Outdoor Destinations in Big White, BC
8 verified outdoor destinations in Big White.
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Big White Horse-Drawn Sleigh Rides & Dining Tours
There is no quieter way to see Big White's forest than from under a blanket in a horse-drawn sleigh, the runners hissing over the snow and the trees ticking past in the cold. The resort's sleigh rides leave from outside the Happy Valley Day Lodge from December 14, 2026 through March 30, 2027: half-hour rides in the mid-afternoon ($38 for ages 12 and up, $27 for children 4 to 11, tots on a lap free) and hour-long rides at 11 am and 1 pm ($48 / $37), all open to every age and made for families. For something more intimate, a small private sleigh seats up to four for an hour in the late afternoon ($365) — the resort's own word for it is romantic, and on a starlit evening it is hard to argue. The dinner version is the one people talk about: a sleigh ride through the snow-covered trails to a cabin in the woods, where the resort's culinary team serves a family-style gourmet meal at two tables of six, with coffee, tea and water provided and your own wine welcome. Dining tours must be booked at least a day ahead (tell the Activities Desk about dietary needs 72 hours out), group rides run on Wednesdays only during peak holiday periods, dogs cannot come along, and the horses are not to be approached without the driver's say-so. Book online or at the Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall, dress warmly with winter boots, and be ten minutes early — the sleighs leave on time.
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Big White Nordic & Wilderness Trails
Away from the chairlifts, Big White keeps 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails winding through the forest and meadows around Happy Valley — cross-country skiing from beginner loops to advanced climbs, a separate set of Wilderness trails for snowshoeing where leashed dogs are welcome, and the Trapping Meadows trail set aside for fat bikes. The trailhead is at the bottom of the beginner slope in the Happy Valley Adventure Centre (take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; there is a second access from the Black Forest lot), and the resort grooms and patrols the network daily, posting grooming updates online. Access is included with any Big White day lift ticket or season pass; otherwise a trail pass is sold at the ticket offices, and Nordic ski and snowshoe packages can be rented at the Village Centre Mall. If you would rather be shown around, the resort runs two-hour guided snowshoe tours twice daily — an interpretive group tour for ages 16 and up ($64 per person, less booked in advance) that mixes local ecology with big views, and a private Family Adventure tour for ages 8 and up ($164 for a group of up to eight) — with small groups, a local host and the trail pass sold separately. Warm up afterwards in the Happy Valley Day Lodge, and if you are here after dark, the Twinkling Trail begins on the same trail system.
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Big White Ski Resort
Big White is the Okanagan's big mountain resort, up the road from Kelowna and open year-round. It is the second-largest family ski resort in British Columbia — 2,834 acres of patrolled terrain, one of Canada's largest modern lift systems and more than seven metres of the champagne powder behind its motto, 'it's the snow' — and from December 18 it also runs the largest night-skiing operation in Western Canada, lighting the Bullet Express and Plaza Chair for 38 acres and the longest night vertical in North America, with TELUS Park lit on Friday and Saturday nights. Free Snow Host mountain tours leave the Village Centre every morning at 10:15, and for the 2026/27 season Happy Valley's beginner area gains Polar Passage, a new covered conveyor lift with expanded teaching terrain. Happy Valley is also where the rest of Big White's winter lives: the Tube Park, Canada's highest outdoor skating rink, 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails, the illuminated Twinkling Trail, Candle Creek Kennels' dog-sled tours, Outback's snowmobile tours and the horse-drawn sleigh rides — each with its own page on Okanagan Roam. The 2026/27 season runs November 26, 2026 to April 4, 2027. In summer the mountain turns into a bike park — downhill trails, the Big White Slopestyle Centre and a beginner skills area — with scenic rides on the Bullet Chair, e-bike tours and a real alpine hiking network: the 4.5 km Rhonda Lake Trail drops from the top of the chair through spruce and pine to a lake hidden under the Cliff bowl (about an hour one way, 456 metres of elevation), the 1 km Peak Trail loops along the Cliff Bowl rim to the summit cairn in 45 minutes, the 4 km Falcon Ridge Trail climbs the face of the mountain past wildflower streams to a scramble at the saddle, and the short, steep Jamieson Loop finds the last of the winter snow. The resort suggests three hours for the classic loop up Falcon Ridge and down to Rhonda Lake, backed by its wildflower and bird field guides. Hikers ride the chair until 4 p.m. (6 p.m. on Fridays), and dogs are welcome on the lift and must be leashed on the trails. The resort lists driving, parking and EV charging among its free amenities, offers overnight RV parking in summer, and runs shuttles from Kelowna and the airport.
