Big White

On the highest summit of the Okanagan Highland

Big White Ski Resort, known simply as Big White, lies 56 km (35 mi) south-east of Kelowna in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. It occupies Big White Mountain, the highest summit of the Okanagan Highland, an upland region between the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan Valley. By size it ranks fourth among British Columbia’s ski resorts, behind Whistler-Blackcomb, Sun Peaks and Silver Star.

Snow, terrain and lifts

The summit stands at 2,319 m and the skiing drops 777 m (2,549 ft) to a base at 1,508 m. Sixteen lifts serve 119 km of pistes spread across 1,147 ha (2,834 acres) of skiable terrain. What sets Big White apart is the snow: the mountain receives around 750 cm (300 in) of snowfall in a typical year, and with a summit above 2,200 m the resort holds that cover well through a December-to-April season. Snow-sure is one of its listed strengths, and the figures justify it.

No published split between easy, intermediate and expert pistes appears in our data, but the geography gives a clue. Big White Mountain is the high point of an upland, not a jagged alpine peak, and a 777 m vertical across 119 km suggests broad, rolling runs rather than sustained steeps. Sixteen lifts for that piste length also means each lift serves a long stretch of terrain, so there is scope for a full week without repeating yourself.

Night skiing is a signature. Fifteen hectares (38 acres) of lit terrain make this the largest resort night-skiing area in western Canada, a real advantage in midwinter when daylight is scarce.

The village

Big White has a central village at 1,755 m (5,758 ft), high enough and substantial enough to be classified as a designated place in its own right by Statistics Canada. It contains a significant retail area and a range of accommodation, so guests staying on the mountain have shops and a choice of lodging within the resort rather than in a distant town. Note that the village, at 1,755 m, sits well above the resort’s lowest lift base at 1,508 m, so it is effectively a mid-mountain village rather than one at the bottom of the skiing.

Getting there

Kelowna airport is roughly 42 km away as the crow flies, a short transfer by any standard, and the town of Kelowna itself is 56 km away. The resort’s official website has lift, accommodation and snow-report details.