Need some insider tips on Big White and surrounds

Hi. My family (3 kids 8 and under) and i are thinking of basing ourselves in Big White for 3 weeks this christmas. We have been offered a home exchange on the run in the village for our Sydney house. We are pretty keen skiiers and usually like a Utah ski holiday so we're a bit nervous we might get bored (yes, yes , grateful to even be there at all yaddda yadda). Our questions are:

1. Is it easy to get in a car and do a day at another resort?

2. How far is Fernie from big White (ie. can we go for a weekend to another resort without it being a big ordeal?)

3. In layman's terms what is the snow like over christmas at Big White (lousy, good, disappointing, consistent, surprisingly good, variable?)

4. Is there anything to offer my husband in the way of tree skiing, off-piste etc?

5. last time we put our 15 month old in creche for 2 weeks of half-day creche and it was too much. He was traumatised. This time i'd prefer to find a local girl for a couple of hours a day to play with the kids (throw snowballs, build snowmen etc) and be based at our condo. Is there a local paper or some other way of advertising for someone?

Thanks, it is so difficult trying to work out all this local stuff from halfway across the world and its the stuff that makes such a different to how your day runs once you get there!

Great choice. Big white is a great family resort. There is loads to do for everybody.

The Skiing is usualy great and varied there are wide open long groomers and lots of tree skiing and interesting terrain also.

The hill is about a 45 min - 1 hour drive from town and the grocery prices are high on the hill so make sure you stock up in town before you go up the hill. Whilst the restaurants are OK this is not the place for a gourmet experience.

To answer your specific questions:

1. Is it easy to get in a car and do a day at another resort?

2. How far is Fernie from big White (ie. can we go for a weekend to another resort without it being a big ordeal?)

Fernie would be a push. It is a days drive especially with family in tow. You would be better off aiming for someware a bit closer. Silver Star is a ~2 hour drive from Big White and owned by the same company. There is more steeper terrain at Silver Star, not to say that there isn't steep terrain at Big White. Revelstoke is doable for a weekend. It only opened last season and boasts almost 6,000 ft vertical terrain. It is also very uncrowded. we stayed at the Days Inn in town, which is perfect for a quick couple of nights. Kicking horse is also doable for a weekend but is about another 1.5-2.5 hour drive from Revelstoke.

3. In layman's terms what is the snow like over christmas at Big White (lousy, good, disappointing, consistent, surprisingly good, variable?)

Variable.

4. Is there anything to offer my husband in the way of tree skiing, off-piste etc?

Loads of options. One badly kept secret - go lookers right immediately at the at the top of the black forrest express for some dense trees, usually with loads of powder. (experts only + ski with a partner). There is also loads of tree skiing of various levels in between most of the groomed runs.

5. last time we put our 15 month old in creche for 2 weeks of half-day creche and it was too much. He was traumatised. This time i'd prefer to find a local girl for a couple of hours a day to play with the kids (throw snowballs, build snowmen etc) and be based at our condo. Is there a local paper or some other way of advertising for someone?

No idea - sorry.

You will have a great time at Big White.

steverandomno wrote: Fernie would be a push. It is a days drive especially with family in tow. You would be better off aiming for someware a bit closer. Silver Star is a ~2 hour drive from Big White and owned by the same company. There is more steeper terrain at Silver Star, not to say that there isn't steep terrain at Big White. Revelstoke is doable for a weekend. It only opened last season and boasts almost 6,000 ft vertical terrain. It is also very uncrowded. we stayed at the Days Inn in town, which is perfect for a quick couple of nights. Kicking horse is also doable for a weekend but is about another 1.5-2.5 hour drive from Revelstoke.

Whenever you are looking for hotels near to ski resorts in the US, always check for "ski and stay" packages. Often you will pay $20 more for the room, but save on the two lift tickets that come free with the room.

Trencher

If you are used to Utah, stay at Utah! Big White is good but the likes of Utah will be better. which Utah resorts?

1. Silver Star is only an hour and a bit away and is really cool, especially the backside. full of blacks and double blacks. Sun Peaks is only about 3 hours max. away as well

2. Fernie is quite a long way but do-able for a weekend easily

3. The word i would use for Christmas when i was there is POWDER. and plenty of it. yeah snow should be fine, it is canada not Europe haha.

4. Loooooads of tree skiing, which is off piste. not many really steep areas but enough for a few weeks.

5. Plenty of Aussie girls to do that for you, yeah.

i did last season there and may well be teaching back again next season.

bennyboy

1. Silver Star is only an hour and a bit away and is really cool,
2. Fernie is quite a long way but do-able for a weekend easily

Mate... how fast do you drive?

Google has Big White to Fernie at 7 hours 22 mins straight which I rekon is a gross underestimate. Adding toilet breaks, winter driving conditions and the family factor etc.. would probably double it. It is theoretically possible, but probably not much fun.

Thanks for all the tips, they are great.

Is Seattle far to drive? We are booked Sydney to LA but are yet to work out domestic flights. LA to Kelowna sends you halfway around Canada first so we're thinking LA to Seattle then hire a car.

To Bennyboy - which Utah resorts? - We like The Canyons, Snowbird and Alta best.

If you realy don't mind travelling then a great trip eould be into Seattle and out of Calgary.

You could go up through the North Cascades national park and cross the border at Osoyoos. (~7 Hours on Google) I've never done that route (interesting). Usually we fly into Vancouver. The road from Vancouver to Hope is flat and then you start going up into the mountains. Going via Osoyoos rather than Vancouver might be a good route. the boder crossing at Osoyoos will probably be much less busy than the one to Vancouver.

The scenary from Kelowna to Calgary is amazing. It is definately something to see in your lifetime. You might want to consider a stop at Revelstoke or Golden to break the journey. You could do a nice little itinerary, skiing mt Baker on the way to Big White and Revelstoke/Kicking Horse on the way to Calgary.

Seattle is definitely drivable, whether you want to spend that much time in a car is a completely different matter, plus you would have to deal with immigration twice.

Personally I would fly up to Vancouver and then across to Kelowna.

Can you not get a direct flight in to Vancouver then you only have one change?