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Family Jewels - West
Cypress Mountain
When the winter monsoons hit Vancouver, Gore-Tex be damned, you can feel it through every pore. More than the rain, it’s the bruised cloudbanks that settle above the city that make life miserable. After a few days, a mental gloom sets in that makes getting up difficult. Once the clocks turn back to standard time, life after 4 p.m. takes on a deserted, wasted kind of presence. You bike home from work, take off your soaked windbreaker and fill your sodden shoes with newspapers, prepare dinner, and wait to go to bed. Last year, it rained over 30 days in a row, an almost biblical deluge.
If you’re a skier, though, you’re able to see through the murk. Not for a silver lining but more a ghostly glow: high-candlepower fluorescent lamps lighting the ski slopes of the three North Shore Mountains—Cypress, Grouse, and Mount Seymour.
As wet as it is in town, it’s likely snowing on the North Shore. In fact, it could be puking, and, if you’re timing is right, you could be skiing epic pow under the lights, getting more first tracks than some Whistler days yield, and still be back in bed before 11 p.m.
Cypress Mountain is the most westerly of the three ski areas, and the skiing is damned impressive to eastern transplants raised on The Peaks or Holiday Valley. For one thing, midwinter conditions are seldom icy. And secondly, when it’s snowing hard, the locals tend to stay away. Cooler temps at night tend to dissipate the clouds, and when it is clear, the view is staggering, especially once the sun dips over Vancouver Island to the west.
Due to environmental restrictions and some financially challenging seasons, Cypress hasn’t changed much since Boyne Resorts purchased it from local businessman Wayne Booth several years ago. But that’s about to change because, in case you haven’t heard, a small event called the Olympics is coming.
While the racing (or “speed events” as they’re called in Olympic parlance) are going up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler, the popular freestyle skiing and snowboarding events are slated for Cypress. Often, these events outdraw the ski races due to their spectator-friendly environment close to major cities. At a mere 25-minute drive from downtown, Cypress seems to be the perfect venue.
As a result, the resort is undergoing a total makeover in the next four years. A new lift will be built to access brand-new terrain that will make up the Olympic bump runs and seating arena. Eight new runs will be added on 100 acres of terrain, with another 200 vertical feet tacked on—boosting Cypress’s vert to an impressive 2,000-plus feet. The current Eagle chair will be replaced by a high-speed quad and—almost 35 years after the fact—the so-called “temporary shelter” trailers that have housed the cafeteria, washrooms and pub since 1983 will be taken out, and a 50,000 square foot daylodge will be built. For this season, the Solo Power Park will be lighted for night sessions and has been relocated for easier access from the parking lot.
Still, it’s freeskiing where Cypress really shines, especially when it’s snowing hard. There’s huge timber on the forested slopes of Mount Hollyburn and Mount Strachan, and stomping landings from natural hits, like the many submerged stumps, is a Cypress tradition. The rime-iced needles and frosted bark of gigantic western red cedars are among the most picturesque sights anywhere. Even at night, the ambient glow from the main trails can provide enough illumination to successfully navigate twilight-zone-deep powder runs. And you’ll likely have them all to yourself.
That said, timing is everything. Some nights it’s raining right up to the last switchback in the road. That freezing line can be hellish, turning an overnight dump of almost Interior-light powder to glop in an hour or two. But it sure beats wasting time in a Granville Street strip bar. —Steve Threndyle
DNA
Cypress Moutain, BC
Summit elevation: 1,432 m
Vertical: 522 m
Terrain: 38 runs, 23% beginner, 37% intermediate, 40% advanced
Snowfall: 622 cm
Lifts: Three quads; two triples; one magic carpet
Adult day ticket: $43.40
Info: cypressmountain.com
Caption: At Cypress you have the lifts all to yourself. Koeman photo
