoe trails are the quiet side of the South Okanagan's ski hill: about 13 kilometres of marked trail, by the resort's count, threading the high forest around the day lodge at 1,726 metres, where the same dry, light powder that draws skiers piles up on the branches and muffles everything. The network is laid out for explorers of varying abilities, from gentle wanders to longer loops with views over the valley toward the desert country, and because it sits at elevation the snow is reliable from around November to April. You can go your own way with the resort's snowshoe map, rent snowshoes from the rental team if you don't have your own, or ask about a guided tour — the resort's guides will take you out and show you the mountain from the trees. It is a genuinely family-friendly outing and an easy add-on to a day when only some of your group wants to ride the lifts, with the Corduroy Café and the Baldy Bar in the lodge for the warm-up afterwards. Baldy is about 45 minutes from Oliver up a road that turns to gravel near the top, so bring winter tyres, and check the resort's opening dates for the coming season before you go.
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Big White Horse-Drawn Sleigh Rides & Dining Tours
There is no quieter way to see Big White's forest than from under a blanket in a horse-drawn sleigh, the runners hissing over the snow and the trees ticking past in the cold. The resort's sleigh rides leave from outside the Happy Valley Day Lodge from December 14, 2026 through March 30, 2027: half-hour rides in the mid-afternoon ($38 for ages 12 and up, $27 for children 4 to 11, tots on a lap free) and hour-long rides at 11 am and 1 pm ($48 / $37), all open to every age and made for families. For something more intimate, a small private sleigh seats up to four for an hour in the late afternoon ($365) — the resort's own word for it is romantic, and on a starlit evening it is hard to argue. The dinner version is the one people talk about: a sleigh ride through the snow-covered trails to a cabin in the woods, where the resort's culinary team serves a family-style gourmet meal at two tables of six, with coffee, tea and water provided and your own wine welcome. Dining tours must be booked at least a day ahead (tell the Activities Desk about dietary needs 72 hours out), group rides run on Wednesdays only during peak holiday periods, dogs cannot come along, and the horses are not to be approached without the driver's say-so. Book online or at the Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall, dress warmly with winter boots, and be ten minutes early — the sleighs leave on time.
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Big White Nordic & Wilderness Trails
Away from the chairlifts, Big White keeps 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails winding through the forest and meadows around Happy Valley — cross-country skiing from beginner loops to advanced climbs, a separate set of Wilderness trails for snowshoeing where leashed dogs are welcome, and the Trapping Meadows trail set aside for fat bikes. The trailhead is at the bottom of the beginner slope in the Happy Valley Adventure Centre (take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; there is a second access from the Black Forest lot), and the resort grooms and patrols the network daily, posting grooming updates online. Access is included with any Big White day lift ticket or season pass; otherwise a trail pass is sold at the ticket offices, and Nordic ski and snowshoe packages can be rented at the Village Centre Mall. If you would rather be shown around, the resort runs two-hour guided snowshoe tours twice daily — an interpretive group tour for ages 16 and up ($64 per person, less booked in advance) that mixes local ecology with big views, and a private Family Adventure tour for ages 8 and up ($164 for a group of up to eight) — with small groups, a local host and the trail pass sold separately. Warm up afterwards in the Happy Valley Day Lodge, and if you are here after dark, the Twinkling Trail begins on the same trail system.
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Big White Ski Resort
Big White is the Okanagan's big mountain resort, up the road from Kelowna and open year-round. It is the second-largest family ski resort in British Columbia — 2,834 acres of patrolled terrain, one of Canada's largest modern lift systems and more than seven metres of the champagne powder behind its motto, 'it's the snow' — and from December 18 it also runs the largest night-skiing operation in Western Canada, lighting the Bullet Express and Plaza Chair for 38 acres and the longest night vertical in North America, with TELUS Park lit on Friday and Saturday nights. Free Snow Host mountain tours leave the Village Centre every morning at 10:15, and for the 2026/27 season Happy Valley's beginner area gains Polar Passage, a new covered conveyor lift with expanded teaching terrain. Happy Valley is also where the rest of Big White's winter lives: the Tube Park, Canada's highest outdoor skating rink, 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails, the illuminated Twinkling Trail, Candle Creek Kennels' dog-sled tours, Outback's snowmobile tours and the horse-drawn sleigh rides — each with its own page on Okanagan Roam. The 2026/27 season runs November 26, 2026 to April 4, 2027. In summer the mountain turns into a bike park — downhill trails, the Big White Slopestyle Centre and a beginner skills area — with scenic rides on the Bullet Chair, e-bike tours and a real alpine hiking network: the 4.5 km Rhonda Lake Trail drops from the top of the chair through spruce and pine to a lake hidden under the Cliff bowl (about an hour one way, 456 metres of elevation), the 1 km Peak Trail loops along the Cliff Bowl rim to the summit cairn in 45 minutes, the 4 km Falcon Ridge Trail climbs the face of the mountain past wildflower streams to a scramble at the saddle, and the short, steep Jamieson Loop finds the last of the winter snow. The resort suggests three hours for the classic loop up Falcon Ridge and down to Rhonda Lake, backed by its wildflower and bird field guides. Hikers ride the chair until 4 p.m. (6 p.m. on Fridays), and dogs are welcome on the lift and must be leashed on the trails. The resort lists driving, parking and EV charging among its free amenities, offers overnight RV parking in summer, and runs shuttles from Kelowna and the airport.
