Cypress Blog

Jaw Dropping Benefits of Cross Country Skiing!

Check out this article from the Globe and Mail - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/the-jaw-d...

Friends and faithful followers,

Alas our love affair has come to an end . . . for this season anyway.

It was sad last week when Cypress had to close midweek because of conditions. This of course meant no Wednesday date day and no Dr Jens Ski Report.

Last Friday we had a pre booked trip to Whistler for the Ski and Snowboard Festival, so no Cypress on the weekend either. Bad timing for my favorite winter love affair!

Now it is Monday morning and I wake up in in Whistler to check Cypress' very informative website. A little too informative today - it's the last day! ! I don't remember anyone checking with me first before deciding today was closing day! !  Guess I know where I rank on corporate decisions (lol).

I certainly can't complain. Cypress has been a true hilite of the winter: a beautiful place for a date with my husband; fresh air and exercise; an outlet for the trapped writer inside of me . . . nothing but good on good.

Today was near perfect, except for the signs that the season is coming to an end. Not too many people and the mountain is showing some bare spots. So sad.

My hubby decided to try a bit of exercise today (since he still can't board) and went snowshoeing. Cypress does also offer some great snow shoeing and cross country terrain.

Temperature was very mild with a mix of cloud and sun.  Visibility great. The snow was nice and soft and very fast.  Like I said, near perfect.

Up Lions Express aIl runs were smooth sailing. My favorite today was probably T-33 off Sky Chair. It's funny, no matter how often I come here, I find the views mesmorizing. When I got off the top of Eagle Express I was unable to move as I stared at the view from the top. Simply amazing. We surely live in one of the most beautful places in the world, or at least get to ski at one!

Off Eagle was just as good as the other side, with Panorama being a close second today.

Words cannot fully describe what a day it was today . . . but since you can't read my mind, here it goes!

Spring all on its own has a beauty and freshness to it.  Add to that being up on the mountain-amazing.  The sky was so blue today and the air so warm, how could you go wrong?

The views were so spectacular today that I believe I spent as much time taking photos as I did skiing!

The conditions were nice slushy snow, brown sugar like, and easy riding - provided that your skiis or board are waxed. Especially in these conditions make sure you take advantage of Cypress' $10 wax special. Well worth it and will keep you moving through the heavier snow.

Up Lions chair today offered the most sun and the softest snow.  Collins was a great warmup and Horizon was probably the pick of the day for me.  Up Sky chair the views were mesmerizing.  I found many people lingering at the top before heading down the run.

Hello Spring! At least that's what the calendar says.  Hard to tell at the top of the mountain today, though. Snowing like crazy right as I write.

The website this morning said +3 and rain/snow combination so I decided to wait and see what would happen.  The report changed to zero and snowing so off we went -husband in tow again :).

I was a little disappointed that we drove all the way up here in full beautiful sunshine and there wasn't any on the mountain.  I thought for sure I would be getting a suntan today. However, the great snow made up for it.

Started up Lions Chair and rode most of that side. The snow was pretty soft and the runs fast. Top of Sky chair was the only spot a bit sketchy. No visibility and crusty snow.

It is Friday and nice to be on the mountain.  If you were looking for me on Wednesday I didn't make the trip up here.  The bar was closed... What was the point?  Now you know my real priorities!

I happened to have taken the day of work today and after a lazy morning at home, decided some fresh air and exercise would do me good.  Off to Cypress we go.  Yes I said we.  My husband's back is still pooched but better enough that he could do the car ride up here.  I really miss my ski buddy on the runs, but nice to have the company for the car ride for sure.  

Yes it was raining,  but warm.  Spring-like conditions are fun to ski too.  The snow was slushy and nice to ride.  A little heavy of course,  which made for an extra good workout.  

Oh my goodness. One of the most amazing days this season, and only 98 people on the hill recorded at 11:00 am this morning (including staff!!). Where are you people??  It may be March, but there is still lots of snow to enjoy.

Me and my girlfriend Kathy arrived at 9:30 this morning.  Got a bit of an earlier start today. Glad she could join me as my hubby is out for the season (sad face). Bulging disc being repaired as we speak.

What made today so amazing was the combination of the warm temps, the fresh snow, and visibility as far as the eye could see. Every lift and run sported the most amazing views that I believe really puts Cypress on the map.  

Home sweet home.

