Cypress Mountain Ski Area facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cypress Mountain Ski Area |
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Skiers at Cypress Mountain
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| 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 |
| 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 super cool ski area located in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It's part of Cypress Provincial Park and is a popular spot for winter fun!
This awesome ski resort is only about a 30-minute drive north of downtown Vancouver. It has 53 special runs for downhill skiing, and many of them are lit up for night skiing! There are also 19 kilometers of trails for cross-country skiing. If you love exploring, Snowshoeing tours are also a big hit here.
At Cypress Mountain, you can find snow schools to learn new skills and places to rent gear. There are also yummy food spots like Cypress Creek Grill and Gold Medal Cafe, plus a sports shop called Big Bear Sports.
Cypress Mountain had a starring role in the 2010 Winter Olympics! It hosted all the exciting Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding events. This included cool sports like SkiCross and Snowboardcross.
The ski area is built on two mountains: Mount Strachan (which is 1,440 meters tall) and Black Mountain (which is 1,200 meters tall). The difference in height from the top to the bottom of the runs is 610 meters.
The name "Cypress Mountain" actually comes from the area between these three mountains, which was called "Cypress Bowl." The word cypress refers to the yellow cedar tree, which grows a lot in the park at higher elevations. Even though it's called Cypress Mountain, there isn't actually a mountain with that exact name in the park!
Contents
History of Cypress Mountain
Cypress Mountain first opened its ski area in the 1970s. Back then, they built two chairlifts on Mount Strachan and Black Mountain. Night skiing was added in 1985, letting people ski after dark!
In 1987, the Sky Chair was put in at the top of Mount Strachan. This opened up even more exciting ski areas and took skiers to the highest point on the mountains.
Cypress was also the very first ski resort in British Columbia to allow snowboarding. That happened on March 15, 1987!
Over the years, more chairlifts were added and old ones were replaced to make skiing even better. For example, in 2001, the old chairlift on Black Mountain was replaced with the Eagle Express, which is a super-fast chairlift. In 2007, the Sunrise chair was replaced with the Lions Express Quad Chair, cutting the ride time up Mount Strachan almost in half! The old Sunrise chair was then moved to Black Mountain and became the Raven Ridge Quad Chair, opening up 9 new ski trails.
Weather at Cypress Mountain
Cypress Mountain has a special kind of weather. Summers are usually mild with cool nights. Winters are long and can be quite cold, with lots of snow! It gets a huge amount of snow each year, which is great for skiing and snowboarding.
| Climate data for Hollyburn Ridge (Cypress Mountain) (Elevation: 930.00 m) 1971−2000 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 17.8 (64.0) |
16.7 (62.1) |
17.5 (63.5) |
22.5 (72.5) |
30.5 (86.9) |
31.7 (89.1) |
33.3 (91.9) |
32.0 (89.6) |
30.5 (86.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
22.2 (72.0) |
12.8 (55.0) |
33.3 (91.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
2.5 (36.5) |
3.9 (39.0) |
6.6 (43.9) |
10.5 (50.9) |
13.3 (55.9) |
17.5 (63.5) |
17.7 (63.9) |
15.3 (59.5) |
9.2 (48.6) |
2.6 (36.7) |
0.6 (33.1) |
8.4 (47.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.4 (29.5) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
0.8 (33.4) |
3.0 (37.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
9.0 (48.2) |
12.6 (54.7) |
13.0 (55.4) |
10.6 (51.1) |
5.8 (42.4) |
0.3 (32.5) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
4.8 (40.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −4.0 (24.8) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
2.0 (35.6) |
4.7 (40.5) |
7.6 (45.7) |
8.2 (46.8) |
5.9 (42.6) |
2.3 (36.1) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
−4.1 (24.6) |
1.2 (34.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −21.7 (−7.1) |
−20.0 (−4.0) |
−15.0 (5.0) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
0.0 (32.0) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−14.0 (6.8) |
−20.0 (−4.0) |
−26.7 (−16.1) |
−26.7 (−16.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 310.0 (12.20) |
301.4 (11.87) |
249.7 (9.83) |
177.6 (6.99) |
177.6 (6.99) |
155.7 (6.13) |
120.2 (4.73) |
120.7 (4.75) |
149.0 (5.87) |
299.9 (11.81) |
389.7 (15.34) |
354.0 (13.94) |
2,805.4 (110.45) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 173.1 (6.81) |
164.6 (6.48) |
139.7 (5.50) |
107.1 (4.22) |
167.9 (6.61) |
155.4 (6.12) |
120.2 (4.73) |
120.7 (4.75) |
148.4 (5.84) |
285.6 (11.24) |
284.1 (11.19) |
213.2 (8.39) |
2,080.4 (81.91) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 136.9 (53.9) |
136.9 (53.9) |
110.0 (43.3) |
70.5 (27.8) |
9.6 (3.8) |
0.2 (0.1) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.0) |
14.3 (5.6) |
105.7 (41.6) |
141.9 (55.9) |
726.1 (285.9) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 17.6 | 16.5 | 16.4 | 15.2 | 12.6 | 12.9 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 15.1 | 19.3 | 18.9 | 172.0 |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 8.8 | 8.2 | 8 | 9.7 | 11.8 | 12.8 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.9 | 14.1 | 12.7 | 9.0 | 122.5 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) | 12.2 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 8.3 | 2.2 | 0.09 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.09 | 2.4 | 10.9 | 13.6 | 72.28 |
| Source: Environment Canada (normals, 1981−2010) | |||||||||||||
Ski Lifts at Cypress Mountain
Cypress Mountain Resort has six chairlifts to take you up the mountains. These include two super-fast chairlifts (the Eagle Express and the Lions Express). There are also two regular quad chairs (Raven Ridge and Easy Rider) and two double chairlifts (Sky Chair and Midway). For beginners, there's a magic carpet and a magic go-round in the kids' area, plus a tow lift for the tube park.
