Vancouver seems a very different place now compared to what it was just a few short months ago - cycling Downtown in the morning sun, getting a tan on Jericho Beach, sitting at the Quay in North Van. They all seem very far away now.
The T-Shirt and shorts-wearing days have now been firmly confined to the past, and everyday clothing now consists of jeans, jackets, hoodies and hats.
However, it's not all bad. Vancouver is a lot milder than other Canadian cities such as Toronto or Montreal in winter, and there's still plenty to see and do here. Having finally spent $73 on a monthly bus pass after being here six months, I can use public transport to get wherever I want, whenever I want, instead of buying endless tickets. Getting the bus to Lynda and Andrew's house or heading Downtown on the Skytrain can now easily be done whenever the feeling takes me.
But where the winter in England brings people indoors: to their homes, the local pub, the cinema, bowling alley, or shopping centre; residents of British Columbia instead put away their flip-flops and volleyballs, pull out some thermal underwear, strap on a pair of skis and throw themselves down a bloody great mountain, at high speed.
There are a multitude of options in the Vancouver area for people who want to ski, snowboard, or just spend time in a mountain cafe relaxing. Whistler-Blackcomb, the world-famous ski resort, is probably the best in the area, with thousands of people flocking there every year. The village, which will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympics, is located only 70 miles from Vancouver, and officially opened for the winter last week.
Back in September I was lucky enough to take a float plane to Whistler with my parents when they came to visit, and through the rain that poured throughout that memorable day, was met with the picturesque Whistler village, nestled between the mountains of Blackcomb, and Whistler itself. The village and the two peaks make up the resort, and whilst the summer offers an array of activities such as quad biking, hiking and downhill mountain biking with a monsterous bike-park, Whistler at winter comes alive.
The village itself is small, with a population of only 10,000, but in the winter this swells to around 40,000. Whistler's facilities are world-class, and this season a new "Peak2Peak" Gondola that directly links the tops of the two mountains opens on December 12. The skiable area is 8,171 acres, comprising more than 200 runs, and the 38 lifts can handle 65,507 skiers per hour. Not bad, especially considering you can get here from Vancouver in under two hours.
Whilst the resorts world-beating facilities and endless slopes are all well and good, the fact that Whistler has so much to offer, and the hype surrounding the place due to the Olympics, can make time spent there expensive. Fortunately there are many more local alternatives available, some of which can even be reached using Vancouver's public transport system.
Grouse Mountain, which I climbed a couple of times over the summer, is also a ski resort over winter. I remember back in July, tackling the 'Grouse Grind' with my friends Andrew, Dylan and Sabrina, culminating in a snowball fight in the warm sunshine at the top, as we found a big patch of left over snow from the winter. Now, looking up at Grouse from the city, snow is slowly taking over the peaks, and soon enough the resort will be open.
Compared to what Whistler has to offer, Grouse is tiny. The mountain contains only 26 runs, but it's more than enough to keep someone like myself, who hasn't been snowboarding for a couple of years, happy for now. Additionally, Grouse is a fair amount cheaper than Whistler, and with it being only a Seabus and a bus ride away from Vancouver, it's extremely easy and cheap to get to.
Alongside Grouse Mountain, there are the resorts of Cypress, and also Mount Seymour locally, and slightly further afield over the US border, there is Mount Baker. All-in-all it is everything a winter adreneline junkie could wish for.
Having recently moved flats, and having had a fair amount of time off work the wallet isn't currently bursting. Fortunately my new job, working as a receptionist - something that keeps me so busy that I can sit here for an hour and type this, means that I have a regular income again, at least for the forseeable future. With that, I too will soon be strapping myself to a piece of fibre-glass and wood, before throwing myself down a mountain. Let's hope I remember how to stop.
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