Whitewater
Whitewater Ski Resort is a ski area located in the province of British Columbia in Canada. The resort is in the town of Nelson, BC.
We recently ranked all of British Columbia's ski resorts, so you can see where Whitewater stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Whitewater is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Whitewater Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Whitewater's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Whitewater around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Whitewater Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Whitewater has a total of 82 ski trails, which are serviced by 4 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,367 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 958 hectares, 3.7 square miles, or 9.6 square kilometers.
Whitewater's slopes see on average 323 inches (8.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 26 feet every year!
Total Runs
82
Lifts
4
Skiable Acres
2,367(10 km2)
Annual Snowfall
323"(820 cm)
Whitewater Ski Resort Elevation
Whitewater Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 6,709 feet, or 2,045 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 4,523 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 2,044 feet (623 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Whitewater's summit elevation is higher than average. There are a lot of ski slopes that are much higher than this one (some stretch to 12,000 feet!), but it is not small by any stretch of the imagination.
Summit Elevation
6,709'(2,045 m)
Vertical Drop
2,044'(623 m)
Base Elevation
4,523'(1,379 m)
Whitewater Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
68.9out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Whitewater has 2,367 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Whitewater's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 32% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 58% as expert.
Beginner
10%(237 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
32%(757 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
58%(1,373 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Whitewater Ski Resort good for beginners?
Whitewater is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 42% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Whitewater Ski Resort Location
Whitewater Ski Resort is located in the province of British Columbia, Canada. This ski area is nearest the town of Nelson, BC.
Address:
Nelson, BC V1L Canada
View on Google Maps
Website:
skiwhitewater.com
GPS Coordinates:
49.42900, -117.18600
Getting to Whitewater Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Whitewater Ski Resort), its coordinates of 49.42900, -117.18600 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Nelson, BC to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Whitewater Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary International Airport | YYC | Calgary, AB | 292 km |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Whitewater.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castlegar/West Kootenay Regional Airport | YCG | Castlegar, BC | 35 km |
| Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport | YXC | Cranbrook, BC | 103 km |
| Kelowna International Airport | YLW | Kelowna, BC | 168 km |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Whitewater Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Whitewater Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmo Ski Hill | Salmo, BC | 3,100 ft | 34% | 28 km |
| RED Mountain | Rossland, BC | 6,807 ft | 72% | 60 km |
| Silver Mountain | Kellogg, ID | 6,300 ft | 60% | 61 km |
| Summit Lake Ski Area | Nakusp, BC | 3,018 ft | 11% | 87 km |
| Kimberley Alpine Resort | Kimberly, BC | 6,500 ft | 62% | 90 km |
| Echo Valley | Colville, WA | 3,900 ft | 50% | 103 km |
| Phoenix Mountain Ski Area | Grand Forks, BC | 4,652 ft | 38% | 108 km |
| Schweitzer Mountain | Sandpoint, ID | 6,400 ft | 69% | 128 km |
| Turner Mountain | Libby, MT | 5,952 ft | 70% | 128 km |
| 49 Degrees North | Chewelah, WA | 5,774 ft | 51% | 128 km |
| Big White Ski | Kelowna, BC | 7,606 ft | 61% | 130 km |
| Panorama Mountain | Panorama, BC | 8,038 ft | 87% | 133 km |
| Fairmont Hot Springs Resort Ski Area | Fairmont Hot Springs, BC | 5,200 ft | 44% | 140 km |
| Baldy Mountain Resort | Oliver, BC | 6,965 ft | 37% | 152 km |
| Fernie Alpine Resort | Fernie, BC | 7,000 ft | 66% | 152 km |
Whitewater Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 6,709 ft |
| Base Elevation | 4,523 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 2,044 ft |
| Trails | 82 (10% Beginner, 32% Intermediate, 58% Expert) |
| Lifts | 4 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,367 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 323 inches |