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Cypress Bowl Ski Area is a ski area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located in the southern section of Cypress Provincial Park.

The ski resort is a 30 minute drive north of Vancouver, and has 47 named alpine ski runs (many accessible for night skiing) and 19 km cross country tracks. Snowshoeing tours are also popular. Ski schools and rentals, cafeteria and lounge and a retail shop are also located on the premises. In summer the ski area is shut down, but there are many hiking trails in the park. However, construction of the 2010 Venues will continue at a rapid pace in the next few years.

The ski area’s downhill runs are built on two mountains (Mt. Strachan (prounounced “Strawn”. – 1440 m and Black Mountain – 1200 m), on a vertical rise of 610 m.

Despite the resort name there is in fact no Cypress Mountain in this area. Cypress Mountain itself is actually 24 km east, in Coquitlam. The ski resort name Cypress Mountain is derived from the name of the bowl between the two mountains – “Cypress Bowl”, which was the original and still used common name of the resort (the correct name is 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 resort lies.

Cypress Bowl Ski Area has 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). There used to be a Rope Tow until 2002 when it was replaced by the Easy Rider Chair. The original Sunrise chairlift was dismantled in the summer of 2007 and moved to the expansion area on Black Mountain in time for the 07/08 Season, where it is now known as the Raven Ridge Quad Chair. The new high-speed chair (The Lions Express) was also constructed in 2007 on Mount Strachan by Doppelmayr. A new base lodge, scheduled for completion in late 2008, is under construction in a more convenient location near the base of the Eagle Express and Lions Express chairlifts.

During the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Cypress will host 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.

Though if you’re heading out to the area in Summer, there are still activities to be done at this scenic area such as Hiking and nature spotting. Although some sections of Cypress were logged before the park was established, its remaining old growth stands contain some of the largest and oldest recorded trees for the species in BC. Many of the parks yellow-cedars (or yellow-cypress-fir; which the park is named after) are well over 1000 years old. Red and white heather, copper bush, white rhododendron and many other native shrubs and wildflowers can be seen along the wheelchair-accessible Yew Lake trail and else where in the Park.

A variety of large and small mammals inhabit the park so if you’re looking for Canadian wildlife you’re sure to find a whole broad spectrum of it here! Coyotes and deer are often seen close to the access road. Black bears, squirrels, hares and weasels may be encountered in the backcountry. Adding colour and sound to the park are a variety of birds like ravens, gray jays, chickadees, warblers, woodpeckers, grouse, hawks and owls.

This park has two day-use/picnic areas. The Quarry picnic area has a large grassy area with eleven picnic tables. Highview has a small grassy area and six picnic tables. The Highview day-use area is mainly a lookout over Vancouver, Fraser Valley and the south end of Vancouver Island. Both the day-use areas have two pit toilets and picnic tables with barbeque attachments, bring your own briquettes. There are however no fire rings and fires are not permitted, so dont start them!

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With a variety of different trails – this place is guaranteed to please any hiking, wildlife and nature enthusiast – and in Winter, it provides the more sporty skiing enthusiasts with their fun! All in all a fantastic all year round place to visit while you’re in and around Vancouver!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 6:43 pm and is filed under British Columbia, Vancouver, Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.