Ski Season Starts!

With only 3 months to the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the local mountains are opening with some of their earliest skiing ever!

Cypress Mountain, less than half an hour drive from the B & B, opens today for both alpine and cross-country. During the Games, Cypress will host Freestyle (Aerials, Moguls & Ski Cross) and Snowboard (Half Pipe, Parallel Giant Slalom, and Snowboard Cross). Two stadiums, each with a 12,000 person capacity have been constructed. The huge new Cypress Creek Lodge offers excellent apres-ski dining and lounges. It isn't an Olympic sport but I love the snow-tubing at Cypress. Who can resist a big truck-sized inner tube with safety handles and ropes on a bumpy sliding course built for kids of all ages!

Skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb, North America's largest and foremost ski resort opens tomorrow. It is just an hour and a half from Nelson House, using the vastly improved Sea to Sky Highway. The resort offers 8100 acres of skiable terrain spread over two mountains and the town of 10,000 at their base. More than a vertical mile drop and runs of over seven miles in length. 38 lifts speed you to over 200 trails. The new Peak 2 Peak Gondola breaks records as the highest and longest unsupported span in the world. Travelling from mountaintop to mountaintop in just 11 minutes, the Gondola provides breathtaking views of three glaciers and the valley far below.

In 90 days or so, the Alpine Skiing events will take place on Whistler Mountain and include Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, and Combined. Whistler Olympic Park, the Nordic Competition Venue is complete and will host all Nordic events: cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, and Nordic combined events. The Whistler Sliding Centre on Blackcomb Mountain will host the Sliding events: Bobsled, Luge, and Skeleton events.

Me? I am more likely to be found partying at Whistler's gay ski-week, WinterPride, the first week of March.

For information and links to all of these and more of Vancouver's winter wonderland, please checkout the Attractions and Directions page on our website.