Big White, B.C., Jan. 17-18, 2025

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
I forgot the camera today but did not miss much in scenery. The overcast weather continued, and in the case of Big White that also meant thick fog above 7,000 feet (top is 7,600).

After a warmup run we went up the Alpine T-Bar just in case the fog layer was narrow, as it provides access to the Cliff, a steep open bowl served by a 700 vertical double chair. Message boards indicated the Cliff lift was running, but the fog was so thick I didn't even look for it. We had to follow the blue sticks along the groomer as in Alps.

Big White had a strong early season, getting 70% open by December 8. But as elsewhere in interior B.C. there has not been much snow in January. However with a robust base depth up to 5 feet, they groomed the frontside south facing groomers intensively. I warned Liz that steep pitches would be firmer than mellower ones, opposite of most ski areas, but overall the groomers were decent enough. The south facing had a modest impact upon them considering 50 degrees latitude in January and that the sun rarely shines midwinter at Big White.

As predicted the temperature dropped. It was in the 10-15F range with wind on some chairs. After a couple more frontside groomers I wanted to show Liz Gem Lake. But when we rode the slow Powder chair we were both getting chilled and there was bad vis at the top. The Falcon Access trail to get to the Gem lake side looked uphill in the fog, so Liz said she wasn't trying that. She also didn't like the review from other skiers that the top of Gem Lake also had the fog. She wanted to go back to the Village but missed that route on the first try, ending back at Powder chair. So she took a very long break when she got back to the village and only took on e more frontside run after that.

I followed traverse tracks through the stunted trees, eventually sighting a Falcon Access sign and made it to the Blue Sapphire groomer, which was in good shape and empty. When I reached the Gem Lake Warming Hut, I got a cup of soup and warmed up for 35 minutes. When I headed back out I used my glove liners and cinched my jacket hood so that it would not blow back skiing groomers. This was successful in allowing me to ride the 2,400 vertical Gem Lake 4 times. Gem Lake has 24 lift towers. The trees get stunted and spaced past Tower 19 and the thick fog started at Tower 21. So I though the long and nearly empty groomers Blue Sapphire and Kalina's Rainbow were worth the effort.

I ventured onto one black run Blackjack, which looked groomed from the bottom. There was a warning sign at the top, but I ventured in anyway. The upper 2/3 was not groomed. Compared to that Buckshot run at Apex, the snow had more crunch due to SW vs. north exposure, but Blackjack was less steep and the moguls were farther spaced. The bottom third had yesterday's inch of new snow over a prior day's grooming and skied well as almost no one was there.

I had text Liz I would meet where we started at 3PM, and with one ride on Powder chair needed to get back there arrived at 3:05. We skied the 300 vertical happy Valley runs through several ski-in ski-out condo complexes to the car. I finished with 21,300 vertical.
 
Last edited:
So Big Whiteout lives up to its weather reputation.
Fortunately not today. But the rave weather comments from the locals imply that it's not a common occurrence midwinter. This despite a high of 13F and temps in single digits after 2PM when it was overcast (though not foggy).

On Friday Gem Lake was on wind hold until 10:30AM so we couldn't park there. Fortunately on a Saturday we could, a good idea as it shortens the drive by 10km each way.

At any rate here are the nice snow ghost views at the top of Gem Lake about 10:15AM.
IMG_4769.JPG


IMG_4770.JPG


Our warmup run was on Blue Ribbon.
IMG_4773a.JPG

It had a sign warning of marginal conditions but Liz thought that was laughable.

With the sunny weather, not necessarily predicted to hold all day, I wanted to get across the mountain to check out the Cliff. Liz stuck to the Village Way while I ventured into Playground (top left of center).
IMG_4778a.JPG

The gully leading to that notch was full of soft snow, but the steeper part in the picture is directly south facing and had frozen granular moguls.

We skied to Powder chair, then Sleepy Hollow to main base and the parallel Snow Ghost and Ridge Rocket lifts. At the top of RIdge Rocket, Liz was chilled and needed a break. I had about a 10 minute wait for the T-bar. At the top I followed some people on a 2 minute bootpack to overlook Parachute Bowl.
IMG_4784.JPG

There were lots of rocks so I skied past the top of the Cliff lift to drop in on its skier's right.
IMG_4783.JPG

The flat area left of pic above is tilted toward the slope, so If you ski to it you have to walk uphill to get to the Cliff chair.