It was nice being away and exploring new mountains, but sure nice to ski home again. Especially when I'm skiing alone. The mountain is so familiar and friendly.

I had a workshop to attend in Vancouver today, so I brought my equipment with me and carried on up here to the mountain after work was over. So nice to have the night skiing option. Where else can you ski so much terrain until 10 pm??  Its so great.

Sorry to bombard you with another report from a distant mountain, but I really felt that today was worth sharing.

I woke up this morning in a spectacular room at The Sutton Place Hotel on the mountain, my room window facing the ski hill and gondola. From my bed I was watching the cat grooming the runs and the snow falling lightly.  I felt sad that it was time to go.

On a whim I decided to contact the marketing manager to see if he could help make it possible for me to stay another day. And he did!!  Gave me a complimentary lift pass and a reduced room rate to stay an extra nite. I promptly booked a lesson (time for this intermediate to step it up) and my sadness amazingly disappeared.  Thank you Kevin Manuel.

If you have been following my weekly ski report, you would have noticed that there wasn't one last Wednesday. That was for two reasons: my husband is still injured and I couldn't find a friend to join me, and I was leaving Friday morning anyway for a driving ski adventure.

Today I skied Red Mountain for the first time. What an amazing experience. And for those of us who have Cypress passes, they give you a 25% discount (50% if you are a Cypress employee).

They hadn't had much fresh snow recently, but they do a great job of grooming and there is plenty of mountain to ski.  There are two mountains: Red and Granite  There are plans in the next year or so to put a lift up Grey Mountain, which sits right next to the other two. This will put Red in the top 8 ski resorts in North America for size.  At present you can pay an extra $10 and take the Grey Mountain bus up to the top of Grey from Rino's Run.

Hello Night Skiing!

Since my husband is still injured and can't board (sad face), I decided to try night skiing for the first time this season with my girlfriends.

Skiing at night is certainly a different experience. It is bright and quiet and very pretty.  Also a bit hard to see at times, which makes me glad I know the mountain well!

Not sure I will frequent the after work drive to ski at night, though, as traffic sucks!  Glad we avoid that on our Wednesday routine.  We generally leave White Rock after rush hour, and return before the afternoon rush starts. To night ski and leave White Rock after work means traffic in every direction!  Gotta commend those commuters...I couldn't do it!!

I understand I missed a bit of icy rain/snow pellets before I arrived, thank goodness. The couple of hours I did ski it was quite mild and very beautiful.

Keith Nicol is a travel writer and blogger. Keith and his family visited Cypress a couple weeks ago, check out his blog post to read about their weekend at Cypress!

http://keithnicol.blogspot.ca/

Happy Wednesday!!  And a happy day on the mountain it was :)

The drive up this morning was definitely sketchy since you couldn't see past the hood of the car!  The fog was very thick. By the way, people, turn your lights on!!  I don't think people realize that if they are just using their automatic headlights that you have no tail lights. Dangerous in the fog, for sure.

We were delighted to find the fog was below us when we got to the base of the mountain. And it was sunny too for our first couple runs.

The snow was great today; spring-like and soft. Excellent for fast runs and manouevering steeper slopes.

Started with our warm up run on Collins. Nice conditions but a bit busy as kids were on semester break today. Nice to see them out, though, and quite a few kids were taking lessons. Keep it up kids!!  Skiing is a very happy thing.

The ever-changing landscape of our lovely local mountain . . . from temperature inversion spring conditions to snow snow snow!

When we left White Rock this morning it was raining, and the Cypress website said +1 on the mountain. Hmmmm, what would we find?!  With rain most of the way up, I thought it might be one of those plastic bag days. But whatever, we are skiing!

Pleasantly surprised to find superb snow conditions. No ice and fresh, silky snow.  With very few people up here today, we had the mountain to ourselves and were often finding some fresh tracks too.

We pretty much covered the whole mountain, starting at Lions, then up Sky, over to Eagle then to Raven.  I was so surprised at the ease in which I could come down the mountain, that I skiied Rainbow -  a run that I'm not always comfortable with depending on conditions. It was one of the picks of the day!

Dr. Jennifer Montgomery is a Registered Clinical Counselor, serving the White Rock community in private practice for the past 18 years.  She is married and a mother to two young adults.  For more information, see her website at www.doctorjen.org

Dr. Jen has sent us another ski report about the therapeutic benefits of skiing.

WEDNESDAY DATE DAY AT CYPRESS