Local hills ready to go

The anticipation and excitement a child feels on Christmas Eve soon dissipates with age, but for snow sports enthusiasts, the feelings that come the night before the mountain opens come pretty close.

As the snow continues to fall at higher elevations, chairlifts will begin spinning at Big White and Silver Star bright and early Wednesday morning.

With a 70 centimetre base at Big White and 98 cm at Silver Star, the mountains have moved their opening day a few days earlier. 

Originally, Big White had planned to open on Nov. 24, but that was pushed back to Dec. 3 on Nov. 21, after the hill received less snow than expected.

In the past week, the resort has received 47 centimetres of new snow, allowing for the earlier start.

Not to be outdone, Silver Star moved their planned Dec. 2 open to Nov 30.

Big White's Lara's Gondola will start running at 7:45 a.m., bringing people to the village, followed by the Ridge Rocket and the Plaza Chair at 8:45.

Lift tickets at Big White will be half price until further notice, due to the limited terrain.