AS A seasoned journalist and the familiar face of 9News Sydney's weather forecasts, Amber Sherlock has carved tracks through many of the world's premier ski resorts.
Despite her extensive experience, the allure of Big White Ski Resort in British Columbia, a favourite among her fellow Australians, remained a captivating mystery.
This year, driven by curiosity, Amber and her family embarked on a snowy adventure to uncover the charm of Big White—and they were not disappointed!
Everything for the family - By Amber Sherlock
AS WELL as being regulars on the NSW ski fields, we have also skied at other resorts in Canada, the US and Japan.
I was curious as to why so many Australians have a love affair with Big White, and after 10 days, it's safe to say I worked it out!
The first thing that struck me was the relative ease to get there.
After a flight from Sydney to Vancouver, it was a short domestic flight to Kelowna before a Big White Shuttle greeted us.
First impressions
When we woke up and looked out the window the next morning, we were awestruck.
The town centre was literally a snowball throw away and we could see visitors make their way to their morning coffee and ski lesson from our accommodation.
This was ski-in, ski-out in the true sense of the word.
No line-ups
The first morning, we made our way to the hire centre and were greeted by knowledgeable staff who fitted us out with impressively high-quality equipment.
It's also worth noting we didn't even have to queue – this became a theme of the holiday!
We skied on to nearly every lift without having to queue.
Despite being Australian school holidays, we rarely had to queue to get on a chairlift, and restaurant bookings were easy.
The mountain is very user-friendly in that all the runs lead back to the village. When you are skiing with kids, it is very reassuring that they are unlikely to get lost.
Legendary Champagne Powder
We managed to time our arrival with a snowstorm, and it continued to snow nearly every day.
Honestly, I skied some of the best powder I've ever seen.
Lessons and beyond skiing
While both my kids are proficient skiers, they had a couple of days of lessons to brush up on their skills.
The lesson size was very small; both children only had three other people, which allowed them to get the most out of the time.
But we didn't just ski.
We also took the opportunity to check out the tubing park, which the kids loved.
We also tried ice hockey – which is much harder than it looks!
Big White has its own ice rink; you can rent skates and a hockey stick to give it a go.
Final thoughts
Would I go back?
Most definitely.
It was an easy-to-navigate resort for a family, with great snow, reasonable prices, and plenty of accommodation to choose from. It has a smaller resort vibe with friendly staff, a beautiful village, a great ski school, and epic snow.
