Nothing beats the feeling of skiing down the mountains as fast as you can! The views from the top of the mountains are incredible in their own right, but even better when shooting down them at speed!

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I'm a snowboard and ski instructor and I've been lucky enough to go to many mountains and resorts in the world.

People always ask about a good place to take the family to ski or learn to ski. I think Vancouver is perfect. People always think of Whistler but don't know that there are three great mountains in Vancouver itself - Cypress Mountain, Grouse Mountain and Seymour Mountain.

For beginner skiers or families of skiers this has a lot of great advantages. By staying in the city there is a much wider range of accomodation (cheaper than Whistler to extravagant). There is also a lot of other activities on your doorstep so maybe when mum, dad or one of the kids gets tired or bored of every day skiing they can venture into the city easily and cheaply and take their minds off the sore muscles. Shopping, aquarium, Stanly Park, golf, sailing, nightclubs means there is always something to do.

All the mountains offer a great range of snowsports from beginner to advanced terrain and terrain parks. Whistler is little over an hour away for an extra day out. All the mountains have stunning views of the city and as a bonus Cypress Mountain will be holding some events in the 2010 Winter Olympics. The mountains are easily accessible by highways so there are no tricky mountain roads and the instruction at Cypress Mountain in particular is excellent for the whole family. They have also had a record winter of snowfall.

Plus, as the exchange rate is currently nearly two Canadian dollars to the pound it's not as expensive a destination as you may think.

All in all, a great place for everyone to go and enjoy on many different levels.

www.cypressmountain.com

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Cypress is a short bus ride away, where you can night ski and cross country night ski too. Be sure to eat at the ski lodge (home made soup and bread made on their wood burning stove).

www.britishcolumbia.com/Ski/resorts/?id=3

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What Grouse Mountain lacks in size it more than makes up for at night.

From late November to early April (depending on the snow, of course) this is the closest and most accessible of the downtown ski resorts. For the ultimate Grouse Mountain experience you have to go after dark. Take the 6pm cable car for cheaper tickets, rent your skis at the top and head off down The Cut for what is, in my opinion anyway, the most stunning night time view you will ever get from a ski run. Laid out before you twinkling away is the entirety of Vancouver and on a clear night you can see right out to the ships in the Burrard Inlet. Fantastic.

Follow it up with a few Rickards Reds in the great mountain-top restaurant before catching the last cable car down (about 11pm).

6400 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver, BC, V7R 4K9;
www.grousemountain.com

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