Big White Ski Resort

Big White sits high on an isolated mountain above the Okanagan, a purpose-built village where nearly every bed is ski-in, ski-out and the whole resort operates as one self-sufficient community up in the clouds. Its calling card is the snow: cold, dry and abundant, it rimes the sub-alpine firs into the eerie white 'snow ghosts' that give the frontside its otherworldly look. The terrain is broad and forgiving, tilted towards families, intermediates and progressing skiers, with steeper glades and a serious powder stash tucked away for those who seek them. Because it is so remote, there is little reason and little opportunity to leave, which gives a stay here a cocooned, all-in feel. The atmosphere is relaxed, wholesome and unmistakably geared towards a week of easy on-mountain living.

Choose Big White for dependable dry powder, an unusually complete ski-in, ski-out village and a genuinely family-first atmosphere. It is a resort where you can arrive, park the car and not think about it again, with everything from lessons and childcare to night skiing and tubing on the doorstep. Intermediates and families will feel especially well served, but the tree runs and the higher Cliff and Gem Lake areas give stronger skiers real powder days when the snow falls, which it does often.

The mountain's altitude and interior location keep the snow cold and light through a long season, and the frequent low cloud that frosts the trees into snow ghosts is part of daily life here. The bulk of the terrain is gentle to moderate, groomed wide and cruisy, but the Cliff area brings genuine steeps and the Gem Lake side offers longer, quieter, more varied descents. Powder days are common rather than rare, and the tree skiing holds soft snow beautifully between storms. Visibility can drop when the cloud settles in, which is when locals dive into the sheltered glades.