The crews at Big White have a busy summer ahead preparing Kelowna’s favorite mountain for the 2009/2010 winter season.

The Lift maintenance team are servicing the over $50 million dollar lift plant. They will spend over 10,000 man hours servicing and performing all safety checks. This takes about 7 and 1/2 months. Another team, Vehicle maintenance will spend over 4500 man hours servicing the $2 million dollar grooming fleet. The fleet has to be restored to tip top shape to build the great skiing that Big White offers. The Building maintenance staff have a busy summer ahead, with 6000 man hours planned to service, upgrade and repair the approx. $30 million in buildings. Everything from flooring, plumbing fixtures, windows, painting - the list is a long one.

Summer grooming has already started with the seeding of bare ground areas to help retain snow. A crew of 3 will be heading out on the hill to brush cut and clear runs. This is a continuation of last years very successful summer grooming project, all to help the early season openings.

A new Firehall is in the works. It will be located across the Big White Road from Lower Snowpine Estates. The surveying is just being finished up now and the site preparation will be done this summer. It will be going to tender for design and build in mid July and start construction in the spring of 2010.

6 Degrees, a new intimate restaurant situated slope side in the Stonebridge Lodge, is being finished off for opening early season 2009. They will be open for breakfast, lunch, après and dinner featuring great Tapas and the Okanagan’s finest wine selection. The Globe Café and Tapas bar is open until the end of June and then they will be working on expansion plans for the upcoming season. They are running Trivia Nights every Wednesday. Carver’s in the Inn at Big White will be opening July 1st for the rest of the summer. Great food with an Indian flair!

Big White Central Reservations has a busy summer planned, they mange 500 properties worth over $117 million. The “Cen Res” maintenance team will be busy performing all maintenance and upgrades with approx. 5500 man hours budgeted.

Two construction projects, The Edge with it’s modern, state of the art homes will be busy finishing their project and Grizzly Ridge will be working on one of the four-plexes in their development.
Velvet, a fashion and accessories boutique catering to women with specialty pieces from all over the world will be reopening after a 1 year hiatus. They are located in Stonebridge Lodge.
In The Village Centre Mall the Activities desk is being upgraded and relocated to provide better service. It will be moved closer to the ticket office with space for 2 terminals, better phone service, upgraded lost and found and many more improved services.

The Big White marketing and sales team has a major project underway. They are working with local companies to build a new website. The mandate is, easier to navigate, easier to book and/or purchase products, easier access to information i.e. snow reports, events etc.

Season Passes for 2009/2010 are now available at the Big White office, 1894 Ambrosi Rd or call 250 491 6262. There is a price freeze from last year so no increase in the cost, across any category, for the best winter family entertainment available.

New Payment Plan! Big White's new payment plan allows you to split your Season Pass payments over 3, 4, 5 even 6 months. The sooner you purchase the longer you can extend the payments. Don’t forget you only pay for the first four members of the family, the rest are FREE! Based on a family of 4 your costs can be as low as $269.16* per month.
The pass sale will go online soon, watch bigwhite.com and The Snowghost for more information.

*Based on a family of 4 with 2 adults and 2 children, 6 equal payments, tax additional.