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Big White Tube Park (Happy Valley)
Big White's Tube Park is the loudest, happiest corner of Happy Valley: five specially groomed lanes dropping off the hillside, a tube lift that hauls fifty riders an hour back to the top, and the kind of speed that has grown adults shrieking like their kids. No skill and no equipment are needed — just a sense of adventure — and because the park runs into the evening, it is the classic after-lifts plan. Tickets are sold for timed two-hour windows (afternoons and evenings, with more sessions on weekends and holidays) and only a limited number go on sale for each hour, so book online ahead and arrive at your start time to squeeze in the most runs. Children need to be 42 inches (106 cm) tall to ride alone; smaller kids can still tube, with a paying adult holding the tether beside them, and everyone gets their own tube — no laps, and no ski boots or hard-shell boots. Linking tubes into a chain is allowed when conditions permit. You reach it by Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre or by parking in the Happy Valley lot; leashed dogs are welcome in the Adventure Park, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot food, and Big White's skating rink and Twinkling Trail are steps away.
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Brewer's Pond Skating – SilverStar
Brewer's Pond is two and a half acres of natural ice in SilverStar's Adventure Park, and skating on it feels the way skating is supposed to feel: outdoors, under the mountain, with a fire crackling at the edge and music drifting over the snow. The resort's Zamboni keeps the surface as smooth as a pond allows, so it suits everyone from first-timers to figure skaters, and there is room for a proper game of pond hockey — one shinny game and one net game at a time, no slap shots or raised pucks, fifteen-minute turns when others are waiting, helmets recommended. From early January to late February you can even watch the resort's staff battle it out on Wednesday evenings. Skating is included in the resort's My1Pass day ticket and season pass; everyone on the ice, tots included, needs a valid ticket and skates (no shoes), and skate rentals, stick rentals and sharpening are at the Brewer's Pond Base beside the pond, which opens fifteen minutes before the pond does. Circling the pond is the Bear Byway, an interpretive loop of seven bear sculptures by BC artists with signs on bear behaviour and safety — pick up the scavenger-hunt sheet at Guest Services or Tube Town and trade a completed one for a sticker. Because this is real ice, the pond's status can change without warning; check before you come. Tube Town Café & Bar is right there for the warm-up afterwards.
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Candle Creek Kennels – Dog Sled Tours at Big White
The most Canadian half hour you can spend at Big White starts at a small cabin in the Happy Valley Adventure Park, where the dogs are already singing. Candle Creek Kennels runs the resort's dog-sled tours with a team of enthusiastic Alaskan huskies, and the experience begins before the sled moves: an orientation that introduces you to the dogs, the sled and the harnessing, so you understand what you are about to be part of. Then the team leans into the traces and you are away on a six-kilometre groomed trail through Big White's pine forest and alpine meadows — about half an hour of mushing with the mountain scenery sliding past. Candle Creek is one of the operators that helped write British Columbia's Sled Dog Code of Practice, and the wellbeing of the dogs is visibly the point of the operation. Each sled carries up to two riders (130 kg combined) at $399 per sled for the 2026/27 season; children must be at least three, and those aged three to ten wear a helmet, so bring your ski helmet. Wear warm layers, insulated boots and goggles for the flying snow, arrive at the dog-sled cabin no more than five minutes early, and leave the ski boots behind — they are dangerous around the dogs. Book through Big White's Activities Desk (250-491-6111, [email protected]); tours run rain, snow or shine, and there are no refunds or changes within seven days of departure.
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Carmi Recreational Trails
The Carmi Recreational Trails are a loop network on the plateau east of Penticton, maintained as a recreation site by Recreation Sites and Trails BC, with the Okanagan View Loop as the main outing: 7 km of packed gravel rated moderate, with a warming hut, benches and a vista point at its northwest corner. The Carmi Loop is an easier 3 km circuit. The trails are used for hiking and mountain biking in summer and snowshoeing in winter. The Garnet Fire Interpretive Site parking lot — 6.2 km up Carmi Avenue and 2.3 km on Beaver Dell Road — has an outhouse, a kiosk and two picnic tables, and there are no fees; a second access is 4 km up the Ellis Forest Service Road. The provincial recreation-site rules ask you to keep pets quiet and under control at all times; no leash rule is published for this site.
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Crawford Trails – Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park
Crawford is what Kelowna riders call the trail network in the western part of Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park, above the Upper Mission, reached from the Stewart Road East trailhead. Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan describes more than 150 km of multi-use trails here, from flowy singletrack to technical rock gardens and challenging descents, with difficulty ranging from beginner to expert but most routes falling in intermediate or advanced terrain — it is where many local riders learned to mountain bike. BC Parks permits cycling in the park, with e-bikes allowed on signed and designated trails, and warns of natural hazards including steep drop-offs at Crawford Falls and Devil’s Elbow and falling rock; the Little White Trail between Pooley Creek and Upper Crawford is closed. Dogs must be kept under control. The Myra Canyon trestles lie in the same park but are reached from their own trailheads on the Myra and June Springs roads. A pit toilet is provided at the Stewart Road East trailhead; parking costs are not published.
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Enderby Arena
Enderby's arena at the John Pritchard Memorial Sports Complex offers something rare: free public skating, several days a week, from September 1 through March. The schedule is built around after-school and weekend hours — Tuesday to Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m., Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. — and admission costs nothing. It is a straightforward, old-fashioned skate: no sticks or pucks on the ice, strollers welcome, everyone on the surface in skates, and helmets strongly recommended. Bring your own gear, as rentals are not listed. The building seats 900 and is the home of the Enderby Ice Hawks and the town's minor-hockey and skating-lesson programs, so check the arena calendar for the odd closure around games and tournaments. Enderby & District Recreation Services (250-838-2665) can confirm the week's times.
