If you wanted to create the ultimate ski resort, this place would be the template

When it comes to rating snow resorts, so much of it is subjective. By and large, skiers and snowboarders relate in a tribal way to one or two destinations, sticking with them from their early days and gathering, over the seasons, an intimate understanding of the way they work.A big mountain with ski-in/ski-out village and 750cm average annual snowfall.Big White Ski ResortSuppose you’re a traveller though, looking to explore some new terrain, what do you look for? One thing that immediately springs to mind is how much snowmaking there is. If there is major snowmaking infrastructure, that isn’t necessarily a negative, it’ll guarantee coverage.But if you come across a popular destination with little or no snowmaking, then that’s telling you a lot about the quality and reliability of its snow cover. Somewhere like Canada’s Big White, for example.Indeed, if you were setting out to build your fantasy snow resort, you could do worse than use Big White as a template. The highest peak in British Columbia’s Okanagan Highlands, the resort has an average annual snow fall of 750 centimetres, making for an operating season nudging five months.You’d want your fantasy resort to be close to an airport – for Big White, Kelowna is 55-minutes down the road. You’d want it to have a village with some scale but still some character and heart, where most of the accommodation was ski-in/ski-out.Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletterGet exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.The village centre of Big White Ski Resort.Big White Ski ResortAnd the bars and restaurants would have some character – like the Fat Marmot, with its healthy salad bowls and outrageously good fried chicken; or the classy Kettle Valley Steakhouse; or for the big breakfast, The Cabin (cheddar biscuit benedict anyone?).“There are no big brands here, no big-name hotels,” says Big White senior vice president Michael Ballingal. “They’re all mom-and-pop businesses.” And the resort itself is still “proudly family owned and operated”.It’s the third generation of a family with deep Australian connections that you’ll find behind the wheel here. Back in the 1980s, the Schumann family owned the ski lift and ski school leases at Mount Hotham in the Victorian alps. They were looking for opportunities further afield and found one in Big White.It was in a perilous state financially and the story goes that the patriarch, Desmond Schumann, bought it for one Canadian dollar. He also had to honour about $C4.5 million in debt that came with it, but what he got was the lease on the existing snowfield and vast areas beyond and the ability to develop the real estate in the village.So it was “see you later” Hotham and “how’s it going?” Canada. The resort chief executive is Schumann’s grandson, Peter Plimmer, a keen skier but also a keen mountain biker, with an aim to expand that side of the business, which is booming in some parts of Canada.But back to our fantasy snowfield – what matters as much as anything is the quality of the terrain, the runs you’ll be using. The groomed terrain here is seemingly endless, miles and miles of smooth runs, sometimes steep, sometimes with some big rolling bumps to better let you work the shape of your skis (or board). They’re like big, long, beautiful fairways.Fresh tracks at Big White.My guide, Gavin Crawford – another Mount Hotham veteran who now calls Big White home – shows me the mountain, and it takes most of the day to cover it. His tip on the groomed runs? “Ski Sun Run early, the groomer drivers use it to head home and make their final pass on skier’s left of the run.”Much of the terrain (54 per cent to be exact) is of the cruisy intermediate kind, but there are also steeps up high for more of a challenge, a terrain park for the young and restless and some long beginner runs.And then there are the trees to ski through and the snow ghosts – trees in their frozen winter state – to ski around, all of this with views into the vast mountain ranges into the distance.And if you need a hand to find your way here, mountain hosts lead 90-minute complimentary mountain tours departing from the village centre daily at 10.15am.Apart from the village centre, there are base areas for day visitors who might be staying in Kelowna, for example. Big White also has an extensive trail network for cross country skiers and “the biggest tube park around” (that’s tobogganing on big tyre inner tubes). Quite the complete experience.THE DETAILSSTAY + SKIBig White’s POWDer Card, available in January, offers flexible three‑ to five‑day lift pass options, while season passes are the best value for guests planning to ski more frequently (they sell “a couple of thousand” of these annually to Australians). For a package including lift passes, equipment hire, accommodation and resort transfers, go through Big White Direct Bookings. See bigwhite.comFLYAir New Zealand (airnewzealand.com.au) flies daily to Vancouver where there are onward connecting flights to Kelowna (about an hour in the air). Big White is a 55-minute drive from Kelowna Airport; there are frequent shuttle connections in winter, hire cars are also available. Go through Big White Direct Bookings for shuttles.The writer flew to Canada as a guest of Air New Zealand and visited Big White as a guest of Destination British Columbia (supernaturalbc.com) and Big White.Jim Darby is a senior producer for Traveller and the author of White Gold, a history of Australia in winter sports.Connect via X or email.From our partners