Ski Touring at Hollyburn Mountain near Vancouver, BC

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Eric and Kristie heading up

     It had been several years since we had gotten out our ski touring gear so when we decided to head over to Vancouver for the family day long weekend we decided to try a route that was close to town and where route finding should be easy. So on Saturday, February 16 we headed up to Cypress Mountain Resort and the start of the trail to the summit of Hollyburn Mountain. Overnight 20 cm of new snow had fallen so we decided thought we might even get some turns in some fresh snow. We were joined by our daughter Kristie and her boyfriend Eric who also was keen to get his alpine touring gear out as well. Since this area is very popular we decided to leave Vancouver by 8:00 am which meant that we got a parking place close to the trail head at 49.379 N and 123.191 W. The trail head is fairly obvious if you head to the Cypress Mountain Nordic ski area (the route starts near the Nordic ticket office).  Note that this route is outside the formal xc ski trails and snowshoe trails of Cypress Mountain resort so is free but is not patrolled. Most people heading up the mountain were on snowshoes although there were a few people on telemark or alpine touring gear. 

Lunch at the summit

 The route winds mainly to the left of the cross country ski trails and ascends up for just over 3 km. The first 2 km are generally in the trees but then it opens up and the last part resembles an alpine ski area run. This last section is quite steep and we opted not to follow the snowshoe trail so cut a shallower ascent route. By now we had run into so other ski tourers who led us to the top of the mountain by winding around the side instead of climbing directly up the steep front side. It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach our lunch spot at the summit (440 m above start)  The ski tourers we had followed suggested that we take a slightly different way down and they offered to show us the route.

  By now the sun had come out and we did in some turns in the open areas but we ended up too far down the slope to be able to cut back to our original trail. So we ended up skiing down through the trees to Baden Powell hiking trail (marked by reflective markers) and proceeded to follow it back toward the alpine ski area. At one point could hear the traffic on the road and decided to head straight down instead of traversing on the Baden Powell trail. Our adventure was not over yet when we found that there was a small cliff between us and the overflow alpine parking lot. Fortunately we found a rope that had been placed which allowed us to slip down the steep slope to the road. From there we traversed back to our car at the Nordic parking lot. Lessons learned – We found that the open slopes definitely allow some turns to be had especially near the top. But it is very easy to get off track in this area so stay to the established trails unless you want to explore.  Slopes are steep so you should have intermediate to advanced ski skills and don’t take this area too lightly since skier and snowshoers regularly get lost on these North Shore Mountains. 

   

Coming down the rope at the end

The ice skating near Cumberland is awesome!

By Keith and Heather Nicol

      On February 11 with the school children in the Comox Valley getting a snow day we opted for

Keith checking out the ice

one as well.  We decided to head to Cumberland to check out the snowy trails and ice skating and were happy to report that both were in fine shape. But you need to act soon to check this out since warm temperatures are forecast for the end of week.  We drove through Cumberland and took the road toward Comox Lake. At “Jumbo’s Cabin” (a can’t miss log building on the left) there is a small parking lot.  From there we headed down a few meters to a trail that connects some of the ponds in this area. We could hear people shouting and first veered left to check out that pond and it had a game of hockey going on plus a couple of other smaller rinks that people were busy clearing snow of snow.

There were 3 ice rinks of various sizes when we were there

 The ice turned out to be hard and fast and it was great to go for an outdoor skate. There were a steady stream of people coming out to see how the ice was and many brought skates and shovels. After skating we decided to walk on the Wellington Colliery Trail which is just below the log cabin and there were even ski tracks in the snow from some skiers that had passed by earlier. We walked to another pond that looked like people had tried to clear for skating but had quit due to the amount of water on the ice. We took the trail a signpost highlighting the Japanese townsite that once was in this area before returning back to the car. Check this area out for its outdoor skating opportunities (when the weather cooperates)  and nice winter walking. Bring a shovel in case snow needs to be cleared. 

Heather on the Wellington Colliery trail