After two weeks of delays due to snow conditions, the 2023/24 winter season kicked off at Big White Friday morning.

Most of B.C. has seen warmer and drier than normal conditions over the past several weeks, resulting in one of the latest starts to the season Big White has seen. But despite the late start, the excitement was high Friday morning when the Ridge Rocket chair began spinning for the first time this season.

“Everyone's super jazzed this morning, the excitement levels are high; it amps up even more when you have to push it back a couple of weeks,” said Big White sales director Andrew Daly.

Due to the delayed start, Big White has pushed their closing date by a week, running until April 14.

Along with the first day of the season, Friday also marked the 60th anniversary of Big White's first opening day, back in 1963.

Corsen Braham was the first person in line this year, arriving at the lift at 12:21 a.m. Matt DeAngelis and his friends showed up around 3 a.m. and cooked breakfast in the lift line.

With some snow falling over the past couple days, the resort now has a 69 cm base, and more snow is expected to fall through the weekend.

Friday, the Ridge Rocket, Bullet and Plaza chairs are running, along with Lara's Gondola.

Lift tickets are currently 50% off for the early season.