It’s a winter wonderland at Big White Ski Resort and the slopes will be ready for skiers and snowboarders a little earlier this year.
The resort announced that it will be open at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, which is seven days before schedule and according to resort officials, the earliest the resort has opened since 2015.
“We’ve always had the policy to open as soon as runs permit, and we’re confident that we’ll be able to offer up a good selection of green runs in just over a week,” Michael Ballingall, senior vice-president of Big White Ski Resort Ltd., said in a press release.
“After a couple of hard years in the tourism world, and having to close early multiple years in a row, we are very excited to give our passholders, locals and residents of British Columbia, a chance to hit the slopes as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
An estimated 114 centimetres has fallen at the resort so far this year, bringing the village snow base to 62 centimetres.
Lara’s Gondola, the Plaza Chair and the Ridge Rocket Express Chair will all be open on Nov. 17, servicing runs from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Gondola will close at 5 p.m.
For opening-day skiers, tickets will be 50 per cent off the ticket window price.
While an early opening is good news, the resort has struggled in recent months with staffing issues.
Staff accommodations are at an all-time low.
“I think we’re like every other resort in the world and accommodation-seekers in any resort town, its catastrophic,” Ballingall said in an interview last month
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it and I have been here since 1985.”
The housing crunch is due to former rental properties being sold and people moving in long-term. The resort curtailed hiring due to the housing issues, which he hopes will be resolved in the future. Similar situations occurred in the ’90s.
Tickets have to be bought online, with a special promo code available at BigWhite.com, to receive the discount, and will remain discounted until a second detached quad chair begins spinning.
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