Technically it’s Hollyburn mountain, but Cypress Mountain is the ski & winter sports resort.

Last night, after a busy day at work, I met up with some old friends and some new ones at the top of a very wet mountain. Usually, there’s plenty of fresh snow falling silently but last night it happened to be raining. While a little discouraging, it turned out to make the already settled snow a little softer underfoot. It didn’t stop it being incredibly beautiful to look at and to listen to. There’s nothing quiet walking through a forest at night with just the crunch of your footsteps through snow, and distant rain falling onto the canopy above.

I wore my waterproof trousers, raincoat, thick woolly socks, a nice warm hat, and waterproof and super-grippy boots from BearPaw. The fur lining kept my toes snug and the grip was amazing for the time spent out of the snowshoes.

We were gathered by request of the team behind the Healthy Family Expo, a family event happening in March in the Vancouver Convention Centre. I don’t want to give too much away, but aside from the climbing wall, trampoline, appearances of kid’s TV characters from CBC, and many food and activity vendors, there may just be a visit from an actual (kinda) dinosaur!

As we walked, we were treated to a commentary, a few games, a lot of jokes, and some interesting stories about how to navigate the mountain, and a few survival tricks. Paul, the guide was excellent and kept us all amused throughout the tour through the snowy forest, up past the cross-country skiers, and down a little hill (on our bums) to the revamped lodge for copious amounts of cheese fondue.

After the cheese came the chocolate! We dipped fruit, some crackers, and a few marshmallows into it before one-by-one announcing that we were stuffed and couldn’t eat another bite.

Putting on the snowshoes after all that food was a little more difficult but it was nice to be back out in the fresh air for a brisk walk to complete the circuit and head back to our warm cars.

The whole evening was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who loves the outdoors and cheese. Even if you’re just in it for the cheese, it’s still a lot of fun.

Don’t forget to register for your Healthy Family Expo tickets. It’s on March 24th, 2019 at the Vancouver Convention Centre and is a great day out. This year will be my third visit and we always have a great time and come away with a big tote bag of food samples! Yum.

Disclaimer: Our delicious fondue and snowshoeing were provided by Healthy Family Media. If you want to visit the mountain and celebrate the great outdoors and indulge in fondue and chocolate, book your guided tours on Cypress Mountain here.