OKANAGAN VALLEY - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 385

THE OKANAGAN LAKE MONSTER
Ogopogo is the friendly Loch Ness-style sea serpent that allegedly lives on the bot-
tom of “bottomless” Okanagan Lake. Local native people told the first white settlers
who came to live in the Okanagan Valley that a fast-swimming monster called N'ha-
a-tik, meaning “devil of the lake,” lived in a deep part of the lake near present-day
Kelowna. Whenever they had to canoe near that particular point, they unceremoni-
ously threw an animal overboard as a sacrifice.
Since 1942, when the mysterious monster became known as Ogopogo, thousands
of sightings have allegedly been made, and the creature has been the subject of fea-
ture stories on the television shows Unsolved Mysteries and Inside Edition. Con-
sensus is that Ogopogo is a snakelike creature with small humps, green skin, and a
nice big smile—the latter feature confirmed by enterprising locals who print his im-
age on T-shirts, posters, and postcards.
Although many times a prize has been put up for anyone providing definitive
proof of Ogopogo's existence—the most recent is $2 million—no one has yet
claimed the reward. But keep your eyes open and your camera at hand; you just never
know, you may be one of the few (sober) ones to spot him.
Skiing and Snowboarding
Big White Ski Resort (250/765-3101 or 800/663-2772, www.bigwhite.com ), 57 kilometers
(35 miles) east of Kelowna on Highway 33, is one of the Okanagan's three major winter
resorts and British Columbia's second largest. Its network of modern lifts, including a
gondola and four high-speed quads, opens up over 850 hectares (2,100 acres) of terrain.
Lifts operate December-mid-April 8:30am-3:30pm daily, and for night skiing and boarding
5pm-9pm Tuesday-Saturday. Lift tickets are adult $82, senior $65, child $37, 70 and over
and under five free. Adjacent to the main lift-served area is Happy Valley Adventure Centre,
a tube park with its own lift. Big White is also home to a terrain park, a half-pipe, cross-
country ski trails, and an ice-skating rink. On-mountain facilities in the 9,000-bed base vil-
lage include rental shops, a ski and snowboard school, accommodations, restaurants and
cafés, and a large mall.