A New Powder Frontier Opens Near Big White

For skiers and snowboarders looking beyond lift lines and groomed runs, a new backcountry operation is preparing to open in British Columbia’s southern Interior.

Flowline Mountain is scheduled to welcome its first guests in December 2026, offering guided snowcat skiing in the Christian Valley, between Kelowna and Nelson. The operation is positioned in the southern Monashee Mountains—terrain visible from Big White Ski Resort—and is about a two-hour drive from Kelowna.

The company describes itself as a rider-owned operation built around small groups, a dedicated guide team and a private lodge at approximately 6,300 feet. Packages will run for three or four days, with groups limited to 12 guests. Meals and accommodation are included, while bookings for the 2026–27 season are already open at a listed price of $1,299 Canadian per person per day.

For Flowline co-founder and chairman Bjorn Leines, the concept is intended to be about more than accumulating vertical metres.

“We wanted to create something that goes beyond chasing vertical or collecting runs,” Leines said in the company’s announcement. “This is about finding alignment within yourself, with the mountain and with the people beside you.”

A rare new permit

Flowline’s launch is notable beyond the scale of its terrain. Leines says the operation has received the first new commercial cat-skiing permit issued in Canada in 14 years. If confirmed as described, the permit reflects how difficult it has become to create new mechanised backcountry operations in a province where terrain access, environmental review, tenure management and avalanche safety all have to be coordinated before guests arrive.

British Columbia is already one of the world’s most established cat-skiing destinations. Operators work across the Selkirk, Monashee and Kootenay ranges, offering everything from single-day trips to remote lodge packages. Existing businesses include large day-trip operations such as Big Red Cats near Rossland, which advertises 20,000 acres across eight peaks, as well as smaller lodge-based experiences aimed at advanced and expert skiers.

Flowline’s proposition sits between those models: substantial private terrain, but a deliberately limited guest count and a single, consistent crew. That combination is intended to make the experience more personal and to avoid the crowded, high-volume feel that can accompany larger operations.

What the mountain offers

The terrain extends across 16,000 acres and rises to nearly 8,000 feet. Flowline says guests will encounter alpine faces, open powder fields, old-growth glades, steep fall lines and couloirs.

That variety matters in cat skiing. Unlike a resort, where guests can choose among marked runs and return repeatedly to a lift, a backcountry operation must adjust its terrain choices to snowpack, visibility, wind, avalanche conditions and the ability of the group. A large tenure gives guides more options when conditions change—but it does not guarantee that every part of the area will be skiable on every day.

The snowcat itself provides a slower and more social alternative to heli-skiing. Guests ride between descents in a heated tracked vehicle, rather than boarding a helicopter, and can reach terrain that would otherwise require long approaches. Cat skiing is generally less expensive than heli-skiing, though it still requires strong skiing or snowboarding ability, physical fitness and comfort in ungroomed terrain.

Industry guidance for cat skiing emphasises that participants should be honest about their ability. Ungroomed snow, steep trees, variable surfaces and repeated descents can make a multi-day trip physically demanding. Guests are typically expected to understand their role in avalanche safety and to follow the decisions of qualified guides.

The lodge as part of the product

Flowline’s lodge is still under construction, but the accommodation is central to the business model. Rather than operating as a day-trip shuttle from a major resort, the company plans to build a self-contained, multi-day experience in the mountains.

The lodge will sit at roughly 6,300 feet and provide meals for guests returning from full days in the backcountry. The format is familiar across British Columbia’s cat-skiing sector, where the lodge experience—food, warmth, recovery and conversation—is marketed as part of the adventure rather than simply a place to sleep.

That format also creates a stronger economic connection to the surrounding region. Guests travelling through Kelowna, the Okanagan and nearby mountain communities may require transport, equipment, accommodation before or after their trip and other local services. Flowline’s location could therefore complement the existing winter tourism economy around Big White while offering an experience distinct from conventional resort skiing.

Naming the new terrain

Early guests will have a role in shaping the identity of the operation. Many of the ski lines currently have no official names, and Flowline says its first visitors may help name some of them.

The gesture is more than a marketing detail. Place names can become part of a ski operation’s culture, helping returning guests build a sense of familiarity with terrain that initially feels remote and anonymous. For a new operation, those names may form the beginning of its history.

Flowline is also presenting the mountain as a place for progression, not only elite performance. The company says accomplished riders will find challenging terrain while developing skiers can build confidence under guidance. That ambition will depend on careful group management: cat-skiing groups travel together, and terrain selection must balance safety, enjoyment and different ability levels.

Growth in a changing winter industry

The launch comes as the ski industry faces a complicated future. Resort operators are investing heavily in snowmaking and infrastructure as natural snowfall becomes less predictable, while backcountry businesses are also confronting warmer winters, unstable conditions and greater demand for professional safety management.

Remote operations can offer an appealing answer to crowded resorts, but they are not insulated from climate risk. A shorter or less predictable season affects access roads, lodge operations, snow quality and the reliability of bookings. In avalanche terrain, changing weather can also make conditions more difficult to manage, even when the total snowpack is substantial.

That places responsibility on Flowline to match its ambitious terrain promise with conservative operating decisions. A large permit area is valuable because it gives guides alternatives; it does not remove the need to close terrain or alter plans when conditions deteriorate.

The operation will also enter a competitive market. British Columbia already has numerous established cat-skiing businesses, including operators near Rossland, Fernie, Revelstoke, Golden and the Kootenays. Some offer lower-cost day trips, while others compete through luxury lodges, expansive terrain or highly specialised expert programmes.

Flowline’s answer is to combine scale with intimacy: 16,000 acres, no more than 12 guests and one dedicated crew.

An experience built around access—and restraint

The idea behind Flowline Mountain is straightforward: use snowcats to take small groups beyond the resort boundary and into a controlled, guided backcountry environment. But the success of the project will depend on the details—guide quality, snowpack assessment, transport logistics, lodge construction and the company’s ability to deliver a consistent experience in a naturally unpredictable setting.

For guests, the appeal is clear. They will have access to remote Monashee terrain without the cost or noise of a helicopter, while spending several days with the same group and guides. They may ski lines that have never carried an official name and return to a lodge designed specifically around the rhythm of deep-winter mountain travel.

For the region, the launch adds another premium winter product close to the Okanagan and Big White corridor. For the broader Canadian ski industry, it represents something rarer: the opening of a new commercial cat-skiing operation at a time when access to undeveloped mountain terrain is increasingly difficult.

Flowline’s first season will ultimately be judged not by the acreage advertised, but by whether it can combine adventure with discipline. In the backcountry, the most valuable run is not always the steepest or longest. It is the one selected at the right time, in the right conditions, by a crew that understands when the mountain is offering an opportunity—and when it is asking visitors to wait.