VANOC must be turning in its grave.   Cypress Mountain – the Olympic problem child whose barren slopes turned to mud and slush during the Games – has been dumped with meters of fresh snow in April.  Now that the athletes and crowds are gone, conditions are the best they’ve been all year, with a whopping 468-centimeter base.

While all that snow has made for exceptional skiing, it has also created ideal conditions for alpine trekking and snowshoeing.  Cypress maintains dedicated snowshoe trails on the mountain, but – for the budget minded – there’s another option:  a network of free trails that skirt the slopes and plunge deep into the mountains.

I checked out the trail that climbs Black Mountain, one of Cypress’ many peaks, over the weekend.  Access is easy.  Free parking is available in the Cypress Mountain downhill ski area.   Backcountry passes (also free) are given out at the lodge ticket windows.  From there, you can proceed directly to the trailhead, which is right behind the chairlift that serves Black Mountain.

Thanks to the work of trailblazing snowshoers, the new snow was already packed down, making for easy progress (even in hiking boots).  The trail works its way through dense, sub-alpine meadows, where tall evergreens were frosted white from the recent storms.  Higher up, it climbs steeply, paralleling the edge of a ski slope (look closely for the lime green Olympic rings) and finally leveling off on a broad plateau.

I pushed on to a small lake, covered over with ice and criss-crossed with tracks from snowshoers.  The winter scenery over the weekend was storybook: mounds of fresh, fluffy snow; evergreen branches heavy with frost and icicles; and, owing to unusually clear blue skies, stunning views of the Lower Mainland.

At the lake, a small path doglegs up a steep hill.  The summit, normally obscured by tall trees in the summer months, had been transformed into a scenic viewing tower by the meters and meters of snow.  From on top, I had a true 360-degree panoramic view: north to Howe Sound and Vancouver Island and south all the way to Mt. Baker in the U.S., not to mention postcard views of Lion’s Gate Bridge and downtown Vancouver.

And, in stark contrast to the crowded slopes during the Olympics, today the only company atop Black Mountain was a silky black raven, feathers ruffled against a chilly breeze.

All told, the hike takes about 2.5 hours, round-trip.  Any other favorite treks on Cypress?  Please let me know below.

Remy Scalza