Overview of skier's right side of the lift:
IMG_4795.JPG

The snow was very tight chalk, with bumps and occasional rocks up by the entry and various features to avoid lower down. I later saw two snowboarders slide quite a distance. On my prior visits the snow on the Cliff has always been soft and I don't recall many bumps either. It was at least as challenging as Mammoth Dec. 10-11 when it hadn't snowed for 2 weeks.

View directly up the Cliff chair:
IMG_4796.JPG

The skier center left is on a traverse track that cuts under the lift so you can ski the Parachute bowl side below its rocky top. The traverse had ruts and a couple of rocks, not as easy as it looks here.

The skiing overall was better on looker's right of the lift.
IMG_4792.JPG


I rode the Cliff chair one more time and skied aptly named (today) Sun Run through some of the snow ghosts.
IMG_4800a.JPG


Rejoining Liz at Village Center we sampled the Black Forest and Bullet lifts. Top of Bullet:
IMG_4799a.JPG

I wanted to traverse below the Cliff steeps to the lift and ski Sun Run again, but Liz declined to join me.

I moved to the Powder and Falcon chairs, skiing Corkscrew and some snow ghosts along Whitefoot and then met Liz at Powder chair. View of Falcon chair:
IMG_4801a.JPG


We skied Blue Sapphire to the Gem Lake base, where I took one more Blue Ribbon lap and finished with 22,300 vertical.

We do not have a good explanation why Liz was so chilled today since she was dressed warmly and today's colder temperatures vs. Friday were offset IMHO by it being sunny most of today. After 2PM it was definitely colder. With similar temperatures forecast tomorrow we will take a break so Liz is well rested for the two days cat skiing at K3.

Liz has noticed how the Okanagan and Big White in particular are more intermediate friendly than her prior experience in interior B.C. On our first road trip in 2013 she skied Fernie, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, Whitewater and Red Mt. Big White is IMHO the best intermediate mountain in interior B.C, more varied and interesting terrain than Sun Peaks.
 
I'm in process of doing a season progress report. So far in January Revelstoke has had 2 feet, Big White 16 inches and no other lift service in western Canada as much as a foot.
 
Liz has noticed how the Okanagan and Big White in particular are more intermediate friendly than her prior experience in interior B.C. On our first road trip in 2013 she skied Fernie, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, Whitewater and Red Mt. Big White is IMHO the best intermediate mountain in interior B.C, more varied and interesting terrain than Sun Peaks.

The Powder Highway resorts are more challenging.

I am surprised there has been almost zero $ investment at Revelstoke and Kicking Horse since they opened.

Revelstoke needs perhaps another route up the mountain or at least another upper mountain lift. The Stoker lift gets very crowded on sunny or powder days now. Lift lines are almost equivalent to Whistler. And the Gondola is a mess on powder on powder day mornings.

Here's a 2019 Master Plan with phases: Red is current.
Link

1737339258821.png




And Kicking Hose's Gondola can be another significant bottleneck on nice weekends with new snow.

Master Plan Link

I could not find a map, but many lifts are described.
 
Big White is one of the few areas where I have seen parallel HS lifts - Quad and 6Pack. Thought the groomers were skied off quickly in this zone due to over-capacity.

1737340205689.png
 
The Powder Highway resorts are more challenging.

I am surprised there has been almost zero $ investment at Revelstoke and Kicking Horse since they opened.

Revelstoke needs perhaps another route up the mountain or at least another upper mountain lift. The Stoker lift gets very crowded on sunny or powder days now. Lift lines are almost equivalent to Whistler. And the Gondola is a mess on powder on powder day mornings.

Here's a 2019 Master Plan with phases: Red is current.
Link

View attachment 43860



And Kicking Hose's Gondola can be another significant bottleneck on nice weekends with new snow.

Master Plan Link

I could not find a map, but many lifts are described.
Originally Revelstoke blamed the slowdown on lift building on the 2008 financial crisis. However now that is a long time in the past.
On another note, I am heading out to ski the Alberta Rockies/interior BC starting next Sunday January 26. I have been following the recent lack of snow and am considering if I should keep my original itinerary or change it. I have 6 days to ski and unfortunately, I can not change my dates, but I can modify the itinerary. My tentative plan is Castle 1/26, Fernie 1/27, +/- Panorama or Kicking Horse 1/28, Lake Louise 1/29-30, Sunshine 1/31. Alternative itineraries could be Lake Louise and Revelstoke or Red, Whitewater and Revelstoke. Castle and Fernie would be ski areas that are new to me. All others, I have skied at least once. It looks like Tony is finding decent snow in interior BC, based on his trip reports. I would appreciate any other recent insights.
 
