Finding a family friends ski resort is easier said than done and sometimes we need a hand to understand which resort might be a good fit for you and the little ones.

What your favorite resorts were when you were in your early twenties might not have the same appeal to rug rats. Let’s be honest, they’re not interested in bars and nightlife… yet.

My first experience skiing in Canada was actually at Big White. Why, you ask?

Because (here’s my honest answer):

I was not disappointed. As a first timer to Canada and really to snow of that quality, it blew my mind. The snow is simply unbelievable.

The Snow Ghosts are Incredible!

It doesn’t seem to snow as much (meaning as heavy and as much quantity) as say, Whistler, but when it does, it falls super light and just seems to snow all the time.

In fact, the first 30 days I was there, it snowed 29 of them! Some people call it “Big White out” for the reason it can snow lightly this much, but there was only one day where visibility was a factor and you better believe we did need a rest day.

We basically got a smooth fresh surface of snow on and off piste every day.

Now, it’s not like this all the time of course.

We’ve also been to Big White where it hasn’t snowed for a long period and like all resorts, can certainly have some icy patches and bumps. However, the conditions at this resort seem to just be better than others to keep what snow they have in great shape.

It doesn’t get that cold (compared to some other Canadian resorts) and certainly doesn’t seem to get very busy, even on the weekends.

Getting to Big White is also reasonably straight forward. Kelowna airport is a simple hop from Vancouver (or many other hubs also fly direct) and the shuttle takes well under an hour to get to the resort itself.

Once you are there, you definitely don’t need a car. Everything is a short walk or ski away. The gondola connects the main village to the lower village and it just seems so much more family oriented and safe than some other resorts and resort towns.

Oh yeah… for the kids…

They close off kids skiing areas, have family activities planned pretty much every day, fireworks each week, a huge ice skating rink with a pick up game on offer pretty much all the time, kids activities happening most of the time and the staff really bend over backwards as I’m pretty sure the resort realises this is their target market.

For those not so young, there’s a couple of great bars and even though the resort is renowned for their “blue cruiser” runs, you can definitely progress to some steep and deep skiing off multiple lifts, including the aptly named “cliff chair”. Yep, there’s a cliff band and a chair goes up the middle of the bowl.

You can even ride every single lift at the resort with people of all abilities as there’s a green run down from the top of all of them. That’s certainly something you don’t see everywhere.

But the best reason we loved Big White

We made some amazing friends. The locals are so welcoming and friendly. We found ourselves within a few days of arriving having dinner with other families in their own homes and condos, sipping on schnapps and sharing stories of powder days. These experiences make a trip.

Now we have a little one around the house, we’ve already talked of a return trip.

What’s your favorite family friendly resort and why? What type of a budget and time frame did you have? When did you go? What advice could you pass on to other families? Throw your comments below!