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 / 49.39556°N 123.20333°W / 49.39556; -123.20333 (Cypress Mountain Ski Area)
Vertical 610 m / 2,010 ft
Top elevation 1,440 m / 4,724 ft
Base elevation 910 m / 2,985 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,[1] 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[2][3] – 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.[4]

History

The ski area was initially opened by BC Parks in the 1970s, after two Murray-Latta double-chairs were constructed on Mt. Strachan and Black Mountain. Night skiing was initially added in 1985 on those two chairs. In 1987, the Sky Chair was installed at the peak of Mt. Strachan, opening up new terrain and reaching the highest point on either mountain. The chair was a Mueller double relocated from Apex Mountain Resort.[5]

Cypress was the first ski resort in BC to allow snowboarding, doing so on March 15, 1987.

Another double-chair, the Midway Chair, was installed in 1990 on the lower slopes of Mt. Strachan. In 1997, the original double chair on Mt. Strachan was replaced with a Poma fixed-grip quad following the same lift line. After Cypress was purchased by Boyne Resorts in 2001, the original chairlift on Black Mountain was replaced by the Eagle Express, a detachable quad chair built by Doppelmayr. Additionally, the rope tow in the beginners area was replaced with a fixed-grip quad chair.

In 2007, the Sunrise quad chair was replaced with the Lions Express Quad Chair. This reduced the ride time up Mt. Strachan by nearly half. The previous Sunrise chair was moved across to Black Mountain and was installed on new terrain, which opened 9 new ski trails. This chair is now called the Raven Ridge Quad Chair.[6]

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.[7]

Lift Name Length Vertical Type Ride Time Hourly
Capacity		 Mountain Make Year
Lions Express Quad Chair 360 m High Speed Quad 4 min Mt. Strachan Doppelmayr 2007
Eagle Express Quad Chair 285 m High Speed Quad 4 min Black Mountain Doppelmayr 2001
Raven Ridge Quad 356 m Quad Chairlift 8 min Black Mountain Poma 2007
Easy Rider Quad Quad Chairlift 3 min Mt. Strachan Doppelmayr 2001
Sky Chair Double Chairlift 4 min Mt. Strachan Mueller 1987
Midway Chair Double Chairlift 4 min Mt. Strachan Mueller 1990

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).[8] 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.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Archived February 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Strachan, Mount" in BCGNIS
  3. ↑ Fairley, Climbing & Hiking in Southwestern British Columbia, p. 23.
  4. ↑ The only mountain named Cypress Mountain in BC is 22km East in Coquitlam.
  5. ↑ Landsman, Peter. "Relocated Lifts: US & Canada". Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Historical Timeline of Cypress Mountain". Cypress Mountain. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Cypress Mountain
  8. ↑ Vancouver2010.com profile
  9. ↑ Canada's mild climate leaves Winter Olympics short of snow | Sport. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
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