A Short History Lesson

In 1963 the Serwa’s and Mervyn’s families started a huge undertaking, creating Big White Ski Hill from scratch. In their first year they had to build a road, a day-lodge and a lift. Imagine trying to build a day-lodge and a lift without the road being completed! The original base area was located approximately where The Aspens is now. In that first year they did successfully complete the road, the day-lodge and the T-Bar. That feat put Big White on the path to becoming what it is today.

The current Alpine T-Bar is a history lesson in Big White. The original lift the T-Bar went in in 1963. It had wooden towers and went to approximately tower 10 on the current T-Bar. This lift stayed much the same until 1975 when it underwent a retro fit. In 1975 a new enclosed gearbox was installed. In 1980 the T-Bar was shortened, and the load area was moved up hill to the top of the new village double chair lift, (Summit Chair). In 1980 the lift was once again updated and the wooden towers were replaced with steel. In 1986 the T-Bar was moved to it’s current location and became the Alpine T-Bar. Several years ago in 2005 all of the assemblies were replaced. Now in 2011 the gearbox (from 1975) is being rebuilt. The bearings and the main output shaft are being replaced.

Here is some interesting trivia about the T-Bar & Big White:

-          The oldest piece of equipment on the mountain is the return structure, it is from 1963
-          The gearbox weighs 2200kg
-          The ski runs Serwa’s and Mervyn’s are named after the founding families of Big White