How ski-in/ski-out is that Big White address?

Every Big White listing on this site also shows its score, just under the photos. Browse all Big White listings.

How the score works

The score follows the route a skier actually takes from the front door to a lift, and back home at the end of the day. Sean built it first for SilverStar and uses the same method here.

• Ski out (15 points): how far you walk from the door to the nearest run or lift base. Full marks within about 40 m, nothing past about 300 m.
• Ski back (15 points): whether a run off a main lift brings you back near the door, and how far you walk from there.
• Climbing counts extra. One metre uphill in ski boots, carrying skis, counts like eight metres on the flat. A home a short walk below the run can score lower than one a longer walk across.
• Easy routes (15 points): a green route out and home earns full points, blue partial, black very few. Families with young kids feel this every day.
• Lift distance and the whole mountain (20 points): how far it is to a real chair or gondola, and whether your first lift reaches the upper mountain.
• Getting home (10 points): how many of Big White’s main lifts you can ski home from.
• Night skiing (5 points): close to the night-skiing lifts (Bullet Express and Plaza Chair), with a run home from the top.
• Route and door (17 points, partly held for on-snow checks): flat spots you’d have to pole across are measured from the map; road crossings and ski rooms are set at a typical value until Sean checks them in person.

Together these make 97 raw points. Big White against Big White: scores only compare Big White homes with each other. The best-placed homes at Big White score 95, and every other address is scaled to that, so a 75 here means “a good bit less convenient than the best of Big White,” not “75% ski-in/ski-out.” Never compare a Big White score with a score from another resort.

What the verdicts mean

• True ski-in/ski-out: 85 or more, with a walk of about 60 m or less each way.
• Short walk to the snow: 70 to 84, or a higher score with a walk of more than about 60 m. Most of the village and the closer Feathertop, Raven Ridge and Kettle View homes.
• Longer walk to the snow: 50 to 69. Walkable in boots, but you’ll feel it with kids.
• Shuttle or drive: under 50, or no mapped ski route between the door and a lift.

Want to know more about what the term really means? Read ski-in/ski-out explained, or see which runs bring you home in the trail guide.

Have Sean check an address

Comparing a few homes, or an address that isn’t in the lookup? Send them to Sean and he’ll score them and tell you what the route is like on the snow.