Big White off-piste & powder guide

British Columbia, Canada · 1755m to 2319m · 4 documented zones

Finding powder at Big White

Big White takes roughly seven and a half metres of dry interior British Columbia snow a year, and its off-piste is built for progression: gentle glades above the village to start, steeper tree runs off the Gem Lake Express as you improve, and the Cliff area when you are ready for consequences. The Cliff is small but it is genuinely serious.

Lift-accessed zones — no walking

Ride up, drop in. These 3 zones need no hiking, which also means they are the first to get tracked out after a storm.

Falcon Bowl

Falcon sector

Inbounds - patrolledExpert

Double-black terrain with steep chutes, tight trees and reliable powder stashes, with fun smaller trees below the chair running down towards the Gem Lake Express.

Inside the ski area boundary and actively avalanche controlled by patrol. Controlled does not mean safe: the resorts themselves are clear that control work reduces the risk without eliminating it.

Lift access
Falcon Chair
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from the Falcon chair.
Getting back
Runs down towards the Gem Lake Express.
Known hazards
  • Steep chutes
  • Tight trees and tree wells

Gem Lake trees

Gem Lake sector

Inbounds - patrolledAdvanced

The steeper end of the tree skiing progression here, with technical descents and natural features on runs like Exhibition and Paradise.

Inside the ski area boundary and actively avalanche controlled by patrol. Controlled does not mean safe: the resorts themselves are clear that control work reduces the risk without eliminating it.

Lift access
Gem Lake Express
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed from the Gem Lake Express.
Getting back
Returns to the Gem Lake Express base.
Known hazards
  • Tree wells
  • Natural features and drops within the trees

Snow ghost glades

Village sector

Inbounds - patrolledIntermediate

The gentle glades above the village, threading between the snow ghosts that Big White is known for. The starting point of the progression, and good fun in its own right between Black Bear and the chair.

Inside the ski area boundary and actively avalanche controlled by patrol. Controlled does not mean safe: the resorts themselves are clear that control work reduces the risk without eliminating it.

Lift access
Bullet Express or Black Forest Express
Walk in
No hiking — Lift-accessed.
Getting back
Runs out to the village lift base.
Known hazards
  • Tree wells, which catch people out even in easy glades

Worth the walk — hike-to zones

Every one of these needs time on foot, which is exactly why the snow lasts longer. Walk-in times below are as published by the resort guides.

The Cliff

The Cliff sector

Inbounds - patrolledExpert

A small but serious double-black bowl that is ungroomed throughout, so you can pick any line down it. Boot-pack from the top of the Cliff chair to the summit and you open more than a dozen chutes of varying steepness along a hikable ridge.

Inside the ski area boundary and actively avalanche controlled by patrol. Controlled does not mean safe: the resorts themselves are clear that control work reduces the risk without eliminating it.

Lift access
Cliff Chair
Walk in
A boot-pack from the top of the Cliff chair up to the summit to reach the ridge chutes.
Getting back
Descends back to the base of the Cliff chair.
Known hazards
  • Extremely high-consequence chutes off the ridge
  • Ungroomed double-black terrain throughout

The avalanche danger scale

Every European bulletin uses this five-level scale. The column that matters most is the last one: around half of all avalanche deaths happen at level 3, not at the extremes, because that is when the snow still looks worth skiing.

1. Low

about 5% of fatalities

Generally stable snowpack. Triggering is only possible with high additional loads, and only in extreme terrain. Natural avalanches are small at most.

The most favourable conditions of the season. Terrain choice still matters in isolated extreme spots.

Forecast on about 20% of the season

2. Moderate

about 30% of fatalities

The snowpack is only moderately well bonded on some steep slopes. Triggering is mainly possible with high additional loads. Very large natural avalanches are unlikely.

Conditions look benign and catch people out. Roughly a third of fatalities happen at this level.

Forecast on about 50% of the season

3. Considerable

about 50% of fatalities

The snowpack is moderately to poorly bonded on many steep slopes. Triggering is possible even from a single skier. Large avalanches are possible.

The most dangerous level in practice. It carries about half of all avalanche deaths, because the skiing still looks good and the snowpack no longer needs much provocation.

Forecast on about 30% of the season

4. High

about 10% of fatalities

The snowpack is poorly bonded on most steep slopes. Triggering is likely even from a single skier, and numerous large natural avalanches are expected.

Off-piste travel should be limited to low-angle terrain well away from anything steep above you.

Forecast on only a few days a year

5. Very High

rare enough that no share is published

An extraordinarily unstable snowpack. Numerous very large and often extremely large natural avalanches are expected, even on moderately steep terrain.

Do not go off-piste. Roads and parts of the resort itself may be closed.

Forecast on very rarely forecast

Scale and statistics from European Avalanche Warning Services - Avalanche Danger Scale.

What you need to carry

Transceiver

Worn on your body, not in your pack, and switched to transmit before you leave the lift. Every member of the group needs one; a single person without makes the whole group less safe.

Probe

Pinpoints the burial once the transceiver has brought you close, so you dig in the right place first time rather than in a hole beside them.

Shovel

A real collapsible avalanche shovel. Digging is the slowest part of a rescue, and it is what actually gets your partner out.

Airbag pack (optional)

Helps keep you nearer the surface in a moving slide. It supplements the three items above and never replaces them.

How to ski it

Read the bulletin before you go, every day

The danger level, the problem type and the aspects and altitudes it applies to matter more than anything on this page. Conditions change overnight.

Practise with your kit until the search is instinctive

Owning a transceiver is not the same as being able to use one under pressure. Run search drills at the start of every season.

Never ski off-piste alone

Companion rescue is the only rescue fast enough to matter. Burial survival drops sharply after about fifteen minutes.

Ski steep slopes one at a time

Exposing one person at a time keeps the rest of the group free to dig, and reduces the load on the slope.

Hire a guide for terrain you do not know

Local guides know which aspects have loaded, which lines cliff out and where this season's weak layer sits. Every resort guide on this page says the same thing.

Plan the exit before you drop in

Several classic routes finish in a different valley or a long way from a lift. Know how you are getting home, and what time the last lift and last bus run.

Keep planning

Big White snow report & forecastSnow history & depthMore resorts in Canada