North Shore mountains hopeful for good start to snow season

The late November snow coating the North Shore mountains has Lower Mainland skiers and snowboarders hopeful for an early start to the season.

Cypress Mountain has been busy preparing for its opening day, set for this Friday, Nov. 22.

“Thanks to the hard work all of our teams have put in, and with help from Mother Nature, we’re opening Eagle Chair and Easy Rider, with more to come soon after,” said a statement on the resort’s website.

With its extensive snowmaking operations, Cypress is typically the first of the three local Vancouver mountains to open, usually with limited terrain.

Mt Seymour is waiting for more snow before announcing its opening day, while Grouse Mountain tells 1130 NewsRadio it expects to open up its slopes in the coming weeks.

“We are getting a lot of snow right now and we are hoping to open up our season sooner than last year,” said Grouse spokesperson Claudia, adding that the resort’s two captive grizzly bears are also predicting an early start.

“Last year, they didn’t start hibernating until, I believe, early December. But for this year, today was the first day. They’re not coming out until next spring so it means we will have a good winter, hopefully. They are our biggest indication of how the winter will go because usually, they feel the cold a bit faster than us.”

Conditions on the local mountains are always at the whim of the weather, but there are hopes this year will be much better than last when the resorts struggled with warm temperatures and a lack of snow.

“So, far so good,” said the Grouse spokesperson. “We’re getting plenty of snow every day and we are really hoping in the next few weeks we will be up and running.”

In Sea to Sky country, Whistler Blackcomb is also starting up its ski lifts with Blackcomb Mountain open today and Whistler opening tomorrow.