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Graystokes Snowmobile Area – Kelowna Snowmobile Club
The Graystokes is the Central Okanagan's big sledding country: a high plateau of meadows, bowls and forest roads east of Kelowna where the Kelowna Snowmobile Club, riding since 1968, grooms more than 300 kilometres of trail across Graystokes Provincial Park and the Myra-Bellevue zone and keeps eight warm-up cabins stocked and standing — Main Cabin, Hilltop, K-Dog, Uncle Tom's and Whitehouse in the Graystokes, and Doghouse, Canyon Lakes and Priest Creek on the Myra side. The pin here marks the Graystokes Main staging lot; the club also publishes the 201 and Myra staging areas, and its trail maps, GPS waypoints and an interactive Gaia map are free to download. A day pass is $30 including tax, bought online through the club's store before you go, and proof of purchase is checked at the staging areas — BCSF members save $5 at the trailhead. Only snowmobiles are allowed on the groomed trails in winter (no ATVs or tracked side-by-sides), and this is avalanche and backcountry terrain, so ride prepared. The club's annual events and grooming updates are posted on its site and social channels.
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Happy Valley Ice Skating Rink – Big White
At the top of the road to Big White, ringed by snow-ghosted trees and mountains, sits what the resort calls Canada's highest outdoor skating rink — an Olympic-hockey-sized sheet of ice in Happy Valley that turns an ordinary winter evening into a postcard. It is fully lit for night skating, there is a bonfire beside it every afternoon after 3 pm to thaw your hands, and "ice buddies" are on hand to steady beginners, so it works just as well for a first wobble as for a fast lap. Locals turn up for pickup hockey — no slap shots, no raising the puck — and families come for the simple pleasure of gliding under the stars. Skates, hockey sticks and helmets can be rented at the Happy Valley rental shop (a waiver is required, signed by a parent or guardian for anyone under 19), and everyone entering the rink must be on skates: no shoes, strollers or wheelchairs on the ice, and helmets are recommended. Take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and turn right at the Happy Valley Day Lodge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; the lodge has heated washrooms and hot snacks, and the Tube Park and Twinkling Trail are next door. Like any outdoor ice, the rink can close in mild or stormy weather — check the resort's hours before you lace up.
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Jeffers Park Skating Rink
Lavington's Jeffers Park rink is the kind of place that makes a Canadian winter: a covered outdoor sheet, built and run entirely by volunteers of the Lavington Community Association, free to use and first-come, first-served. The roof — funded with help from the District of Coldstream and the Regional District — keeps the ice skateable through snowfalls, and the lights stay on until 10:45 p.m. The rink opens at 9 a.m. each day (it is closed from 8 to 9 for setup), and while sticks and pucks are welcome at most hours, there is a protected public skate with no sticks daily from 4 to 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9 to 10. On weekdays the ice belongs to Lavington Elementary classes during school hours, so plan for after-school or weekend visits. There are no rentals and no bookings, no footwear or strollers on the ice, and the surface is weather-dependent — it can close without notice in a thaw. In summer the slab becomes a sports court.
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Johns Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park
Johns Family Nature Conservancy is more than 400 hectares of parkland in south Kelowna with panoramic views of the Okanagan Valley and trails that lead to The Crags, a well-known climbing spot. It is also Canada's third Nocturnal Preserve, a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designation that keeps artificial light to a minimum, so the sky here is as much of a draw as the view. The main parking lot is off Chute Lake Road just outside the city boundary, less than 1 km along the gravel. Hikers can also start from Lakeshore Road: the Lebanon Creek Greenway is a 2.3 km climb with 450 metres of elevation gain up to the top of the Crags, with shorter trails to make a loop or reach the Kettle Valley neighbourhood; its Lakeshore Road vehicle entrance is closed from November 1 to April 1. A washroom is on site, dogs are welcome on leash, and hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November 1 to April 1.
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Kelowna Memorial Arena
Memorial Arena is the old downtown rink on Ellis Street, a few blocks from the waterfront, and in winter it hosts City of Kelowna public skating alongside a dedicated Seniors Skate — a quieter, slower session that regulars prize. It is a bring-your-own-skates building: there are no rentals here, so if you need gear, use Rutland Arena or the Stuart Park rental hut instead. Sessions are pre-booked online through the City's recreation portal (bring your confirmation email); admission follows the City scale of $4.75 general, $4 for children 6 to 13, $3 for preschoolers and $12 for a family of two adults and three kids, with the child and preschool rates arranged by phone at 250-469-8800 because online booking sells only the general rate. Public skating returns each October, and a skate here pairs naturally with a downtown lunch or a walk along the lake.
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Kelowna Nordic Ski and Snowshoe Club
Kelowna's own cross-country and snowshoe area lies in the McCulloch highlands southeast of the city, roughly 20 to 45 minutes from town on paved highway. The club grooms 75 km of double-tracked trails with a good range of difficulty, normally finished by 10 a.m., alongside marked snowshoe trails, warming cabins and designated K-9 trails where dogs are welcome. Three parking areas serve the system: the Kallis lot on Highway 33 just past the Big White Road junction (ski access only), the Summit lot 0.9 km further with ski and snowshoe trails, a shelter and outhouse, and the main lot 4.5 km along McCulloch Road with the cabin and both trail types. Day passes and memberships are sold by the club; check the grooming report before you go.
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Knox Mountain Park
Knox Mountain is Kelowna's largest natural area park, 385 hectares rising roughly 300 metres above Okanagan Lake just north of downtown, and its lookouts are the classic view of the city. The park moves from lakeshore to mountain top through riparian, wetland, ponderosa pine bunchgrass and Douglas-fir ecosystems that the City describes as fragile and easily eroded, so stay on the trails. Walking, running, hiking, road and mountain biking, birding and winter recreation are all part of life here. The park is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; vehicles may drive Knox Mountain Drive to the first lookout from noon to 8 p.m. in the frost-free season, and the road closes in winter, for events and in extreme wildfire risk. Motorized vehicles are not permitted elsewhere in the park. Additional parking is at the western base off Poplar Point Drive. Signature routes include the Apex Trail to the upper lookout — about 5 km round trip on dirt trails with stairs, a moderate 45 minutes to an hour and a half — the 3 km lakeshore walk to Paul's Tomb and Kathleen Lake, the 3.2 km road climb from the base to the top, and the Lochview Trail that connects the park's north side. Dogs must be on leash except in the designated off-leash dog park at 450 Knox Mountain Drive, and smoking, vaping and cannabis are banned in all City parks.
