Big White, 09/10 Season Advice

Hello there,
Im thinking of having a year of university to do a season at big white in Canada.I want to do this trip as cheaply as possible. I want to live in a hostel with other young people and work to pay my way through the season. Can anyone give me some advice on accommodation, what sort of jobs are avaliable, how much money I will need etc. Just want to get some ideas flowing.

Cheers Nick

I just booked some flights and it cost $2100 return from Auck to Vancouver. A work visa will cost you $250 and you need to have $4,000 in your bank account in order to get it. A season pass will cost you roughly $960 depending on when you buy it and exchange rate etc. then travel insurance will prob cost you about $900 but depends how long your gonna stay there and if you decide to upgrade your insurance etc.

hope this helps.

Originally Posted by NzGnu

I just booked some flights and it cost $2100 return from Auck to Vancouver. A work visa will cost you $250 and you need to have $4,000 in your bank account in order to get it. A season pass will cost you roughly $960 depending on when you buy it and exchange rate etc. then travel insurance will prob cost you about $900 but depends how long your gonna stay there and if you decide to upgrade your insurance etc.

hope this helps.

thanks for the reply!

That costs a bit more than i would have though. I wonder if you can work for big white and get a season pass like that? what are you going to do for accomidation?

[legallyillegal]

check out the employment page of big white / silverstar

i believe there is also a link to an aussie/nz employment agency

i believe the on-hill employee rent is ~$500 CAD per month

Yeah I'm fairly sure if you work on the mountain as like a liftie or what ever then you get hooked up a pass which is a pretty big saving. But I'd rather get a job at night so I can ride during the day so haven't looked much into that option.

The flights may have gotten cheaper cause of this whole "swine flu" hype. But yeah visa's suck and take like 6 weeks 2 process so you dont wanna leave that to late.

STA travel can help you with visa's but we found they didn't have the best deals on flights.

Originally Posted by NzGnu

Yeah I'm fairly sure if you work on the mountain as like a liftie or what ever then you get hooked up a pass which is a pretty big saving. But I'd rather get a job at night so I can ride during the day so haven't looked much into that option.

The flights may have gotten cheaper cause of this whole "swine flu" hype. But yeah visa's suck and take like 6 weeks 2 process so you dont wanna leave that to late.

STA travel can help you with visa's but we found they didn't have the best deals on flights.

wokring at night is definetly the way to go, are you goign to suss a job before you get there or just get one when your over there?

Will look into job boards before heading over to see what we can find, otherwise will just try find one there.

If your going for a job on mountain you have to be aware that these are very competitive jobs with lots of people wanting free passes, and if you lose the job then you lose the pass. Mountains have also made drastic cuts to staff levels due to lower levels of visitors as a result of the recession. Tipping is also down as those that do decide to travel are tightening their purse strings in other areas - tipping is one of the first to go.

but hey, money is temporary and its an experience that'll last you forever.

[nzboardlife]

Have a few mates doing canada, hitting the indian himilayas this year myself.