Arrived at Big White yesterday on a West Jet Special . Made use of the time difference and got in 3 hours of skiing on the day of arrival after being in transit for about 12. Suprise trip at the last minute . Snowed about 6 inches yesterday on top of a soft base. We spent the afternoon in the trees due to fog and snow.
Big White BC
- Thread starter Anthony
- Start date
Second day at Big White and lots of untracked powder, while temps around 30 F. Very low cloud base so we still haven't made it up to the summit as zero visibility. However, lots of powder in the trees at lower elevations. On site till Sunday morning as West Jet special from Tuesday till Sunday out of the east. Will post some pictures later as kids want the computer back to do homework. 
Patrick
Well-known member
Anthony":2frld7gz said:Will post some pictures later as kids want the computer back to do homework.
That's the way to set priorities. Get the kids out of school and go skiing. :mrgreen: Actually looking at BW for Spring Break...not sure if I'll be able to make it happen, need to make a few calls.
longshanks
New member
I have never been to Big White...some of my Interior B.C. skiing and riding friends refer to it as Big Flat. Anthony, what do you think of the pitches? I guess it might be tough to accurately give an opinon if you have not been to the top. That is the one detractor of the B.C. interior - poor visibility can be a common occurance. It looks like today should have been clear, hopefully it was and you made it all the way up. Looks like some snow in the forecast for tonight and Friday. How are the crowds? Thin I bet.
Actually the more common nickname is Big White-Out. With regard to flat, no it doesn't have a lot of extreme terrain. But Gem Lake is 2,400 vert of decent advanced intermediate pitch suitable for powder. The Cliff area off the T-bar is steep but short. Big White is overall quite mainstream in pitch overall, somewhat like Vail and Mt. Bachelor, which also have undeserved reputations in that regard.
Still at Big White so will report in more detail when I return. I also heard those comments big flat but this was the only place that fit the budget. Have to tell you was impressed with the glades as they are everywhere and loaded with snow made first tracks all week . We had 2 snowstorms while we were on site so not bad . Base is now at almost 7' so good coverage . Glades offer a lot of tree skiing some steep and remote and some is easy with spaced trees. There is only one steep bowl with a pitch of 45% to 50% ( as I was told) I guess this is what the complaints are about ,not enough steep bowl skiing. We skied the steep bowl today as it finally opened under clear conditions . Hiked up to the very top with my son and skied down from the top through some narrow openings. Saw other guys hiking out of bounds and even going farther out ,so the steeps are there. Yes, there are lot of easy groomer runs but felt had enough good terrian to keep me occupied and did not have to use the groomers. Good to have a lot of tree skiing as when there are low clouds you can't see a thing in the bowls. Out of 5 days skiing we only had good visiblity on one day. On my last trip out west which was 19 years ago ,went to Fernie and had the same problem of visibility so could not see in the bowls. Anyway, as we are from east this place was a lot better than anything back home.