♥ Local Favourite
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Kuipers' Peak Mountain Park
Kuipers' Peak Mountain Park in Kelowna's Upper Mission is a short hike with a big reward: five to ten minutes to the top, with some sections that will get your heart rate up, and a stunning view of Okanagan Lake from the peak. The hillside is still recovering from the 2003 wildfire, and the City also features the park for winter snowshoeing. The trailhead is at 792 Kuipers Crescent, reached via South Ridge Drive. Dogs are allowed on-leash only.
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MNP Place
MNP Place — the multi-rink complex on Gordon Drive that many locals still call the Capital News Centre — is where Kelowna's hockey players get their drop-in fix. From Thanksgiving to Spring Break the leisure rink opens for weekday public skating, with skate and skate-trainer rentals on hand (no helmet rentals, and helmets are required for anyone under 18). The real draw is the ice-time menu: Stick & Puck sessions run in late-morning and midday slots for skaters of any age who want to work on their shot — $10 to $11 a person, capped at 30 skaters, helmets mandatory with a CSA face cage for under-18s, and strictly no scrimmages, goalies or lessons, because the session is unsupervised. Adult Drop-In Hockey (19+) is a friendly, fast-paced game offered several times a week between late morning and mid-afternoon, and goalies skate free. Everything is booked through the DaySmart Recreation calendar on the venue's site, so check it for the week's times before you drive over.
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McKinney Nordic Ski Club – Snowshoe & Cross-Country Trails
Twenty-seven kilometres up McKinney Road from Oliver, a few minutes before the road reaches Baldy Mountain Resort, the McKinney Nordic Ski Club keeps a small, volunteer-run trail area alive on the old logging roads south of the mountain. Right now it is a snowshoe destination: roughly five kilometres of marked snowshoe trail — the Dogleg Trail among them — maintained through the winter by club volunteers, with a shelter at the Junction, a toilet at the trailhead and use by donation. The club's nine kilometres of cross-country ski trail are still there, but they are not being groomed: the club's groomer and its long-time operator retired after the 2023/24 season, and while the members have the funds and the will to bring track-setting back, no grooming has been announced for the coming winter, so treat the ski trails as ungroomed backcountry touring at best and check the club's Facebook page for the latest. What you get in return is elevation — the trails sit around 1,400 metres, with Baldy's 2,300-metre summit above — reliable snow, quiet, and a place where dogs and families are welcome and parking is free. Founded in 1990 as the Inkameep X-Country Ski Club and moved to this higher, snowier site in 1995, it is the kind of grassroots outdoor club the South Okanagan does well; if you are heading to Baldy anyway, it is an easy stop on the way up.
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McLaren Park Arena
McLaren Park Arena is Penticton's go-to public-skating rink, open for skating from October to mid-March and on Saturdays through the rest of the year, with a program for every kind of skater. Open Public Skate is the classic loop; Family Skate keeps a section for the littlest (children seven and under skate with a guardian); Adult Only Skate (18+) is the relaxed session; and Lap Skate (8+) is for fitness, with direction changes to keep it honest. Hockey players get non-contact Drop-In Hockey for 16-and-over and a 55+ session, both in full gear, and toddlers get their start at Preschool Stick 'N Puck for ages 1 to 5 with a parent, gloves, a caged CSA helmet and a stick. Single admission is $5.50 for adults 19 to 59, $4.50 for youth 13 to 18 and seniors 60 to 74, $3.50 for children 7 to 12 and $2.25 for preschoolers, or $14 for a family, and skate rentals are $4.25 ($3.25 for preschoolers). Helmets are strongly recommended for skating and required with a face cage for hockey players under 18. Session times are posted on the City's online booking system.
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Mount Boucherie Arenas – Jim Lind Arena & Royal LePage Place
West Kelowna's two arenas sit side by side at the Mount Boucherie Complex — Jim Lind Arena, the community rink, and Royal LePage Place, home of the West Kelowna Warriors — and between them they run one of the fullest drop-in ice programs in the valley. Public and family skates are the anchor, with adult-only sessions for a calmer glide, an adaptive skate, and Big & Little sessions where parents skate with toddlers (helmets mandatory, and it is the only session where strollers are allowed on the ice). Hockey players get Adult Stick & Puck, a Kids Stick & Puck and Ring session that requires a full cage, and Noon Hour Hockey, a registered drop-in scrimmage where booking ahead guarantees a spot. Admission is $5.85 for adults, $4.35 for youth 13 to 18 and seniors 55 and over, $3.50 for children 5 to 12 and seniors 75+, $1.75 for tots under five, or $14 for a family, and skate rentals are $2.95 a pair. The City publishes the season's schedules as downloadable calendars, so check the current one for times; skate aids are not permitted in the public sessions.
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Myra Canyon – Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park
Myra Canyon is the Okanagan's signature rail-trail day: the historic Kettle Valley Railway grade curls around the canyon southeast of Kelowna on its trestles, and BC Parks has placed 14 viewpoint benches along the way, with the trestles themselves opening onto the valley and the steep, rocky canyon walls. Walk it or ride it — cyclists are asked to walk their bikes across the trestles, and e-bikes are allowed on the signed trails. Pit toilets sit at the Myra, Ruth and Stewart Road East trailheads and just beyond Trestles 1 and 8. Dogs must be kept under control, and BC Parks notes the backcountry beyond the trail is not suitable for pets. The park stays open through winter, when Little White Mountain offers backcountry skiing and snowshoeing. The classic day is the 12 km one-way section between the Myra and June Springs access points, with 18 trestles and bridges concentrated in an 8.8 km stretch; BC Parks lists roughly 75 parking spots at Myra and about 33 at June Springs, plus the Stewart Road East access from Kelowna. The Little White Trail (Pooley Creek to Upper Crawford) is closed.