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Big White Tube Park (Happy Valley)
Big White's Tube Park is the loudest, happiest corner of Happy Valley: five specially groomed lanes dropping off the hillside, a tube lift that hauls fifty riders an hour back to the top, and the kind of speed that has grown adults shrieking like their kids. No skill and no equipment are needed — just a sense of adventure — and because the park runs into the evening, it is the classic after-lifts plan. Tickets are sold for timed two-hour windows (afternoons and evenings, with more sessions on weekends and holidays) and only a limited number go on sale for each hour, so book online ahead and arrive at your start time to squeeze in the most runs. Children need to be 42 inches (106 cm) tall to ride alone; smaller kids can still tube, with a paying adult holding the tether beside them, and everyone gets their own tube — no laps, and no ski boots or hard-shell boots. Linking tubes into a chain is allowed when conditions permit. You reach it by Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre or by parking in the Happy Valley lot; leashed dogs are welcome in the Adventure Park, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot food, and Big White's skating rink and Twinkling Trail are steps away.
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Candle Creek Kennels – Dog Sled Tours at Big White
The most Canadian half hour you can spend at Big White starts at a small cabin in the Happy Valley Adventure Park, where the dogs are already singing. Candle Creek Kennels runs the resort's dog-sled tours with a team of enthusiastic Alaskan huskies, and the experience begins before the sled moves: an orientation that introduces you to the dogs, the sled and the harnessing, so you understand what you are about to be part of. Then the team leans into the traces and you are away on a six-kilometre groomed trail through Big White's pine forest and alpine meadows — about half an hour of mushing with the mountain scenery sliding past. Candle Creek is one of the operators that helped write British Columbia's Sled Dog Code of Practice, and the wellbeing of the dogs is visibly the point of the operation. Each sled carries up to two riders (130 kg combined) at $399 per sled for the 2026/27 season; children must be at least three, and those aged three to ten wear a helmet, so bring your ski helmet. Wear warm layers, insulated boots and goggles for the flying snow, arrive at the dog-sled cabin no more than five minutes early, and leave the ski boots behind — they are dangerous around the dogs. Book through Big White's Activities Desk (250-491-6111, [email protected]); tours run rain, snow or shine, and there are no refunds or changes within seven days of departure.
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Happy Valley Ice Skating Rink – Big White
At the top of the road to Big White, ringed by snow-ghosted trees and mountains, sits what the resort calls Canada's highest outdoor skating rink — an Olympic-hockey-sized sheet of ice in Happy Valley that turns an ordinary winter evening into a postcard. It is fully lit for night skating, there is a bonfire beside it every afternoon after 3 pm to thaw your hands, and "ice buddies" are on hand to steady beginners, so it works just as well for a first wobble as for a fast lap. Locals turn up for pickup hockey — no slap shots, no raising the puck — and families come for the simple pleasure of gliding under the stars. Skates, hockey sticks and helmets can be rented at the Happy Valley rental shop (a waiver is required, signed by a parent or guardian for anyone under 19), and everyone entering the rink must be on skates: no shoes, strollers or wheelchairs on the ice, and helmets are recommended. Take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and turn right at the Happy Valley Day Lodge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; the lodge has heated washrooms and hot snacks, and the Tube Park and Twinkling Trail are next door. Like any outdoor ice, the rink can close in mild or stormy weather — check the resort's hours before you lace up.
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Outback Snowmobile Tours – Big White
For the fastest way into Big White's backcountry, meet Outback Snowmobile Tours at the snowmobile hut tucked behind the Happy Valley skating rink. The tours are built for people who have never sat on a sled: a guide sets the pace to the least experienced rider, the routes are chosen for scenery — forest, open meadows and long views over the Monashees — and there are photo stops along the way. The one-hour tour, departing late morning and again in the early evening, is the classic introduction; the two-hour tour, running three times a day, gets deeper into the pristine terrain and is the resort's pick for families and first-timers who want more. Ride your own machine or double up with a passenger, and if you have come without snow gear, adult-sized snowmobile clothing and helmets are provided. Drivers must be at least 16 with a valid driver's licence (and parental consent under 19), passengers just need to be taller than 91 cm, every rider signs a waiver, and each group leaves a credit-card damage deposit at the hut — an optional loss-waiver caps your liability. Book through Big White's Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall (250-491-6111) or online, arrive thirty minutes before departure with your licence, goggles and a neck warmer, and be aware that tours are non-refundable inside 72 hours and go ahead in poor visibility. Hot food and heated washrooms are a short walk away in the Happy Valley Day Lodge.
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Twinkling Trail – Big White
When the lifts stop and the temperature drops, Big White switches on the Twinkling Trail — an illuminated walking path through the snow-laden forest of the Happy Valley Adventure Park, strung with light displays that turn an ordinary evening stroll into something children remember for years. No equipment and no skill are needed: it is a walk, open to all ages (little ones under five with an adult), on packed snow that rewards a good pair of winter boots and snow pants for the kids. It opens each evening from dusk and stays lit until dawn from mid-December through to April, snow and weather permitting, so it slots easily between dinner and bedtime, or after a session on the tube park and rink that share the Adventure Park. Access is included with a Big White lift ticket, season pass or POWder Card; otherwise pick up a trail pass at the Village Centre Mall ticket office. Take Lara's Gondola down to Happy Valley and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot, and follow the signs; leashed dogs are welcome, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot chocolate, and the one rule the resort is strict about is simple — look, but don't touch the lights.