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Land of snow ghosts (photo gallery)

It’s a bit chilly in the land of snow ghosts.A slight breeze is blowing as we near the summit of Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna, B.C., on the aptly named Snow Ghost Express Chairlift.
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Big White Ski Resort is famed for its abundant natural snow


It’s a bit chilly in the land of snow ghosts.

A slight breeze is blowing as we near the summit of Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna, B.C., on the aptly named Snow Ghost Express Chairlift.

From our position about 20 metres above the ski run, we can easily make out the shapes of dozens of snow ghosts — frigid apparitions that are only found on certain mountains in the Canadian Rockies.

These hauntingly beautiful snow formations are created when conifers near the top of a mountain become coated with a thick layer of rime ice and snow. From our vantage point on the chairlift, our children point out different shapes that they imagine these snow formations look like. It’s kind of like laying on your back and looking for shapes in cloud formations — except the snow ghosts are much closer.

Skiing or snowboarding amongst snow ghosts is one of the highlights of a visit to Big White and as we disembark the chairlift, we can’t help feeling a tingle of excitement at the opportunity to enter this eerie white winter wonderland.

Big White Ski Resort is famed for its snow ghosts, abundant natural snow, great tree skiing, uncrowded runs, and for being one of the most family-friendly ski resorts in the Canadian Rockies. The resort has received national and international acclaim for these features. The Times London named Big White one of the top five family ski resorts in the world and readers of Condé Nast Traveler chose Big White as the resort with the best snow in North America.

On this day, we are participating in a Big White activity called “Cruz the Blues.” Every person in our family has a special passport and we are collecting stamps for each of the blue runs we ski down. At the end of the ski day, we will turn in our passport to receive a free T-shirt and be entered in a draw for prizes including a free Nintendo Wii video game console.

The nice thing about this Cruz the Blues activity is that it gets you out exploring the entire ski hill. Big White is one of the largest ski areas in the Rockies and more than half of the 118 marked runs on the hill are at the intermediate blue level.

You’d think Big White might be crowded on a busy weekend with a host of people taking part in the Cruz the Blues activity, but the ski area is spread over 1,117 hectares, making it practically impossible to cover the entire hill in a single weekend of skiing. There is also a great onsite lift system that keeps lift lineups to a minimum. Big White has 16 lifts that have the combined capacity to transport 28,000 people per hour, so you are almost never standing around waiting for a lift.

Over the next few hours, we zip up and down the mountain ducking into glades and skiing the wide-open bowls. We stick to intermediate and beginner runs and even then we don’t hit them all.

Fortunately, we don’t have to hit every blue run to get the free T-shirt. At the end of the day, we glide down to the Happy Valley Day Lodge, located in the Big White Village below the base of most of the lifts. Here, we trade our passports for T-shirts and hope to be lucky in the draws.

After dinner, we head back to our ski-in rental condo as the last light of day is fading over the surrounding Monashee Mountains.

Night is not the time to see ghosts at Big White. We’ll have to wait until morning to have more close encounters of the snow ghost type.

If you go:

• Big White is British Columbia’s second largest ski resort and it features ski-in/ski-out accommodations for up to 17,000 guests. It is located 56 km southeast of Kelowna, so staying onsite is the way to go. Big White Central Reservations can book accommodations, lift tickets, airport transfers and flights. One night of lodging with a lift ticket starts at $85 per person per night. For reservations or information, visit www.bigwhite.com or phone 800-663-2772. A one-day lift ticket will cost $71. Multi-day tickets and packages reduce the price.

• Insider tips: A Big White lift ticket is also valid for skiing at the nearby Silver Star Ski Resort and there are scheduled intermountain day trips between the two resorts. Also, adding an activities pass to your multi-day ticket can save you money on tubing and skating. Big White offers night skiing from Thursday through Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., including the Telus Terrain Park, but Friday night skiing is a special deal at only $5 for a night lift ticket.

• WestJet deal: Show guest services your WestJet boarding pass and they will give you a free lift ticket on the day you fly into Kelowna.

• Free mountain tours are available daily in the village at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The snow host program pairs knowledgeable snow host volunteers with resort guests. The snow host will show you around the resort and help you get a feel for the layout. Our guide, Kevin, helped us find all the blue runs and showed us how to get back to our condo.

• The next Cruz the Blues weekends will be held on March 19 and 20 and March 28 to April 3.

Activities for non-skiers at Big White

There is no excuse for boredom at Big White ski resort — even if you don’t ski or snowboard. Part of the reason Big White has received so many accolades for being a great family resort is the fact that there are so many different activities available.

• Snowbiking — Big White is the only place in Canada where you can enjoy a snowbiking tour. A snowbike has a special ski blade on the front and a unique traction system on the back wheel. Tours can be booked through the activities desk or directly with Monashee Adventure Tours and cost $80 per person (www.monasheeadventuretours.com).

• Monashee Adventure Tours summer bike trips was selected by National Geographic Adventure Magazine as one of the 25 best new tours in the world for 2010.

• Horse-drawn sleigh rides — An old-fashioned sleigh ride is one of the best ways to explore the quiet forests surrounding Big White. Sleigh rides are operated by wagon master Jim Long of Stettler and cost $15 per person for a 30-minute ride or $25 per person for a one hour ride. Sleighs hold up to 16 people.

• Snowshoe tours — Enjoy a guided snowshoe tour through the backcountry for $30 per adult or $26 per child.

• Tubing park — Big White’s tubing park is Canada’s largest resort tubing park. The park features specially built lifts and groomed lanes to get you up and down the slopes. A full day tube and skate pass will cost $20 per adult or $18 per child.

• Ice climbing tower — The newest attraction at Big White is an 18-metre-high ice climbing tower. One climb will cost $20 per person.

• Skating — The skating rink is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can purchase a day pass for $4 or buy a tubing park and skating combo pass for $20. Every Saturday, there is a bonfire with free hot chocolate down by the skating rink. Skate rentals are available onsite.

• Dogsled tours — Enjoy a dogsled tour at Big White for $195 per sled. The sled holds a maximum weight of 154 kg, so two adults or one adult and a couple of kids could experience the tour together for the same price.

• Mini-snowmobiles — Mini-snowmobiles for kids with a special racing track are available at a rate of $15 for 10 minutes.

• Snowmobile tours — Snowmobile tours start at $129 for a one-hour tour and go up to $239 for a four-hour tour for a single rider.

• Kids’ carnival nights — Every Thursday and Saturday is a free carnival night for kids at the Village Centre Mall. The event features kids’ games, popcorn, cotton candy and prizes.

• Fireworks — A fireworks show takes place every Saturday night at 8 p.m. You can watch it from your condo or chalet or head to Happy Valley for the best views.

Debbie Olsen is a Lacombe-based freelance writer. If you have a travel story you would like to share or know someone with an interesting travel story who we might interview, please email: DOGO@telusplanet.net or write to: Debbie Olsen, c/o Red Deer Advocate, 2950 Bremner Ave., Red Deer, Alta., T4R 1M9.