Big White Goes Big
For years, riders at southern BC's Big White suffered through a tedious two-chair ride (two quads, or a quad and a t-bar) to reach the resort's main goods, an 800-vertical-foot stash known as The Cliff. At the same time, jibbers had little to work with and a long hike up the pipe. Relief came this season in the form of the new Cliff lift and the TELUS terrain park. Now, White Heads can access their favorite cliff band with one quick ride and slide rail after rail in the new lift-accessed park.
Forty-five minutes southeast from Kelowna in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, Big White is often referred to as "Big White-Out" due to an occasional dense fog. The key word there is "occasional"—seeing as the resort nabbed Ski Canada's "Best Weather" honors last year. Topping out at 7,606 feet, Big White offers more than 2,500 feet of vert and close to 2,800 acres of terrain dotted with massive bowls, hidden glades and above treeline, wide open steeps. And with more night skiing than anywhere in western Canada, the après scene stays on the hill.
"Though we are proud of the fact that Big White is a family-friendly mountain first and foremost, we have taken some steps to broaden the appeal of our resort to both freeskiers and terrain park skiers and riders," says Big White Media Relations Director Steve Threndyle.
The new Cliff chairlift eliminates a pesky run-out and dramatically reduces lap time in Parachute Bowl, a horseshoe-shaped bowl offering 800-plus vertical feet and more than a hundred acres of terrain. The new lift also eases accessibility to East Peak—an area loaded with cliffs, chutes and big-mountain style lines.
In addition to the Cliff chair, a new double chair services Big White's brand spankin' new TELUS terrain park, offering a 500-foot long World Cup standard Superpipe, a half pipe, a skiercross course and a multitude of rails. Beginner, intermediate and advanced lanes separate Joey from the Whistler/Pemberton crowd sessioning under the stars.
Daily flights from Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto offer service to Kelowna. From there, Big White and its sister resort, Silver Star, are less than an hour's drive.