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December 19, 2019 Cypress Mountain, BC
22 Dec 2019 12:07 - 22 Dec 2019 12:12 #233176
by telemack
December 19, 2019 Cypress Mountain, BC was created by telemack
   This TR is tardy but Cypress was a new experience for us. If you have an Ikon Pass Cypress is one of 3 Areas in the PNW along with Xtal and Snoq. Our wedding anniversary and free days at Cypress led us to book an AirBnB in North Vancouver. It was great except for the darkness and 4 days of rain!Â
   We stayed right near the Lions Gate Bridge, under 30 minutes from Cypress base. We skied Thursday to get the storm benefits and were treated to solid coverage on piste in a driving slush blizzard, 32-33 deg. at the base with fog. Cypress went from almost nothing to 2' base in a couple days. It's a small area, 6 lifts total, and 3 were open after 10:30 or so. Several green runs, 3 blues, and a bit of other. Wall to wall grooming left little room for new tracks, but the heavy snowfall filled things in. Lots of people were ducking ropes, but the only time I succumbed to temptation I got to do the side-step dance out of a small pond. We knocked off after a few hours to avoid the creeping damp.
   Cypress has 1400-1900' on its biggest lifts. There is lots of steep and interesting terrain when there is deep snow cover. With base elevation 3000' and only a few miles from Burrard Inlet, it's quite the maritime ski resort. Skiers were all locals, and most said it is a great deal compared to Whistler.
   Other: We got to park only 100 yards from the base lodge, easy to nip indoors or back to the truck.
When parking fills up it looks like there is shuttle service from lots lower down the road. 3 places to eat but we only sampled a coffee and a slimy cinnamon roll. If you use an Ikon Pass at other resorts you must present the pass at the ticket window and get an RFID day ticket; no straight-to-lifts.
   More other: Customer service was variable. I know it's early season, but nobody seemed to know anything. Not one staff could direct me to a ski patroller or a patrol shack. I saw one patroller at the top of Lion Express chair, and he did not know what the uphill-travel policy was. At Guest Services 3 different people didn't seem to know what an uphill policy even meant. So my skins never got any exercise. I could have gotten in another wet morning ski but decided to act like it was our anniversary :
   More other other: The Vancouver area has so much to do. There were multiple cuisines and a climbing gym in walking distance of our lodging. The UBC Museum of Anthropology is spectacular. On the way home we went to the Arc'teryx factory store, which is 2 blocks from another rock gym and just off the Trans. The exchange rate was 31% and total sales tax is 12%. Overall it was a fine time.
   We stayed right near the Lions Gate Bridge, under 30 minutes from Cypress base. We skied Thursday to get the storm benefits and were treated to solid coverage on piste in a driving slush blizzard, 32-33 deg. at the base with fog. Cypress went from almost nothing to 2' base in a couple days. It's a small area, 6 lifts total, and 3 were open after 10:30 or so. Several green runs, 3 blues, and a bit of other. Wall to wall grooming left little room for new tracks, but the heavy snowfall filled things in. Lots of people were ducking ropes, but the only time I succumbed to temptation I got to do the side-step dance out of a small pond. We knocked off after a few hours to avoid the creeping damp.
   Cypress has 1400-1900' on its biggest lifts. There is lots of steep and interesting terrain when there is deep snow cover. With base elevation 3000' and only a few miles from Burrard Inlet, it's quite the maritime ski resort. Skiers were all locals, and most said it is a great deal compared to Whistler.
   Other: We got to park only 100 yards from the base lodge, easy to nip indoors or back to the truck.
When parking fills up it looks like there is shuttle service from lots lower down the road. 3 places to eat but we only sampled a coffee and a slimy cinnamon roll. If you use an Ikon Pass at other resorts you must present the pass at the ticket window and get an RFID day ticket; no straight-to-lifts.
   More other: Customer service was variable. I know it's early season, but nobody seemed to know anything. Not one staff could direct me to a ski patroller or a patrol shack. I saw one patroller at the top of Lion Express chair, and he did not know what the uphill-travel policy was. At Guest Services 3 different people didn't seem to know what an uphill policy even meant. So my skins never got any exercise. I could have gotten in another wet morning ski but decided to act like it was our anniversary :
   More other other: The Vancouver area has so much to do. There were multiple cuisines and a climbing gym in walking distance of our lodging. The UBC Museum of Anthropology is spectacular. On the way home we went to the Arc'teryx factory store, which is 2 blocks from another rock gym and just off the Trans. The exchange rate was 31% and total sales tax is 12%. Overall it was a fine time.
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