There are lots of places you can take your Nordic skis (on the bus to avoid snow driving) and ski for free around Vancouver.
Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve - try the Rice Lake loop after a snowfall - paradise. Catch the 228 from Lonsdale Quay.
Seymour Provincial Park - there are snowshoe and X-country trails for free public use. Public bus service to Deep Cove.
Cypress Mountain - as well as the X-country trails you pay to use ($17 for the day, $13 for floodlit night skiing) there is a snowshoe and X-country trail that takes you up the side of the mountain. Take the Cypress Snobus.
Grouse Mountain - costs you to get up in the gondola to all the activities that are up there (movies, sleigh rides, zoo etc, all included in the price), but once you're there, the X-country skiing and snowshoe trails are free. To save money you could carry your skis up the 'Grouse Grind' and get extra exercise! Public bus service to the gondola.
Squamish - many trails running along the dyke where the eagles roost, and into the backcountry. Take a compass or GPS!
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