| Lift Name | Length | Vertical | Type | Ride Time | Hourly Capacity |
Mountain | Make | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lions Express Quad Chair | 1050 m | 360 m | High Speed Quad | 4 min | Mt. Strachan | Doppelmayr | 2007 | |
| Eagle Express Quad Chair | 850 m | 285 m | High Speed Quad | 4 min | Black Mountain | Doppelmayr | 2001 | |
| Raven Ridge Quad | 900 m | 356 m | Quad Chairlift | 8 min | Black Mountain | Poma | 2007 | |
| Easy Rider Quad | 310 m | Quad Chairlift | 3 min | Mt. Strachan | Doppelmayr | 2001 | ||
| Sky Chair | 555 m | Double Chairlift | 4 min | Mt. Strachan | Mueller | 1987 | ||
| Midway Chair | 460 m | Double Chairlift | 4 min | Mt. Strachan | Mueller | 1990 |
Ski and Snowboard Runs
Cypress Mountain has 53 different runs for skiing and snowboarding! These include:
- 5 easy green runs (great for beginners)
- 23 blue runs (for intermediate skiers)
- 21 black runs (for advanced skiers)
- 12 double black runs (for experts, with 8 of these being exciting runs through trees, called glades)
The longest run is a combination of runs called the T-33-Collins, which is 4.1 kilometers long! The shortest run is called Rideout, and it's about 10 meters long.
| Runs | Length(ft) | Descent(ft) |
|---|---|---|
| Collins | 5280 | 1161 |
| Panorama | 5255 | 888 |
| Horizon | 4562 | 1143 |
| Benny's | 4087 | 896 |
| 3 Bears | 3753 | 576 |
| Fork | 3480 | 888 |
| Top Gun | 2976 | 1024 |
| T-33 | 2571 | 594 |
| Humpty Dumpty | 2344 | 636 |
| Jasey Jay | 2158 | 643 |
| First Sun | 2099 | 892 |
| Rainbow | 1955 | 635 |
| Slash | 1921 | 732 |
| Crazy Raven | 1888 | 733 |
| Windjammer | 1814 | 385 |
| Ripcord | 1655 | 564 |
Cross-Country Skiing
Cypress Mountain Resort is the only place in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia where you can find Nordic (cross-country) ski trails. It's super convenient, just 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver by car.
The Nordic trails at Hollyburn Ridge offer a mix of different terrains over 19 kilometers of groomed trails. About 7.5 kilometers of these trails are lit up, so you can even go cross-country skiing at night! The historic Hollyburn Lodge, built in 1926, has been helping skiers and snowshoers for a very long time. The cross-country ski area is at an elevation of 886 meters.
Cypress Mountain and the 2010 Winter Olympics
Cypress Mountain played a huge role in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games held in Vancouver. It was the official venue for all the exciting freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions.
Some of the events held here included:
- Moguls (skiing over bumps)
- Aerials (amazing flips and twists in the air)
- Ski cross (racing down a course with jumps and turns)
- Half-pipe (snowboarders performing tricks in a U-shaped ramp)
- Snowboard cross (snowboarders racing each other down a course)
- Parallel giant slalom (snowboarders racing side-by-side)
The half-pipe and the areas for moguls and aerials were finished in 2007, well before the games. Just before the Olympics, there wasn't much snow due to warm weather. So, snow had to be brought in by helicopters and trucks from higher up the mountains to make sure the events could happen!
See also
In Spanish: Cypress Mountain para niños
