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Get ready for ski and snowboard season.
Two North Shore ski resorts are set to open this weekend, joining Whistler Blackcomb, which kicked off the season with the opening of Blackcomb Mountain on Thursday, a day earlier than expected.
Cypress will open on Friday with two ski lifts, Eagle Chair and Easy Rider “with more to come soon after,” said the resort on its website.
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Five runs will be open, including PGS, Panorama, Windjammer, Fork and Runway.
The resort tempered expectations, advising visitors coming this weekend to be ready for early season snow conditions.
Grouse Mountain is scheduled to open Saturday, although its annual Peak of Christmas event, which includes Christmas movies, a light walk, and outdoor skating pond, opens on Friday.
Grouse’s Paradise and Paradise Jib park will be open on Saturday via the Greenway Chair and Heaven’s Sake and Peak via the Peak Chair.
Its new state-of-the-art gondola is set to open this season, but an opening date has not yet been announced.
Cypress has received 125 centimetres of snow so far, while Grouse has accumulated 106 cm — a hopeful sign for winter sports enthusiasts after a disappointing season last year marked by warm temperatures and lack of snow.
Environment Canada is predicting a La Nina later this year, which favours a colder than normal winter for the B.C. South Coast.
Both resorts are opening about two weeks earlier than in 2023, when Cypress opened on Dec. 7 and Grouse on Dec. 8.
Mount Seymour, which opened Dec. 2 last season, has not announced an opening day. Its website lists an estimated date as Dec. 13.
Seymour’s tobogganing and tubing area opens for the season on Saturday.
In Whistler, Whistler Mountain will open as scheduled on Friday.
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