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Big White working hard to prepare for snowfall, named to another top ten list

Big White waiting on snow

As Big White waits for Mother Nature to bring the champagne powder, they are doing everything they can to prepare and keep those staying on the mountain entertained.

"There are now close to 4,000 people a night sleeping in the village," said resort senior vice president Michael J. Ballingall.

Big White has been preparing the skating rink and it will be ready to open on Friday, Dec. 1, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on the weekend from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

As a result, the Gondola will operate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily starting this Friday.

Crews have also been busy "bushwhacking" in an effort to get as many runs ready for the next snowfall as possible.

"It's been cold so the snow sort of dried out. So now we just have to wait for more snow."

Ballingall says the base is good but they need 30 or 40 more centimetres before they can start opening runs.

While the resort waits, they're planning for their light up this Saturday when the Coke truck will roll in.

The Coca-Cola Caravan will be stopping at Big White Saturday between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

"It's a real cool thing it's a big semi and it lights up, Santa will be there," Ballingall added.

The resort has also cracked yet another top ten list, this one for the world best resorts for apres-ski.

According to Blacks Outdoors, which looked at factors like the amount of social media posts and the number of mountain restaurants, Big White placed ninth and was the only Canadian ski hill to place in the top ten.

"You know the the only reason I can attest to this is because of all the outdoor stuff that we have, like the Bull Wheel, The Woods, The Globe, and Snowshoe Sams all have outdoor heated patios," Ballingall said.

He says the ski resort has gone out of its way find way to allow guests to have fun off the slopes and that includes tailgating.

"They have their favourite beverages, they bring up barbecues and they bring up propane firepits. It's like tailgating at a CFL or an NFL game," Ballingall said, explaining the trend started during the COVID-19 pandemic and has only picked up since.

"It's also inexpensive, not everybody can enjoy the restaurants. We understand that. In our cafeteria, there's always hot water available, and people plug in their Crock-Pots and go skiing. We encourage it. We see people mixing together with 10 or 12 people around a table and they bring up the cooler just like you're picnicking. You can do that in any one of our day lodges, there's a sink, there's hot water, they're right near the washroom so it's really easy," Ballingall says.



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