Skiing began in Kelowna during the 1920s. One of the first organized ski hills was located on the Weddell’s property. Starting up Preston Hill, it ended in the field just across Joe Rich Creek opposite the Weddell’s home. Cyril and his hired man built a ski cabin near the bottom of the hill and opened up the fence just below the cabin so that the skiers could run out on to the hay field to finish their downhill course. One of the most active male skiers of the day was Stan Lindahl’s uncle, George Flintoft. During World War II, gasoline was rationed and the drive to Joe Rich took a lot of gas. As a result, the ski hill was moved to Black Mountain which continued to be used into the 1950s. Al France was a member of the executive of the Ski Club. His children wanted to get a ski pass to Silver Star which was already a good hill, but Al said, “No way”. He was responsible for the local hill so the family would have to be satisfied with it. They didn’t get the Silver Star passes, but they certainly weren’t happy with the Black Mountain Ski Bowl. The snow was so sparse that year that they were only able to ski three times. Some skiing was tried across the lake also, but none of these locations had good snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1939 Ski hill at Joe Rich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1938 Mary, Pat, Stuart & Jim Weddell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1939 Joe Rich Ski Hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1939 Stuart Weddell on the hill

Doug Mervin and Cliff Serwa grew up together. They both liked fishing and as they fished McCulloch Lake in the 1950s they often looked up at all the snow on Big White and wondered how it would be to ski there. They too were not happy with the other hills. In 1958, they travelled around the world together and in 1960, they decided to cross country ski up to Big White. One of their ski trips to the mountain almost turned out to be a disaster. It was a long hard ski up and they were tired and sweating hard when they finally arrived. Just at that moment, an unusual storm broke and it began to rain. They turned around to ski back, but the rain soaked snow was wet and clung to their skis. It was as hard coming down as it had been going up. The return trip took hours and had there not been two of them to keep each other motivated, they might well have given up and died of hypothermia. As it was, they didn’t arrive home until about 3 AM. In spite of this bad experience, the two friends were impressed with the mountain and with its statistics of good snowfall. In 1961, they began to develop it as a ski mountain. They had very little money for such an ambitious project, but Doug Mervin was a good salesman and Cliff Serwa came from a construction family and knew how to build things. Neither of them was afraid of hard work. Together, they probably could have been successful selling refrigerators to Eskimos. They were able to buy 80 acres of crown land for the town site and obtain a Land Use Permit to develop the ski slopes. At first, a road to the mountain had to be constructed. Cliff laid it out over almost the same route it takes today. By 1963, they were attracting a good group of hardy skiers. In the mid 1960's, Gaglardi, the then Minister of Highways visited Big White and agreed to upgrade and maintain the road. By about 1968, they had electric power and the road was good enough to make the trip to the mountain possible even for ordinary cars in mid winter.

In 1969, Cliff Serwa offered a building lot in the Big White Ski Village to Howard Demitor for $600, but the massive popularity of the mountain hadn’t caught on to the point it has today. Howard’s reply was, “That rock pile. I’d have to be crazy” and he turned down the offer. With hard work and the enthusiasm of many people like the Frances, Big White continued to grow, but it wasn’t always easy or even safe.

There was always a danger of avalanches and this was greatest on very steep slopes like ‘the Cliff’ on the east side of the mountain above the small high level lake. In the late 1960s, Cliff Serwa, Doug Holmes, and Barney France, Allan and Ann France’s son skied to the top of the Cliff to check out the danger. Serwa had a dozen bombs with him made from stumping dynamite. These could be thrown onto the slope in strategic spots to trigger an avalanche. The Cliff looked as if an avalanche could be a possibility, so one by one Serwa threw out his ‘bombs’ to trigger an avalanche. Nothing budged even when he threw out the last one near the top of the slope. ‘Obviously, the hill was safe’ they concluded. They therefore decided to ski down.

The Cliff is not a hill for beginners. It starts with a nearly 45 degree slope, half way down drops over a lip and then continues on steeply to the little mountain lake below. Barney went first, then Doug and finally Cliff Serwa. Serwa had just pushed off, when there was a loud cracking sound and a long fissure suddenly appeared in the snow at the top of the hill just a few feet above him. He realized immediately that an avalanche was beginning and knew he would be safest if he could stay above it so he dived uphill into the forming fissure. Doug who was just a few feet past him was able to do the same. Barney was already on his way and so continued to ride it out. The next moment, a second fissure occurred about 40 feet above Serwa and Doug and a mass of snow fell down toward them. Serwa remembered that he had heard that in an avalanche it was better to be free of skis and so he and Doug quickly released their skis and immediately sunk into the tumbling liquid snow. They stayed afloat by paddling with their arms. They fell with the speed of an express train and when they hit the lip half way down the hill, they began to tumble in the swirling snow hardly knowing which way was up. Serwa caught site of Doug just ahead of him and Barney still skiing in the swirling breaking snow ahead of them and then he went under. He says that it was all over in seconds. Suddenly it was all very quiet and dark. He was buried. He tried to calm his breathing and reduce his heart rate to conserve oxygen and he tried to move. The snow was like concrete. One arm was up and one down and with the uphill arm he could just wiggle the fingers. As he did, a little glow of light appeared above him and he realized that his hand was nearly on the surface.

As the avalanche had started, a few skiers had seen what had happened and within minutes they reached where Serwa was buried. With their poles they dug him out. He knew where Doug and Barney must be so he led the others down to where they were. Barney was upright and close to the surface just downhill from a house-sized lump of snow and still standing in his skis which were anchored in the rock-hard snow beneath him. They dug him out and began the search for Doug. He was nowhere to be seen, so the searchers formed a row and preceded down the hill over the site where they thought he should be, shoving poles deep into the snow. Finally, one of them struck something. It was Doug’s forehead over a metre below. They dug him out. He was already inebriated with hypoxia and had a broken ankle. He would not have survived more than a few more minutes. Frances remember getting a phone call a few minutes later saying that they were all OK, but at first not telling them why they might not have been OK.

Big White continued to prosper. In 1978, Cliff and Doug decided to sell the business. Although the mountain was doing amazingly well, their debt load was increasing as further development was required.

Today, the mountain has become a major ski destination and properties are selling for astronomical sums. A few Joe Rich residents find winter employment there as service employees, hosts or ski instructors such as Ken Sinclair. There are now 112 ski runs and trails and 13 lifts offering skiers a vertical ski drop of 777 metres and capable of handling 23,000 people an hour. The development covers nearly 3,000 hectares and includes 4 hotels, 2 youth hostels, 25 condo complexes, about 250 homes, 17 restaurants and 8 bars. Each winter weekend, the highway through Joe Rich is busy with the hundreds of vehicles on their way to and from the mountain and all indications are that the development will grow much larger.