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Nickel Plate Nordic Centre
Nickel Plate sits at 1,850 metres, 6.5 km past Apex Mountain Resort on the Hedley/Nickel Plate Road and about 45 minutes from downtown Penticton, and its elevation gives it one of the longest ski seasons in Canada. There are 45 km of groomed trails for both classic and skate skiing and 22.5 km of marked snowshoe trails, with rentals, lessons and snowshoe tours through the season. Dogs are welcome on the K-9 loop at any time, and on the Evening Star, Nighthawk and Speculator trails on Thursdays and Sundays after 1 p.m., subject to grooming and weather; keep them on leash and pack out their waste. Day passes, flex passes and memberships are sold through the centre.
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Nor-Val Sports Centre
Armstrong's Nor-Val Sports Centre — its ice sheet currently carries the name Sunbelt Arena — runs a friendly weekday drop-in program from September 9 to the end of March that is unusually welcoming to adults who just want to play. Adult and senior (55+) shinny fills the ice on Monday and Friday mornings from 10 to 11:30, an open adult (19+) shinny takes Wednesday at the same hour, and each is $7.50. Wednesday continues with an adult and seniors' skate from 11:45 to 12:45 for $2, Friday has a free parent-and-tot skate at the same time, and the whole town turns out for the Sunday Family Skate from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at $5 a person (under-twos free), with $2 Toonie Skates on select dates through the fall. There are no skate rentals, so bring your own, and the arena is closed on December 11 and 25. Times can shift for tournaments, so confirm with Armstrong Spallumcheen Parks and Recreation before a special trip.
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Okanagan Rec Rentals – Snowmobile Tours
Okanagan Rec Rentals is the way to snowmobile the SilverStar backcountry without owning a sled: the Vernon-based outfitter runs guided tours that depart from SilverStar Mountain Resort and follow a local guide into the snow-laden forest and open terrain behind the mountain, and the resort itself points visitors to them. Tours come in one-hour (departing 10 a.m. and noon), two-hour (noon and 3 p.m.) and three-hour versions (9 a.m. and 3 p.m., hot chocolate included), and every price covers safety gear and a snowmobile orientation before you set off. A one-hour tour is $159 for a single rider, $239 with a passenger or $209 with a child 12 and under riding behind you; two hours is $239, $339 or $299; three hours $319, $419 or $399. A $1,500 damage deposit per snowmobile is taken at check-in, and groups of three or more sleds should book in advance. The company also rents snowmobiles for self-guided riding from its Okanagan Landing Road base in Vernon — call 250-549-3613 for rental rates and rider requirements.
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Outback Snowmobile Tours – Big White
For the fastest way into Big White's backcountry, meet Outback Snowmobile Tours at the snowmobile hut tucked behind the Happy Valley skating rink. The tours are built for people who have never sat on a sled: a guide sets the pace to the least experienced rider, the routes are chosen for scenery — forest, open meadows and long views over the Monashees — and there are photo stops along the way. The one-hour tour, departing late morning and again in the early evening, is the classic introduction; the two-hour tour, running three times a day, gets deeper into the pristine terrain and is the resort's pick for families and first-timers who want more. Ride your own machine or double up with a passenger, and if you have come without snow gear, adult-sized snowmobile clothing and helmets are provided. Drivers must be at least 16 with a valid driver's licence (and parental consent under 19), passengers just need to be taller than 91 cm, every rider signs a waiver, and each group leaves a credit-card damage deposit at the hut — an optional loss-waiver caps your liability. Book through Big White's Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall (250-491-6111) or online, arrive thirty minutes before departure with your licence, goggles and a neck warmer, and be aware that tours are non-refundable inside 72 hours and go ahead in poor visibility. Hot food and heated washrooms are a short walk away in the Happy Valley Day Lodge.
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Pat Duke Memorial Arena
Lumby's Pat Duke Memorial Arena, built as a Centennial project in 1967, is the village's winter living room: a single standard-size ice sheet with change rooms that hosts minor hockey, figure skating and the men's and women's hockey leagues — and, for visitors, free public skating. There is no charge for public skating or for the parent-and-tot and seniors' skate sessions, which makes it one of the best-value ice times in the North Okanagan and a natural stop on a snowy day heading for the Monashees. The schedule lives on the Regional District of North Okanagan's online booking calendar and changes week to week, and the arena closes to public skating on Lumby Minor Hockey tournament weekends, so check the calendar or call 250-547-2171 before you go. Bring your own skates.
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Peachland Outdoor Ice Rink (Mountain View Park)
Peachland's outdoor rink is a labour of love. Every evening at 9 p.m. through the cold snap, volunteers from Peachland Fire and Rescue flood the surface at Mountain View Park — the old riding-club grounds about five kilometres up Princeton Avenue, across from the District's Public Works yard — and the next morning it opens free to anyone, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with lights for the evening. It is set up for 3-on-3 hockey as well as pleasure skating, so bring sticks if you want a game, and bring everything else too: there are no rentals and the ice cannot be booked privately. Because the rink relies on natural freezing, it only runs when temperatures stay below zero for a stretch, typically from late December or January into February, and a warm week can close it; the District posts status updates, and 250-767-2647 can confirm before you drive up the hill.
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Penticton Outdoor Skating Rink (Gyro Park)
Penticton's free outdoor rink sits in Gyro Park at the foot of Martin Street, a short walk from the Okanagan Lake beach and the downtown cafés, and in the run-up to Christmas the park's holiday light display — up from early December to late January — makes an evening skate here genuinely magical. The rink is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily when the weather allows and costs nothing; it is a family-skating rink, so leave the hockey sticks at home, and there are no rentals, so bring your own skates and helmet. City crews may be on the ice for maintenance during opening hours, and warm spells close it without much notice, so treat it as a bonus on a cold, clear day rather than a guarantee. For a scheduled skate or rentals, McLaren Park Arena on King Street is the indoor alternative.
