Summer sun shines on Big White Resort
Evading August’s smoke enabled Big White Resort to post its best summer ever. Big White’s village centre is perched at a fresh-air elevation of 1,755 metres (5,757 feet) above sea level, which means it was well above most of the smoke that shrouded the Okanagan Valley last month.
It also means Big White is more than a mile high.
If you took the chairlift up to even loftier heights, you could hike near the 2,315-metre (7,606foot) summit.
Kelowna sits at an elevation of 344 metres, or 1,129 feet, and is on the bottom of a valley that acted like a smoke trap for most of August.
Scenic Chairlift and Bike Park Day ticket sales were up 57 per cent this summer over summer 2017, according to Big White.
Total resort visitors were 31 per cent more this summer compared to last summer.
For most weekends in August, Big White offered two-for-theprice-of-one Scenic Chairlift tickets as a way to boost Okanagan tourism as the Valley dealt with forest fires and the resulting smoke.
Big White has become a two-season vacationland with the addition of hiking, biking and festivals in the summer backed up by some restaurant, store and hotel openings.
“After 54 years in the winter business, summer has proven to be quite the enjoyable undertaking,” said Big White senior vicepresident Michael Ballingall.
“We are committed to growing the resort into a sustainable twoseason facility and appreciate the partnership with Destination British Columbia, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association and Tourism Big White Society.”
Other positive statistics from the summer season include a 23 per cent jump in retail, rentals up 104 per cent, food and beverage activity 88 per cent stronger and 50 per cent more workers on the mountain.
B.C.’s newest bike park, Bike Big White, opened June 28.
That meant the resort could host the Big White Invitational Slopeside, which attracted 5,000 people July 4-7 to watch 25 of the top-ranked freeride mountain bike tricksters compete.
The bike park is now one of the few courses in the province open to the public.
This summer, Big White also added four new bike trails to its existing network and an Alpine Meadows hiking trail.
Other events hosted at Big White this summer included mountain bike race Mudd, Sweat & Tears, the L’Alpe de Grand Blanc road bike ride from Kelowna to Big White, Dunbar Cycle Summer Series B.C. Cup, three movies under the stars on the big screen in the village centre, a dozen outdoor concerts and the Huckleberry Pie Festival.
Over the summer, construction work was frenetic as the resort saw a record amount of investment.
A new Powder Chair has been built, a new under-road skier tunnel is ready, Phase 3 of the Stonegate condominium complex is complete, and construction continues on five staff accommodation buildings.
Ski season opening day is set for Nov. 22, and early-bird season pass sales continue to Oct. 14.