NW Snow Resorts: British Columbia
British Columbia
By Diane Rudholm and Fiona Cohen
Photo at right: Big White added big updates to its amenities this year. Photo courtesy of Big White Ski Resort
Big White
This resort near Kelowna, B.C., spent $30,000 this summer to upgrade its cross-country ski, snowshoe, dog-walking and dogsled trails. It also added a grooming machine and installed a $300,000 Wintersteiger ski tuning machine, for those who want an extra honed edge.
Kimberly Alpine Resort
Love is in the air at Kimberly with its addition of a new wedding tent and on-mountain wedding venue. The resort will also have weekly ski date-nights complete with après ski specials at Trickle Creek Lodge.
There are also treats in store for beginners and kids at Kimberly this year. Beginners will enjoy a new designated green run called Alpine Slide. The kids’ trail that starts near the top of Midnight has been widened, flattened and lengthened — it is now 2,300 feet long!
Red Mountain Resort
With the newly developed Grey Mountain adding nearly 1,000 acres to Red Mountain Resort’s inbound terrain, Red boasts the single largest expansion of an existing resort in North America in four decades. This means a total 2,682 skiable acres. Take the new Poma lift to the top of Grey Mountain — elevation 2,048 feet and enjoy 360-degree skiing.
Once visitors have built up an appetite from exploring, they can head on over to the new Wiener Take All restaurant for gourmet beer and brats. It’s located next to the new lift.
Silver Star Ski Resort
A new learning and winter play center called “The Zone” has been added to Silver Star’s offerings. It features the Learning Zone (think wide, gentle slopes for beginners), a Jib Zone for learning small rails and other park features, and an Air Zone — complete with a Katal Air bag.
With recent developments on Highway 97, Silver Star Mountain Resort will be a 55-minute drive from the Kelowna Airport.
Sun Peaks
Snow lovers can discover new runs on Mt. Morrisey, which — at an elevation of 5,495 feet — can be accessed by the Morrisey Express Chairlift. Also new this year: the two-day Family Fun Race Camp and the three-day Off-Piste Camp.
Whistler Blackcomb
If a lift that carries four people on a single chair is called a quad, what do you call one that takes six people? Turns out, it’s a six-pack. Whistler Blackcomb is putting one in to replace the Harmony Ridge Express Quad, so starting this winter, 50 percent more skiers per hour will be dropped at Glacier Bowl.
And on Blackcomb they are putting in the Crystal Ridge Express, a new high-speed quad taking skiers up a vertical rise of some 1,755 feet to the Crystal Hut on the western shoulder of the mountain.
>> Click here to see our Winter Lodging Directory