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Predator Ridge Trails
Predator Ridge has built one of the North Okanagan’s signature riding networks on the Commonage between Vernon and Kelowna: 13.5 km of dedicated bike trails plus a connector into Ellison Provincial Park, all open to the public and operated seasonally. Tourism Vernon’s advice is to take the climb for the Okanagan Lake views and then link Mantle, Granite, Rock Garden Playground and The Arches for one long rocky, granite-slab descent; the North Okanagan Cycling Society credits the resort with building trails such as Granite, Mantle and the Ellison Connector for the wider Vernon riding community. The resort’s Bike Hub at 1-799 Predator Ridge Drive is the base, and several parking areas serve the trailheads; parking costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the trails.
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Ravenwood Snowshoe Dinner Tours – SilverStar
Ravenwood is SilverStar's newest way to spend a winter evening: a guided snowshoe through the darkening forest to the new Ravenwood Cabin, where dinner is waiting. The resort bills it as an evening of adventure and gourmet delights, and that is the shape of it — a short snowshoe on packed trail with a guide (about two kilometres last season), the cabin's lights appearing through the snow-heavy branches, and a warm room and a meal cooked by the resort's kitchen team at the end of it. It runs as an evening programme from the village and pairs beautifully with a day of skiing or a weekend at the resort when you want one night that is nothing like the others. Ravenwood Cabin opened for the 2025/26 season; dates, seatings and pricing for the coming winter are announced by the resort and booked through Guest Services ([email protected]), so check the SilverStar winter-activities page before you plan around it, and dress for a night walk in the mountains.
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Rodney's REEL Outdoors – Ice Fishing Charters
Rodney's REEL Outdoors turns the Okanagan's frozen mountain lakes into a proper winter day out. Ice-fishing charters run from mid-December, once the ice is safe, through late March: you meet the guide in West Kelowna at 8 a.m., drive up to a trout lake — and, depending on the snow, either park at the shore or ride the last stretch in by snowmobile — and fish until the return around 5 p.m. Everything is supplied: rods rigged with tungsten jigs, spoons and flies, a gas auger, an underwater camera to watch the rainbow, brook trout and perch come in, a six-man ice hut for the cold or windy days, a fire on shore, and a hot lunch of smokies roasted over the coals with snacks and hot chocolate, plus fish cleaning and bagging at the end. Ice charters are full-day only and priced per trip rather than per person — $900 for one or two anglers and $1,000 for three or four, plus GST and gratuity, with a lunch upgrade available — and take up to four anglers per guide. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required and not included; buy it online before the day. The same outfitter runs open-water charters on the big lakes the rest of the year.
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Rutland Arena
Rutland Arena is Kelowna's public-skating workhorse: two NHL-sized sheets on Dodd Road where the City runs open public skates, parent-and-tot sessions and dedicated seniors' skates through the winter, with the season reopening each October. It is the easiest place in the city to skate without owning gear, because the rental counter carries skates, helmets and push-along skate bars, and there is sharpening on site — the same rental line (866-313-5071) can answer sizing questions before you come. Public skating is pre-booked online through the City's recreation portal up to seven days ahead; bring the confirmation email as your ticket. General admission is $4.75, with children 6 to 13 at $4, preschoolers $3 and a family pass for two adults and three kids at $12. Only the general rate is sold online, so call Active Living & Culture at 250-469-8800 in advance to pay a child or preschool rate. Also known locally as the Rutland Twin Arena.
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SilverStar Cross-Country Ski Trails
SilverStar's own cross-country network is 55 kilometres of daily-groomed trail that starts right at the village — and with the neighbouring Sovereign Lake trails it forms the 105-kilometre system the resort calls the largest daily-groomed cross-country network in Canada. The trails are graded green, blue and black like the downhill runs, so a first-timer can spend the day on gentle loops while strong skiers head for the long climbs and the upper trails, and the Nordic ticket includes two lift rides so you can start high and glide home. Warming huts along the way make natural lunch stops, the viewpoints on both the lower and upper trails are worth the detour, a lit night loop keeps the season going after dark, and designated dog-friendly trails let the whole family come. Cross-country skiing is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, rentals and lessons are in the village, and the resort's volunteer Mountain Hosts run free daily cross-country tours that sample the network and point you toward more. Keep your pass visible on the trails, leave the ski chariot off the lifts, and check the grooming report before you clip in. SilverStar's Nordic season opens on November 20, 2026, a week ahead of the alpine lifts. For the club side of the same network, see Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre.
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SilverStar Fat Bike Trails
Who hasn't wanted to try a bike built for snow? SilverStar keeps 15 kilometres of single- and double-track fat-bike trail packed and signed through the winter, threading the same forest the snowshoers and cross-country skiers use, and the resort rents fat bikes in the village so you don't need to own one. The rules are simple and worth knowing before you roll out: tyres at least 3.75 inches wide and under 8 psi, a helmet at all times, stay on the designated fat-bike trails (Brian's and Eric's trails are not among them), give pedestrians the right of way, and stay off the trails when the temperature climbs above zero — soft snow ruts for everyone. Fat biking is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, or pick up a trail ticket at the ticket office; the Nordic Operations team checks conditions weekly, so look at the latest report and the trail map before you set out. It is a genuinely different way to see the mountain, and one of the few places in the Okanagan where winter riding is groomed for.
