Big White Winter Blog

The day you have been waiting for has finally arrived - Big White Ski Resort is opening 2 days ahead of schedule for the 2012/2013 season! The lifts will be spinning for the first time for eager skiers and riders at 8:45am tomorrow morning! The excitement on the hill is apparent and we cannot wait to get the season underway.

The 7th Annual Okanagan Spring Film & Photo Contest starts accepting photos as of March 1 and you can send them in anytime between March 1 to 25. The winners will be announced on March 30 at the Happy Valley Day Lodge at 8pm.

With all the webcams I see out on the hill, I’m really expecting this year’s annual photo and film contest to have some outstanding entries! Especially with all the powder we’ve had dumped on the mountain in the past few weeks!

There’s a couple of entry conditions you’ll need to know:

Only one entry per category so pick your very best
All photos must have been taken during this 2011/2012 season at Big White Ski Resort and must have been taken by you, owned by you, etc.;
Films may be no longer than 5 minutes, in MPEG format and on DVD.
There are three Photo Categories: Lifestyle, Live Action and Landscape, and the Film Categories are either Amateur or Professional.

It’s free to enter and there’s going to be some amazing prizes, so send your photo entries to channel5@bigwhite.com and drop your film entries off at the Activities Desk.

Glenna Turnbull

What’s your favorite chairlift at Big White? Mine tends to vary from day to day depending on whom I’m skiing with. While you can’t beat Gem Lake for its length and the great ride down, if you’re skiing with a big group, it’s fun when you can get all six onto the Snow Ghost six-pack to ride up together.

This week, however, I have a new favorite lift, thanks to the wonderful ice sculpture work at the top of the Plaza Chair!

This sweet little bear with a very big heart was there to greet us when we got to the top of the Plaza Chair on the weekend. Skiing with some friends who didn’t have seasons passes, we skied down from the condo and then rode up the Plaza so they could get their tickets. That’s when we saw this amazing little bear!

Watch for him if you find yourself riding the Plaza chair. I just hope he hasn’t melted in all that sunshine!

Okay, admit it, how many of you looked at yesterday’s report and saw there was 16 cm of fresh champagne powder, then looked at the date and thought, yeah, right, April Fool’s to you too!

Well, it was no April Fool’s joke and the only April Fools were the one’s who missed out on such an amazing day up on the hill. There was fresh powder tracks still to be found at the end of the day by those smart enough to ski across the fall line and the sun even came out to celebrate in the afternoon for the last few runs!

Does it get much better than that? I don’t think so.

Now that April Fool’s Day is over, sadly, it means the countdown to the end of the season is here. Two weeks from now is too late as the season ends April 15th.

Line ups are non-existent, the sun is shining this morning and there’s still fresh powder to be found if you know where to look. And that’s no April Fool’s Joke!

That’s how long it takes to get in my car from Kelowna and drive out to where the snow just keeps falling, giving us more and more powder to play in. Even on a bad day, I can leave my house and be geared up and riding the Gem Chair in under an hour, and with so many people holding out for bluebird days, there are no line-ups!

Hard to believe there are only a few weeks left of the season – why does it always go by so fast?

So, if you’re sick of the rain and gray skies in Kelowna, remember, the precipitation is falling in form of champagne powder on the hill. You’ve got all summer to golf and garden, time for a few last good turns before the season ends!

There are some great deals going on right now as well with tickets and accommodations and fun stuff going on in the Village Centre and Happy Valley, with Wine Lovers event at the Globe tonight and an Evening with a Winemaker at Kettle Valley Steakhouse on Friday night.

Due to popular demand, Candle Creek Dog sledding will be adding an additional daily trip to their schedule for the 2012/2013 season. A family-run operation, Tim and his wife Kerry will be offering a total of 6 trips into Big White's stunning backcountry. With only one sled per tour, Candle Creek ensures an intimate, hands-on experience for guests to experience the sport as well as spend quality time with the dogs.

A leader in the industry, Candle Creek helped write the legislation for the new BC Sled Dog Code of Practice that ensures proper treatment of the dogs. The code will be in full compliance at Candle Creek well before operations next season. In addition, Candle Creek spearheaded the formation of the Professional Mushers Association of BC, a society formed of commercial dogsled operators interested in improving the perception of dog sledding in general through proper care and public education.

Big White is getting ready to host the 15th annual Neil Edgeworth Banked Slalom this weekend. This event is in memory of Neil Edgeworth, an influential Canadian snowboarder who passed away in 1997 in an avalanche in Chamonix, France while filming a photo shoot with friends. The first banked slalom was in 1987 and was reintroduced in 1997 with an average of 245 people per year.

We had some friends arrive from out of town who’d never skied Big White before, and with the glorious powder that was falling, one of them, who shall remain nameless, decided he couldn’t wait for the rest of us to get going and off he went. 

Did he ask for a map? Did he have a clue where he was going? Thinking he could do the ski-in and ski-out from the door thing on his own, off he went. 

Thankfully he met up with one of the Snow Hosts, who are greeting people and handing out maps at the tops of the Ridge Rocket, Bullet Express and at the top and bottom of the gondola every day between 9 and 10am each day.