I would recommend going to Red, Whitewater and maybe Revelstoke after Fernie/Castle. The areas leeward of Rogers Pass (Pano, KH, Banff) rate to be low tide like Apex.

See today’s progress report bestsnow.net/seas25.htm
 
Last edited:
I would recommend going to Red, Whitewater and maybe Revelstoke after Fernie/Castle. The areas leeward of Rogers Pass (Pano, KH, Banff) rate to be low tide like Apex.

See today’s progress report bestsnow.net/seas25.htm
There isn’t any new snow in the 10 day forecast for Red. Therefore i am dependent on existing surface conditions and Red/whitewater are lower elevation. Did they have any warm ups after the last snowfall? Banff preserves surface conditions incredibly long due to elevation and there is some snow in the forecast for Revelstoke through Banff region, however it appears to be forecast to miss the southern region. I am trying to avoid being stuck skiing on terrain that has been through a melt freeze.
 
Big White is one of the few areas where I have seen parallel HS lifts - Quad and 6Pack. Thought the groomers were skied off quickly in this zone due to over-capacity.
That's odd. Is it possible that they added the six-pack with the intention of moving the quad elsewhere on the mountain or selling it? I've seen lots of parallel surface lifts, like this at Hochhäderich in western Austria, but a HS quad and six-pack is nuts.

20220309_121605-jpg.31048
 
That's odd. Is it possible that they added the six-pack with the intention of moving the quad elsewhere on the mountain or selling it? I've seen lots of parallel surface lifts, like this at Hochhäderich in western Austria, but a HS quad and six-pack is nuts.

From liftblog.com, both lifts have been in place for almost 20 years.

1737390144829.png



And the 6-pack runs only on weekends...
1737390380278.png



It sounds like a waste of resources/$...but who knows? Maybe they need the capacity on the weekends.
 
Wow for the BC weather forecast. Looks cold enough, but feeling like I really got lucky with the snowfall on my trip, not that it was even that big of a storm...
 
It looks like the snow forecasted in the 10 day forecast has now vanished. It don't think I can depend on any significant new snow. @tony, how are you finding surface conditions in the ungroomed areas? Which mountains are skiing better? If I stay further west, my likely itinerary could include Big White, Red, Revelstoke, then 1 day in Banff before flying out of Calgary. I have flexibility that I can start either in Kelowna or Calgary, but I have to finish in Calgary.
 
It sounds like a waste of resources/$...but who knows? Maybe they need the capacity on the weekends.
Big White is a poster child for the uneven distribution of skiers. The Village area is very busy, as is the unloading area of those two chairs. There are a lot of runs served by them, dispersing skier traffic to a reasonable level. But the groomers on Gem Lake, 2,000+ vertical and interesting rolling terrain, are almost empty.

@tony, how are you finding surface conditions in the ungroomed areas?
Not the greatest, as you might expect. I will again say that after seeing Apex, I would have very low expectations for Panorama and Kicking Horse. Much of Lake Louise and Goat's Eye at Sunshine are also very rocky during low snow years.
Therefore i am dependent on existing surface conditions and Red/whitewater are lower elevation. Did they have any warm ups after the last snowfall?
Yes there was at least one sunny day about a week ago, definitely melt/froze south facing off piste at Big White and a little bit where we are now at K3 cat skiing. We were also informed by locals here at K3 that the lower part of Silver Star backside is not good now.

Whitewater and the two upper chairs at Revelstoke have decent elevation though Stoke chair is partial south facing. Red has had good snowfall this season but would have altitude/exposure issues for surfaces, which is important there because it's such a steep mountain.

Skieric's trip is going to be a higher proportion of groomers than he may have planned. Fernie and Castle would have the best shots at decent ungroomed skiing, though perhaps not as widespread as under more normal conditions. If those places are good, you might consider hanging around longer vs. going other places that are worse off.
 
Back
Top