Big White Ski Resort

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www.bigwhite.com

Big White Ski Resort, or simply Big White, is a ski resort located 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Kelowna in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. Located on Big White Mountain, the highest summit in the Okanagan Highland, an upland area between the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan Valley, it is the second largest resort in British Columbia after Whistler-Blackcomb and is the sister resort of Silver Star Mountain Resort.

The mountain summit is at 2,319 m (7,608 ft) with a vertical drop of 777 m (2,549 ft), serviced by 16 lifts. The mountain receives 750 cm of annual snowfall. It has 2,765 acres (11 km2) of overall skiable terrain. With 38 acres (150,000 m2) of night skiing, Big White has western Canada's largest resort night skiing area. It has a central village which comprises accommodation, eateries, bars and shops. The village is 1,755 m (5,758 ft) above sea level. canvas seat covers

Contents mesh folding chair

1 History aluminum lawn chair

2 Skiing terrain

2.1 East side

2.2 Gem Lake

2.3 East Peak

2.4 Terrain Park

2.5 Nordic trails

2.6 Ski and Snowboard School

3 Master Plan

4 Services

4.1 Activities

4.2 Accommodations

4.3 Retail

5 Deaths

6 Trivia

7 Gallery

8 Awards

9 References

10 See also

11 External links

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History

Big White opened in 1963 with two T-bars.

The Ridge Chair (double) opened in the early 70's. The Powder Chair (triple), The Easter Chair (triple), and the Village Chair (triple) opened thereafter. In the mid 80's the Easter Chair was moved to replace the bunny hill t-bar and was renamed the Village chair; the Village Chair became the Summit Chair. The Ridge Rocket Express (quad) replaced the double chair in 1989 and the Bullet Express replaced the Summit and Village chairs in 1991. The Alpine T-Bar was moved to its present location and extended around this time as well. The Falcon Chair, which was in fact the old Ridge Chair, opened up the west side of the hill in the mid-1990s. The Gem Lake Express (quad), which doubled the skiable era, opened around 2000. The Snow Ghost Express (six person), which is adjacent to the Ridge Rocket, ended annoyingly long lineups when it opened in 2006.

Replacement of the Powder Chair and the Alpine T-Bar are likely to come soon.

Skiing terrain

Big White has a total of 118 "designated" trails and 27 unnamed trails. 18% of these trails are beginner, 56% intermediate and the remaining 26% are classed as expert. The wooded areas between trails are all open, and can offer a variety of ungroomed snow and widely varied terrain.

Big White currently has one 8-passenger high speed gondola, one 6-passenger high speed chair (new for the 06/07 season), four 4-passenger high speed chairs, one 4-passenger "beginner chair", one 3-passenger chair, three 2-passenger chairs (including the telus park chairlift), one T-bar, one children and one adult's magic carpet. There are also two tubing lifts. These lifts are capable of transporting 28,000 people per hour uphill.

East side

The eastern side of Big White is where the majority of lifts are located. The runs on this side are usually shorter and more crowded than those found over on the Gem Lake side. The most advanced runs are located on this side underneath the Cliff chair. The Cliff Chair closed during the 2008 season, pending an investigation by avalanche experts after the Parachute Bowl slipped in January 2008.

There is one high-speed detachable 6-seater chair (Snow Ghost Express), three high-speed detachable quad chairs (Ridge Rocket, Bullet, and Black Forest), two double chairlifts (Cliff and Telus Park), and a single T-bar, the Alpine T-bar.

The Ridge Rocket chair has a small lodge at its base, and the base of the Bullet chair is very near the main village. The new 6-seater lift (the Snow Ghost Express) was built for the 2006-2007 season parallel to Ridge Rocket Express to reduce lift lines.

Gem Lake

Gem Lake is located on the western side of Big White and is served by the Gem Lake high-speed detachable quad chair. The Falcon and Powder Chairs, two and three person lifts respectively, are nearby. The Gem Lake lift is often more windy than the east side lifts, but offers the largest single-lift vertical drop at the hill at 710 m. It has a small lodge and parking lot at its base; the base of the Gem Lake Express is quite distant from the Village area. Traditionally tourists tend to ski more on the east side while locals from Kelowna and other nearby towns will ski Gem Lake more than tourists. Gem Lake is built with more experienced (black diamond) runs and is not recommended for beginner skiiers/riders.

East Peak

The ski resort is expected to unveil plans in the near future that call for the addition of 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of skiable area on the East Peak. This new area will be mainly intermediate and advanced terrain and the expansion will be on land leased from the province. Construction of the first lift in the new area is supposed to start in 2010.

Also included in the plans are a second base area, a new residential area and a golf course.

Panorama from near the top of the Falcon Chair

Terrain Park

Big White recently built a Telus Park in the 2004/2005 season. It features an Olympic sized 500-foot (150 m) long Super pipe with 17-foot (5.2 m) transitional walls along with a standard sized half-pipe. The park also has a skier/border cross course and beginner through to advanced rails and hits. The park is separated into two sides. One with larger jumps, rails, and boxes, and the other with smaller features, the border cross and a half-pipe. Big white is also exclusive to a snow-cross run identical to the one at the olympics.

Nordic trails

Big White has 25 km of Nordic trails. You can snow-shoe and dog-sled as well as cross-country ski on the cross-country trails. A small number of them also have snowmobiles. There is one warming hut on the trail.

Ski and Snowboard School

Big White has over 100 qualified instructors, offering classes for all ages and all skill levels.

