Cross Country Skiing at Cypress Mountain Nordic near Vancouver, B.C.

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Rustic Hollyburn Lodge is a popular destination

     Cypress Mountain has many winter activities to take part in from alpine skiing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and even tubing.  We visited the downhill facility on Saturday, January 26 and so decided to try the cross country skiing on Sunday, January 27. Our daughter Kristie is an avid cross country skier and she joined us along with her cousin's husband Scott. It was-1C and snowing lightly and we were amazed at the huge interest in snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Even though we arrived just before 10 am the huge parking lots were beginning to fill up. As one of the people at the ticket office told us “The 2010 Olympics really put us on the map”. Cypress Nordic has 19 km of cross country ski trails groomed for both classic and skating as well as 10 km of snowshoe trails which “swallowed” up the large number of skiers and snowshoers.  The trails are very wide and the popular lower trails are relatively flat.  As you gain elevation the trails ascend and descend more quickly and the skiing is more challenging.  A popular destination is Hollyburn Lodge which is about 1 km from the parking lot. This heritage structure was built in 1926 and serves up food and is a great place to meet and warm up. 

Kristie (left) and Scott skiing on one of the wide trails at Cypress Nordic

       On Sunday we skied most of the lower trails and also skied the Unknown Lake loop which is higher up on the mountain.  The skiing was so good that we returned to ski on Monday, January 28 and although there were fewer people than on the weekend, we were amazed by the large number of school groups cross country skiing on the trails. We spoke to the Nordic manager Bill Cooper who told us that their Nordic ski school in the largest in Canada with dozens of instructors. “We have lots adult lessons on the weekend and many school groups which keep us busy through the week” he told us. If you are visiting Vancouver and want to cross country ski you couldn’t do any better than visiting Cypress Mountain. For more information see: www.cypressmountain.com  

We noticed lots of school groups on our visit