VANCOUVER - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 78

Shore Range; the only development is at its southern end, where the suburb of Deep Cove
provides a takeoff point for the waterway. Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak Centre (2156
Banbury Rd., Deep Cove, 604/929-2268, www.deepcovekayak.com , Apr.-Oct.) rents ca-
noes and kayaks for $39 for two hours for a single kayak or $30 for a stand-up paddle-
board. If you'd prefer to take a tour, contact Lotus Land Tours (604/684-4922 or 800/
528-3531, www.lotuslandtours.com ), which charges $199 per person for a full-day tour, in-
cluding downtown hotel pickups, a salmon barbecue on an uninhabited island, and instruc-
tion.
SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING
While Vancouver is the gateway to world-renowned Whistler/Blackcomb, the city boasts
three other alpine resorts on its back doorstep. They don't offer the terrain or facilities of
Whistler, and their low elevations can create unreliable conditions, but a day's skiing or
boarding at any one of the three sure beats being stuck in the hustle and bustle of the city
on a cold winter's day.
Grouse Mountain
Towering above North Vancouver, the cut slopes of the Grouse Mountain resort (604/
980-9311, www.grousemountain.com , adult $58, youth and senior $45, child $25.) can be
seen from many parts of the city, but as you'd expect, on a clear day views from up there are
much more spectacular. To get there, take Capilano Road north from the Trans-Canada, fol-
lowing it onto Nancy Greene Way, from which a gondola lifts you up 1,000 vertical meters
(3,280 vertical feet) to the slopes. Four chairlifts and a couple of T-bars serve 24 runs and a
vertical rise of 365 meters (1,200 feet). Advanced skiers and boarders shouldn't get too ex-
cited about a day on the slopes here—even the runs with names like Purgatory and Devil's
Advocate are pretty tame—but schussing down the slopes of Grouse Mountain after dark is
an experience you won't soon forget. Most runs are lighted and overlook the City of Van-
couver, laid out in all its brilliance far below. Night skiing (after 4pm) costs adult $48, youth
and senior $40, and child $22 until closing at 10pm.
Cypress Mountain
The eyes of the world were on the small Cypress Mountain resort (604/926-5612,
www.cypressmountain.com , adult $60, senior $40, child $26) on Vancouver's North Shore
when it hosted the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events of the 2010 Olympic Winter
Games. It offers about 34 runs across a vertical rise of 534 meters (1,750 feet). A quad chair
and four doubles combine to open a wide variety of terrain on two mountain faces, most