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SilverStar Mountain Resort
SilverStar is the North Okanagan's four-season mountain resort above Vernon, and in winter it is a whole village of things to do rather than a single ski hill. The alpine terrain runs to 3,304 acres and 133 runs over 760 metres of vertical, served by ten lifts including the Des Schumann Summit Express gondola, with long green and blue cruisers off the front side, steep powder-filled chutes on the Putnam Creek backside and three terrain parks; on Friday and Saturday nights the lights come on for four kilometres of groomed night skiing and the Bannister Night Park at Silver Queen. The resort's My1Pass idea is what sets it apart: one day ticket or season pass unlocks seven activities — downhill, cross-country skiing on the resort's 55-kilometre half of Canada's largest daily-groomed Nordic network, 16 kilometres of snowshoe trail, 15 kilometres of fat-bike trail, skating on Brewer's Pond, tubing at Tube Town and (with a season pass) night skiing — each of which has its own page on Okanagan Roam. Volunteer Mountain Hosts lead free guided tours of the alpine and Nordic trails every morning from Town Hall, snow-cat dinners run to Paradise Camp on the backside, and the new Ravenwood cabin hosts snowshoe dinner tours. The Nordic trails open on November 20, 2026 and the alpine season runs November 27, 2026 to April 4, 2027. Summer turns the same slopes into the SilverStar Bike Park — the resort describes it as one of Canada's best downhill mountain-bike experiences, with downhill, enduro and cross-country riding, skills areas and a pump track — while walkers and trail runners have 16 km of forest and mountain trails: the easy Paradise, Mountain View, Tin Tin and Sidewinder loops out of the village, the hiking-only Silver Queen Trail, and, from the top of the Des Schumann Summit Express gondola at 1,915 metres — some 300 metres above the village — the Ridge Walk (no bikes), the Attridge Scenic Loop and the Alpine Meadows. Hikers pick up a complimentary trail day ticket at the Ticket Office; Monday to Thursday the summit is reached by the Comet Express after a gentle 20-minute walk down to the lift. The resort publishes no dog rule for its trails, and the surrounding regional district requires dogs on leash unless in a designated off-leash area. Lessons, rentals, restaurants, cafés and lodging are in the resort village.
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SilverStar Snowshoe Trails
Sixteen kilometres of singletrack snowshoe trail weave through SilverStar's forest and the lower cross-country country, and they are the slow, quiet way to see the mountain: no lift lines, no learning curve, just the crunch of snow under your feet and the trees closing in around you. Trails range in difficulty and are marked with hand-carved wooden signs and reflective markers, so you can be out in the early evening blue light without losing your way, and there are two trailheads — one at the village and one at the Adventure Park by Brewer's Pond — so you can start from wherever you are staying or playing. Dogs are welcome on all the snowshoe trails on a leash, which makes this the best outing on the mountain for the family member who can't ski. Snowshoeing is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, or buy a trail ticket on its own, and snowshoe rentals are available in the village. The resort's Nordic team surveys the trails weekly; pick up a trail map, go at your own pace, and finish at Tube Town Café or the pond.
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Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre
Sovereign Lake is Canada's largest cross-country ski and snowshoe club, set inside Silver Star Provincial Park 22 km east of Vernon up Silver Star Road, just 2 km west of SilverStar Mountain Resort. The club grooms roughly 58 km of trails for classic and skate skiing — about 12 km novice, 14 km intermediate and 32 km advanced — plus 14 km of marked snowshoe trails, with day tickets, season passes, rentals and lessons available at the lodge. Dogs are permitted only on the designated dog ski trails, under full control, and never on the other ski trails or the snowshoe trails; dog owners are asked to use the lower parking lot, where a relatively flat 400-metre loop makes an easy first outing. BC Parks notes that the day lodge has the park's only flush toilets in winter. Signage on Highway 6 and Highway 97 points the way.
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Stuart Park Outdoor Rink
Skating at Stuart Park is Kelowna's signature winter picture: a free outdoor rink on the downtown waterfront with Okanagan Lake and the Bennett Bridge as the backdrop, the Sails sculpture a block away and cafés and restaurants on every side. The rink opens in early December, weather permitting, and skating costs nothing — bring your own skates and a helmet, or use the rental hut, which runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily with kids' skates for $4, adult skates for $5, helmets for $2 and push-along EZ bars for $2. The rental shop closes when the temperature drops below −10°C, so on the coldest days come equipped. In some seasons the City has asked skaters to book a time slot online, so check the City's skating page before a holiday-week visit. Stuart Park is also home to the Winter Street Market and Light Up in the run-up to Christmas, which turns an evening skate into a full night out downtown.
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Sun Bowl Arena
Skating in Canada's warmest town is free: the Rotary Club of Osoyoos sponsors public skating at the Sun Bowl Arena, so the Saturday session from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. and the Sunday afternoon skate from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. cost nothing, and if you have no skates the arena's Skate Library lends pairs for free during operating hours. Monday and Wednesday mornings from 10:30 to noon belong to the Senior & Tot Skate, an easygoing session for children five and under with a guardian and for seniors, and Tuesday and Thursday at the same hour is pick-up shinny for players 19 and over in full equipment. Helmets are required for both public skating and shinny. The Sun Bowl is also home to the Osoyoos Coyotes junior hockey club, so a public session is occasionally bumped by a booking — the town posts changes and the building is open 7 a.m. to midnight through the week.
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Telemark Nordic Club
Telemark is the Central Okanagan's Nordic centre, 9 km up Glenrosa Road in West Kelowna on a paved and plowed road — a 25-minute drive from downtown Kelowna and 15 minutes from downtown West Kelowna, with the parking lot 3 km before Crystal Mountain. The club grooms more than 50 km of cross-country trails for skate and classic skiing, several of them lit for night skiing, and maintains 60 km of snowshoe trails through quiet ponderosa forest, with rentals and lessons for all levels and a lodge with a fire to warm up beside. Day passes are straightforward: a one-day ski pass is $22 for adults and $11 for youth, night skiing $13 and $6.50, a snowshoe pass $11 and $5.50, and the K9 trail $6, all including GST, with children under six free. The lodge sits at about 1,000 metres.