Master Plan

Big White has created a master plan to become a major world class destination resort. Included in the plans are the following things:

Addition of 17 ski lifts;

1,051 hectares more skiable terrain (14% beginner, 47% intermediate, 39% expert);

Addition of 3,320 hectares of controlled recreation areas;

Adding 13,240 people/day to its comfortable carrying capacity;

Adding 20,425 people/day to its balanced resort capacity;

Addition of 53km of Nordic Skiing Trails;

Addition of 2 golf courses;

Addition of an 80 hectare Mountain Bike park;

Addition of 317,620 sq. ft. of commercial space;

Addition of snow making machines for an earlier season start;

Addition of zip lines; and

Addition of a water park.

These additions are expected to start following the close of the 2009/2010 season.

Services

Activities

Activities include the Mega Snow Coaster, which was once the largest tubing park in North America, snowmobile tours, sleigh riding, dog sleds, snowshoeing, and ice skating.

A new activity in 2006-2007 season is the Sno-Limo, a sort of a cross between a dog sled and a lazy-boy chair on skis.

The resort also hosts a number of family aimed events (Big White was awarded North America's best family resort in 2003 by The Good Skiing and Boarding Guide 2003) such as carnival nights and Tim Hortons's Cruise the Blues.

New during the 2008-2009 season are the Snow Adventure ski and snowboard improvement courses hosted by Snow Adventure in collaboration with the Big White Ski and Board School. There are various courses available including learn-to-ride courses, off-piste specific courses, a 3 week master-the-mountain course as well as ladies' and men's improvement weeks.

Accommodations

There are currently four village hotels, 25 condo or town house complexes, 244 vacation homes and two ski in/ski out hostels. The village area includes 18 restaurants, cafs and delis, as well as a small grocery store and liquor store.

Retail

Big White is located about a one hour drive outside Kelowna, and features a smaller village than resorts like Whistler. Big White has a limited number of on mountain shops. Several shops are located in the Village Centre Mall and around the village. A few more are in Happy Valley at the bottom of the gondola. An internet cafe is located in Trappers Crossing near the Village Centre Mall.

A shopping bus is available and takes riders to Orchard Park shopping mall in Kelowna for the day.

Deaths

On January 6, 2008, Leigh Barnier, an Australian skier, was killed by an avalanche while skiing on an open, in bounds run. Barnier was an employee at the time; however, he was not on shift.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

Shred and Shred 2, are snowboarding movies starring Tom Green and Dave England were filmed at Silver Star and Big White.

Gallery

Looking up from the bottom of the Cliff Chair

Trappers Crossing, a town house complex

The Village Centre Mall

Near top of the Powder Chair

Jumping off a boulder

Boarders coming down the Powder Chute on a beautiful day

Skiing a black diamond at Big White

Awards

Taken from the Big White website

The Best Ski Area 2004 - Okanagan Life Magazine

Winner of numerous Ski Canada awards including:

Best New Chair (Cliff) 2005

Best New Terrain Park (Telus Park) 2005

Best Intermediate Terrain (Gem Lake) 2005

New Accommodation (Grizzly Lodge) 2003

Best Ski Bar - Snowshoe Sam's 2003

Earliest Opening 2002

Largest Base Expansion (Happy Valley Day Lodge) 2001

Best Glades West Big White Thunder and Black Bear

Best Ski Resort Features for Kids (Big White Kid's Centre) 1999

Best Grooming 1999

Best On-Mountain Ski Bar (Raakels) 1999

Best Weather 1998

Best Renovated Skiers Hotel 1998

Best Ski Area Child Care (Big White Kid Centre) 1998

Okanagan Life Magazine

Best Ski Area, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1998, & 1997

Best Place for Adult Fun, 2002, 2001 & 2000

Best Place for Family Fun, 2002 & 2000

The Good Skiing and Boarding Guide 2003

North America Best Family Ski Resort

References

^ Bigwhite.com

^ Bigwhite.com

^ Skinet.com

^ Bigwhite.com

^ Theglobeandmail.com

^ Skisilverstar.com

Big White Ski Resort Site accessed October 23, 2005.

Theglobeandmail.com

See also

v  d  e

Ski areas and resorts in British Columbia

East Kootenay/Columbia Valley

Fernie   Kicking Horse   Kimberley   Panorama   Fairmont Hot Springs

West Kootenay/Arrow Lakes

Whitewater   Red Mountain   Summit Lake   Revelstoke Mountain   Salmo

South Cariboo-Thompson-Okanagan-Boundary

Sun Peaks   Harper   Apex   Silver Star   Big White   Mount Baldy   Phoenix   Crystal Mountain   Mount Timothy

Lower Mainland-Sea to Sky Country

Grouse   Cypress   Seymour   Hemlock Valley   Manning Park   Whistler Blackcomb

Vancouver Island

Mount Washington   Mount Cain

North Cariboo, Northern Interior & North Coast

Troll   Powder King   Ski Smithers   Little Mac   Tabor Mountain   Hart Highlands   Shames Mountain   Bear Mountain   Murray Ridge   Purden

List of ski areas and resorts in Canada

Silver Star Mountain Resort, Big White's sister ski area.

Ski resort

Skiing

Snowboarding

External links

Bigwhitemtnchamber.com, Big White Chamber of Commerce

RDKB.com, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary - this is the administrative area over Big White

Categories: Ski areas and resorts in British Columbia | Snow tubing areas in British Columbia | Monashee Mountains | Okanagan CountryHidden categories: Articles with trivia sections from December 2008 | All articles with trivia sections