Big White pushes opening day by 24 hrs

UPDATE: Faced with a lack of snow, Big White Ski Resort has delayed its opening by 24 hours.

The hill was set to open on Nov. 25, but after consulting the long-range forecast and outdoor operations crews, it decided to push the launch to Friday, Nov. 26, snow permitting.

Should enough snow fall, the Ridge Rocket Chairlift, Plaza Chairlift and Lara's Gondola will be spinning at 8:45 a.m.

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Big White Ski Resort has a few moguls to navigate en route to opening day; a lack of snow and highway access to the Lower Mainland.

The hill needs another 25 to 30 cm of snow for the “ultimate opening day,” resort president Michael Ballingall told Kelowna10. That would bring the base to 70 cm. Right now, Big White has just around 40 cm of snow.

“We’re expecting to get some more snow throughout the course of the next four to five days,” he said. “But as a betting man, I’d wouldn’t be betting on opening on Thursday.”

He expects a decision will be made Monday on if the resort will delay opening. A delay would impact many other areas, he said.

“It’s the restaurants and those people preparing. You don’t want the chefs to go out and start preparing a lot of food for an opening day on Thursday, and that food spoils,” Ballingall said. “It’s really a balancing act and a waiting game, and we just try to provide as much information as possible for our guests, and our arriving guests and those preparing the mountain.”

Ballingall said highway restrictions between the Interior the Lower Mainland will affect attendance, as Vancouver can account for up 90 per cent of customers.

“We understand the mandates the provincial government has put in place for non-essential travel, skiing is non-essential travel,” he said. “However long that’s in place for, we don’t expect anyone to come from the Lower Mainland, so that’s a huge economic impact if this is going to roll into the Christmas season.”

Snow is forecasted to fall on the hill in the coming days.