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Tim Hortons Tube Park – Apex
The Tim Hortons Tube Park is Apex's guaranteed-laughter option — the resort's own words are "thrown down the run", and that is about right. It sits at the base area beside the beginner slopes, runs on weekends and holidays through the season, and comes alive on Friday and Saturday nights when the lights come on and tubing joins night skiing on the T-bar and Magic Carpet from 4 to 9 pm, with the Gunbarrel Saloon — ten times voted Canada's best après-ski bar — at the bottom of the run for afterwards. Tickets for the 2026/27 season are sold in two-hour blocks: $30 for adults, teens, seniors and students, $20 for juniors aged 8 to 12, and $16 for children 7 and under and for masters 70 and over, with extra hours at $5, a $15 Friday Night Special for all ages and a $75 family rate for up to six. Children need to be 42 inches tall to ride alone; smaller kids share a double tube with a parent or have their tube held on the way down. Hours shift over the holidays, so check the resort's hours page or call the office before you drive up, and remember Apex is a 30-minute drive from Penticton with a weekend shuttle from town.
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Tube Town – SilverStar Tube Park
Tube Town is SilverStar's answer to the question every family asks after a morning on the slopes: what now? Set beside Brewer's Pond in the resort's Adventure Park, a few minutes' walk from the village, it is a proper tube park rather than a hill and a hope — truck-sized inner tubes with safety handles, several lanes of packed snow, and a tube lift that carries you and your tube back to the top so you can slide, spin and swerve run after run without a single uphill trudge. Tubing is one of the seven activities bundled into the resort's My1Pass, and day tickets are sold at the Tube Town Ticket Office on site. Kids need to be at least three years old to ride, and anyone under 42 inches tall tubes with a paying adult; everyone rides their own tube, and ski boots stay in the locker. Next door, SilverStar's fenced mini-snowmobile track puts children aged six to twelve (under 100 lb) at the controls of a pint-sized Arctic Cat for supervised laps — tickets at the Brewers Pond Base, with an adult alongside. When you are done, Tube Town Café & Bar is right there for hot chocolate or a mulled wine, and the skating pond is a short step away. Tube Town can close without notice when the weather turns, so check the resort's hours before you head up.
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Twinkling Trail – Big White
When the lifts stop and the temperature drops, Big White switches on the Twinkling Trail — an illuminated walking path through the snow-laden forest of the Happy Valley Adventure Park, strung with light displays that turn an ordinary evening stroll into something children remember for years. No equipment and no skill are needed: it is a walk, open to all ages (little ones under five with an adult), on packed snow that rewards a good pair of winter boots and snow pants for the kids. It opens each evening from dusk and stays lit until dawn from mid-December through to April, snow and weather permitting, so it slots easily between dinner and bedtime, or after a session on the tube park and rink that share the Adventure Park. Access is included with a Big White lift ticket, season pass or POWder Card; otherwise pick up a trail pass at the Village Centre Mall ticket office. Take Lara's Gondola down to Happy Valley and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot, and follow the signs; leashed dogs are welcome, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot chocolate, and the one rule the resort is strict about is simple — look, but don't touch the lights.
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Vernon Recreation Complex – Priest Valley Arena & Centennial Outdoor Rink
Vernon's Recreation Complex on 35th Avenue gives you two kinds of winter ice at one address. Outside is the Centennial Outdoor Rink, free to use from December through February, weather permitting, with scheduled public skating, parent-and-tot time and shinny sessions for youth and adults — helmets, sticks and gloves are mandatory for shinny, and anyone under 18 needs a signed parental consent. Inside, Priest Valley Arena is the home of Vernon's figure-skating, speed-skating and ringette clubs and hosts indoor public skating and adult hockey drop-in: you register for a session ahead of time and pick up a wristband at check-in, drop-in hockey requires full equipment including a CSA-approved helmet and is capped at 26 skaters and two goalies, and CSA helmets are required for every skater 12 and under, who must be accompanied by an adult. There are no skate rentals at any Vernon recreation facility, so bring your own. Indoor admission is charged per the City's current rate chart, and residents of Vernon, Coldstream, Electoral Areas B and C and the Okanagan Indian Band receive 50% off with photo ID.
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Vernon Snowmobile Association – Silver Star Trails
The Vernon Snowmobile Association is the oldest snowmobile club in British Columbia, riding since 1967, and its 160 kilometres of regularly groomed trails climb through Silver Star Provincial Park, 22 kilometres up Silver Star Road from Vernon, next door to the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. The mix is what makes it: signed trails for cruising, open meadows and bowls for playing, terrain that suits snowmobiles, snowbikes and tracked ATVs alike, and two shelters — the Silver Star Chalet and the Armstrong Cabin — that double as warm-up and emergency stops. A day trail pass is $15 per machine, valid for the day of purchase, bought online or at the information kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot (cash in the envelope, keep the receipt as your proof). The lot is shared with cross-country skiers, snowshoers and dog walkers, so the club asks riders to read its parking-lot plan before arriving; the kiosk map shows the trail system, and the same terrain is used by skiers and snowshoers, so yield and ride considerately.
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Winfield Arena
Winfield Arena is Lake Country's small-town rink on Bottom Wood Lake Road, and it keeps skating cheap and simple: the Sunday afternoon public skate (3 to 4 p.m.) and the Wednesday evening session (7 to 8 p.m.) are free, and Friday night's DJ Skate from 7:30 to 9 p.m. costs $2 for ages 8 to 17 and $4 for adults, with children seven and under always free. Ten-visit punch cards are $15 for youth and $35 for adults. There are no skate rentals or sharpening at the arena, so bring your own, and helmets are recommended. For hockey players the highlight is Friday-night Adult Shinny from 9:15 to 10:45 p.m. — $7, goalies free — which is registration-only through the District's online system; the window opens Thursday at 1 p.m. and closes Friday at 3:30 p.m., so book early because it fills. Check the District calendar for the season's dates and any cancellations.