My first visit to a Ski Resort. Big White, BC, Canada.

 

''Do you ski or snowboard?'' I was asked this question as I struck up a conversation with a random stranger in front of a restaurant in the ski resort of Big White. I replied with ''neither''. And the guy gave me a look which said why are you here then? 

As has been the feature of most of my trips in the last year, this too was a work trip. Me and my colleague from office, Melanie were sent to the ski resort of Big White, which is around 60kms from Kelowna, to do some energy assessments for the businesses there. We had 2 days in hand. One day was for the assessments. Our boss gave us the other day to use as per our wish. It was sort of a gift from the company for a year of hard work. She booked us a quaint cottage in the village which was walking distance away from the main street. 

Big White Resort is located on the Big White mountain which is the highest summit in the Okanagan highland (which spreads over across the border into USA). Its the third largest ski resort in British Columbia after Whistler Blackcomb near Vancouver and Sun Peaks near Kamloops. The mountain summit is at 2310 m with a vertical drop of 777 m and is serviced by 16 lifts. It has around 2700 sq. km skiing area. The village is at an incredible 1700 m. 

This was my first time visiting a ski resort and I was super excited. We arrived at the the parking at the base of the resort around 10 am on a Wednesday. This area is called the Happy Valley Lodge. Today would be all work, so taking our gear, we made our way to the gondola which runs from the base to the village at the top. This is a short 5 min ride and the gondola system runs the entire day only stopping late in the night and resuming the next morning. The gondola dropped us into the village center which is a 2 level building which has shops, eateries and ticket booths for the various activities at the resort which include skiing, snowshoeing and other activities like ice climbing, depending on the conditions.  Exiting from this building we got to work. It was a clear day with temperature around -15 deg Celsius. Rest of the day was spent on working. Late afternoon we made our way back to the car at the parking in happy valley lodge and drove to our accommodation for the next 2 nights. This was a pretty cottage in the style of European chalets. We met the owner who was an interesting character. In between some witty and hilarious remarks he gave us a tour of the place. Meanwhile another colleague from work, Shay joined us. So it was going to be the three of us. The chalet was quirky with lots of trinkets adorning the walls everywhere. There was a sort of a fire grenade from the early 1900s if I am correct and many other interesting stuff like old motor nameplates. One room was entirely covered by used Jack Daniel's bottles. After the owner left, we settled down in the common area for a good conversation. Outside it was anywhere between -15 deg to -20 deg Celsius. 

Next day was for fun. Melanie and Shay both left for their skiing runs and I was left to myself. I got my camera and the recently bought go pro ready and went out to explore the village. As I soon found out there was not much to explore. The main area in the village is just a cluster of buildings. There are hotels, restaurants, a ski school and some skiing equipment shops. The areas beyond this core group has residential buildings and some hotels. The unique aspect of this village is that people can ski in between the buildings. There's no road here.  If you book a stay somewhere here you can directly exit your building and start skiing. I took a long stroll around the buildings, taking pics and videos. Meanwhile it started to snow quite heavily. I had never seen such heavy snowing so it was quite an experience for me. But there was nothing more for me to do. Originally I had planned to do ice climbing here but to my dismay I found out that it was closed for the season. With nothing else to do I made way to a cozy cafe and had lunch. Soon Shay and Melanie, taking a break from their skiing, joined me. After this I went back to the cottage and they want back to skiing. Later in the night I went out for dinner. I had decided on a restaurant but before that I strolled through the entire village taking a video with my camera. After that was done, as I was entering the said restaurant a guy came up to me and asked what number this restaurant was. I was perplexed and told him I didn't understand. Having seen me earlier strolling around the village he thought that I was pub hopping. For someone who doesn't drink alcohol this sounded preposterous. I laughed and told him no I was just here for dinner. We stuck up a conversation and the opening part of this post happened. He came all the way from Winnipeg with his friends just for skiing in BC. We parted ways soon and I got my dinner and trudged back to the cottage. Rest of the evening was spent in the room at work as I still had some work to do. 

The next day Shay was to leave at 10 am for Kelowna and I gladly joined her. Thus ended a short trip to Big White. My first to a ski resort. 

A day in Peachland and Summerland.

Last summer, with the wildfires and Covid19 still raging in BC, I couldn't plan any trips. A little trip that me and my friends did manage to wriggle in a short interval of calm was a drive to the nearby towns of Peachland, Summerland and city of Penticton. It was not an epic trip nor was it a flop show. It was exactly what we needed at that time. A stress buster. A rejuvenating ride to some relaxing places. 

It was Divu, his wife Vani and I on that trip. Divu had booked a rental car and had set aside one day for a ride to someplace nearby. We had already been to the local favorite Myra Canyon before so we decided to check out the nearby towns with some pretty names, Peachland and Summerland. Our first stop was in Peachland which is a district municipality with a population of around 5000. Most of the town is situated on a steep hill very close to the Okanagan Lake. It is also home to Canada's very own Loch Ness, the Ogopogo. We stopped on the waterfront there. Its a pretty stretch of road running along the side of the lake. We walked around here for a while taking in the views. It was a pleasant day. Not too hot and not too cold. Just a normal jacket kind of day. As we were walking we stumbled upon a small museum. Unfortunately the actual museum which was on the first floor was closed for renovation and we had to settle for the smaller portion which was on the ground floor. They had lots of trinkets and stuff from the town. There were posters detailing the history of Peachland and many artifacts which belonged to the locals.  At the counter, they had some small railway wagon models for sale. I bought one for 2 dollars. Made for a nice souvenir. 

Next stop was Summerland. The name has such warm positive vibe to it. That's for everyone else though. For me it reminded me of the town of Summerisle from the 1973 horror classic 'The Wicker Man'. And those who have watched the movie will know what I am talking about. In Summerland our first stop was the Museum here. It had some nice exhibits related to the local history but for us the highlight was definitely the railway model town they had. There was model train which completed a loop at the press of a button. This was my first time looking at a miniature railway model and it was fun. We also some interesting exhibits related to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) for whom I have a special interest. I like in trains in general. Add history to it and I am hooked. This was the reason I did the 4 day trip from Toronto to Vancouver. The museum here has some nice costumes of those times which we tried out. 

Our final stop for the day was in Penticton. Here too we headed off to the Museum and spent a good amount of time wandering inside. Lots of interesting stuff but for me two stood out. One was about the ferries that used to run in the Okanagan lake before the advent of the rail and road transportation. Especially cool was a model of SS Naramata which was a steam tug commissioned by CPR. It used to run between 1914 to 1967.  The second was a Penny Farthing cycle. This was owned by a local resident who had it donated to the museum after his death. This was the first time I saw a Penny Farthing in person. After the museum we headed to the Skaha lake hoping to go for a walk around but there was a strong wind blowing at the time. The kind of wind which feels like its slowly percolating through your protective layers and skin and reaching your bones. We headed back home from here. A nice, short and rejuvenating trip.