Cypress Mountain Ski Area

Cypress Mountain Ski Area
Skiers at Cypress Mountain
Location	Cypress Provincial Park, British Columbia Canada
Nearest city	West Vancouver
Coordinates	49°23′44″N 123°12′12″W
Vertical	610 m / 2010 ft
Top elevation	1440 m / 4724 ft
Base elevation	910 m / 2985 ft
Skiable area	240 hectares (600 acres)
Runs	53 Beginner 13% Intermediate 35% Advanced 37% Expert 8% Freestyle Terrain 8%
Longest run	4.1 km (combination) (2.5 mi.)
Lift system	6 chairlifts 1 magic carpet 2 surface lifts
Snowfall	622 cm/year (245 inches)
Website	Cypress Mountain

Cypress Mountain is a ski area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located in the southern section of Cypress Provincial Park, operated under a BC Parks Park Use Permit.

The ski resort is a 30-minute drive north of downtown Vancouver, and has 53 named alpine ski runs (many accessible for night skiing) and 19 km of cross country trails. Snowshoeing tours are also popular. Snow schools and rentals, Cypress Creek Grill, Gold Medal Cafe and Crazy Raven Bar and Grill and a Big Bear Sports retail shop are also located on the premises in the Cypress Creek Lodge.

Cypress Mountain hosted the Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding events of the 2010 Winter Olympics, including SkiCross as a demonstration sport, and the first running of Snowboardcross as a Medal sport.

The ski area's downhill runs are built on two mountains (Mount Strachan /strɔːn/ strawn – 1,440 metres (4,720 ft) and Black Mountain – 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), on a vertical rise of 610 metres (2,000 ft).

The resort is legally known as Cypress Bowl Recreational Limited Partnership, previously owned by Boyne Resorts and then sold to CNL Income Properties of Florida, but Boyne Canada has continued to run the ski operation for several years under a lease-back agreement.

The ski resort name Cypress Mountain is derived from the name of the bowl between the three mountains, Mount Strachan, Black Mountain, and Hollyburn Mountain – "Cypress Bowl", which was the original and still-used common name of the resort (the facilities by Cypress Bowl Recreations Ltd.). The term cypress comes from the yellow cedar tree Chamaecyparis nootkatensis which is common in the park at altitudes over 800 metres, and is also known as yellow cypress, as well as from the name of the park in which the ski operation is located.

Despite the resort name, there is in fact no mountain named Cypress Mountain in the park.

Amenities

Cypress Mountain has six chair lifts which include two high-speed detachable quad chairlifts (Eagle Express and the Lions Express), two fixed-grip quad chairs (Raven Ridge and Easy Rider) and two double chairlifts (Sky Chair and Midway. Plus a magic carpet and magic go round in the skooters kids camp area plus a tube park tow.

2010 Winter Olympics

During the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Cypress hosted all of the freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions (moguls, aerials, ski cross, half-pipe, snowboard cross and parallel giant slalom). The half-pipe and the venues for the moguls and aerials were completed in the summer of 2007. Just before the games and due to unseasonably mild conditions, the ski resort was almost free of snow, where the snow had to be airlifted by helicopters and transported by trucks from higher elevations.

See also

• List of ski areas and resorts in Canada
• Cypress Provincial Park
• Mount Seymour
• Mount Seymour Provincial Park
• Grouse Mountain
• The Lions

References

• Fairley, Bruce (1986). A Guide to Climbing and Hiking in Southwestern British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: Gordon Soules Book Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-919574-99-8. 

External links

• Cypress Mountain