Big White
Forget fire, we’ve got snow on local ski hills
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The weather has flip-flopped in the last week, so much so local ski hills are reporting their first snowfalls instead of watching for wildfires. Silver Star Mountain operations director Brad Baker sent out pictures showing a fair dusting of snow at the resort near Vernon, and a reminder of the mountain’s early bird...
Big White Ski Resort not big enough
KELOWNA – Big White Ski Resort, one of the largest in B.C., is not quite big enough to qualify as a municipality. At least not yet. For the last year the Big White Chamber of Commerce has been actively investigating the possibility of becoming a Mountain Resort Municipality, similar to Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops....
Big White Ski Resort awarded for excellence
NAMED A TOP-PERFORMING SKI DESTINATION BY TRAVELLERS KELOWNA - Big White Ski Resort has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award. Now in its fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in hospitality and is given to establishments that consistently achieve great reviews on TripAdvisor. Destinations must maintain a consistent high review from a minimum number...
Spring snow at Okanagan resorts leaves ski bums less bummed
OKANAGAN - It may have been a rainy week in the valley, but it was dumping snow at local ski hills. Silver Star Mountain in Vernon got close to 60 cm of new snow in the last week, blanketing alpine runs with a 209 centimetre base. As of Friday morning, all chair lifts except the...
Kelowna woman wins B.C.’s biggest banked slalom snowboarding race
KELOWNA - A Kelowna woman walked away with a trophy, and bragging rights, after earning the fastest time in the ladies portion of the biggest annual banked slalom snowboarding event in British Columbia. A total of 265 participants raced in 20 different categories as Big White Ski Resort once again hosted the Annual Neil Edgeworth...
’80s themed psychic ski race returns to Big White
KELOWNA – After a 20 year hiatus, the Kelowna Cup ski race is coming back to Big White. The '80s themed race is a kind of psychic slalom where racers, some wearing costumes from the '80s, make a timed run down a course and then predict what their time will be for the second run....
Annual non-profit race cancelled after 35 years
KELOWNA – A 35-year-old racing tradition in Kelowna has run its course. The annual Ski2Sea race is an annual non-profit relay event where teams and individuals alternate biking, skiing, kayaking and running 95 km from Big White to City Park. According to their website the reasons the race has been cancelled are to do with...
Coastal ski resort closures bad news for local hills
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – With warm weather shutting down ski hills in the Lower Mainland and Washington state, hills in the Thompson-Okanagan are busier than they’ve been in ten years. But it’s not all good news. Spokespeople for all three major ski destinations in Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops said that although business is up in the short...
No bad roads, only bad drivers say police after Hwy 33 hairpin accidents
KELOWNA - A spate of accidents near the eight-mile hairpin turn on Highway 33 are more of a sign of bad driving than a dangerous road, say Kelowna RCMP. The latest accident, where a Chevy Cruz fish-tailed into a logging truck, is the type of incident that could be avoided if drivers would follow the...
American travel writer predicts Kelowna the Next Big Thing
KELOWNA – A story written for a weekly newspaper in Colorado is getting some love on social media in the Okanagan. Travel writer Amiee White Beazley has an article in the Aspen Times predicting Kelowna will be the Next Big Thing calling it the Boulder, Colorado of 40 years ago, but with the added bonus...
Speed likely a factor in Black Mountain roll over
KELOWNA - Speed is likely the reason a man driving to Big White to go snowboarding rolled his truck Monday morning. A witness to the accident says they were in the passing lane of Hwy 33 when a black pickup truck blew by them "going bonkers fast" in the slow lane shortly after 9 a.m....
Record breaking Christmas at Big White
KELOWNA – It was a very busy Christmas at B.C.'s second largest ski resort. The hill broke all-time records for ski and snowboard equipment rentals, water use, day parking and overnight guest bookings in the two days following Christmas, according to a media release from Big White Ski Resort. Equipment rentals topped out at 1,774...
Ski season begins this weekend
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you are the kind of person who dreams in white, longs for the feeling of cold wind whipping your face and lives for snow days — you are in luck. Opening day at area ski hills is nearly here. Beginning this Saturday, ski resorts around the province will begin to open. Sun...
Big White hosting Team B.C.
KELOWNA - Big White will play host to a Team B.C. training camp this season. Team B.C. Alpine Ski Racers U16 will spend three days training for the 2015 Canada Winter Games at Big White in January. "We are thrilled to host the camp here at Big White," Michael Ballingall with the resort says. The...
Big White hammered by snow overnight
KELOWNA - Crews at Big White awoke to about seven centimetres of the white stuff this morning and with temperatures sitting below zero and snow still falling, it is expected enough snow will be on the ground for season opening Nov. 27. Josh Foster says in his 11 years at Big White they have only...