You might be considering a snowboarding trip to Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver, British Columbia, before the winter breaks in March or April. After all, Cypress Mountain will host 2010 Olympic snowboarding events. The Olympic Alpine skiers, unlike the lowly snowboarders, get to head north to Whistler. Cypress Mountain is no Whistler, but still, it's a neat and high-class place.
Your question, in considering a 2009 snowboarding visit to Cypress Mountain, is double-edged.
The pro side: Cypress Mountain will be an exciting place to go in coming months, crackling with Olympic snowboarding preparations. Wouldn't it be great to have a chance to see what the world's best, the Olympians, will see in 2010?
The con side: Cypress Mountain will be all messed up because they are getting ready for the Olympics, carving up the grounds with bulldozers and making a cool vacation seem merely inconvenient instead.
The short answer seems to be, for snowboarders, that the "pro" side seems superior, and that you should consider a Cypress Mountain visit.
You would feel differently if you were a freestyle skier, because the Cypress Mountain freestyle venue is closed this winter, except for Feb. 9-10, when the Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix will take place. This is a major World Cup event, and so the first half of February would not be a good time to schedule your snowboarding vacation.
However, Cypress Mountain snowboarding facilities are not closed in a similar fashion, except for April 2-6, when the Canadian Nationals Snowboard Championships are slated.
Leaders of Cypress Point had mixed thoughts early in the decade, when the chance to serve as an Olympics venue was offered. A $6 million grant from the International Olympic Committee helped answer that question, putting new lifts and tows in place. Meanwhile, Cypress Mountain has used its own money for a new 45,000-square-foot lodge.
Snowboarding at Cypress Mountain in 2009? Seems that it's worth a try, expecially if you wait until after mid-February.
As for attending those 2010 Winter Olympics at Cypress Mountain, they're from Feb. 15-27. Events for both women and men are halfpipe, cross and parallel giant slalom.
Sources:
http://www.cypressmountain.com/dh.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22995132/
http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/v-printerfriendly/story/280156.html
http://nsbsg.com/weeklywindow/?cat=25
