Top B.C. Daytrippers: 20 Cool Ways to Catch (Or Avoid) Olympic Fever

Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by BCAA in Featured, Living

2010 WINTER OLYMPICS UPDATE

by Rob Howatson

More cowbell please! With the thermometer dropping and the Olympic Flame burning its way toward B.C., it’s time to get this party started. Regardless of whether one’s winter strategy involves embracing the 2010 Games full on or hunkering down in a Kootenay forest until the fireworks blow over, the following guide will help you medal in the appropriate event.

Throughout the 2010 Games, Big White Ski Resort will present its irreverent take on the winter athletic competition, hosting a different, fun event each day. Photo courtesy Big White Ski Resort

1 Jest for Glory
Big White Games, Kelowna
Kelowna’s local ski hill knows how to get into the Olympic spirit. Throughout the 2010 Games, Big White Ski Resort will present its irreverent take on the winter athletic competition, hosting a different, fun event each day. From inner-tube luge to the Nerf gun biathlon, this is the peoples’ games – open to guests of all abilities, with medal ceremonies held each evening in the Happy Valley flag garden. 250-765-3101

2 Black-Diamond Bronco
Wrangle the Chute, Golden
Put some yee-haw in your Olympic yodel at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort’s annual alpine hoedown. Contestants ski down a steep, narrow run, launch themselves off a ramp and jettison their gear in preparation for a wild ride on a bucking bronco. Warning: the horse is fake, but the wranglers operating its bungee suspension are genuinely ornery. Sane folk may prefer to opt out of the race and enjoy the antics from the Heaven’s Door yurt patio – complete with DJ and BBQ. February 6, 7. 1-866- 754-5425

3 Freewheel U
Cross-Country Ski Camps, Vernon
Silver Star Resort’s 105-km, groomed-trail network is the cross-country ski centre of B.C. – voted the number one Nordic destination in North America by Forbes Travel magazine. Numerous Olympic national teams will gather here to tweak their form prior to the Games and a popular series of cross-country ski camps will help weekend warriors do the same. Courses range from $199 to $739, including trail passes, lunch and video analysis. November 28 to December 6. 1-800-663- 4431

4 Varsity Rules
Thunderbird Hockey, Vancouver
Olympic hockey tickets are hard to find, but there is a way to get a sneak peek inside the Games’ new $47.8-million UBC venue – and see some gutsy varsity sports action at the same time. The T-Bird men and women hockey teams will play this season’s home games in the state-of-the-art, 7,500-seat arena. Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tickets $10. UBC.
Schedules: gothunderbirds.ca

5 Wired for Wow
Air Grouse Mountain Ziplines, North Vancouver
Ziplining is one of those zany, adrenalin-pumping activities that has all the makings of an Olympic event – gasp-inducing speed, a gratuitous exploitation of gravity – but isn’t a sport . . . yet. For now it is simply a mind-blowing way to view the North Shore Mountains while hurtling above Grouse Mountain forest at 80 km/h. Après ride: Grouse’s 740-square-metre ice-skating pond, where 1972 Olympic silver medallist Karen Magnussen is lacing ’em up to give figure skating tips – for real. 604-980-9311

For this year's Ice-Wine Festival, organizers have opened up the spigot to include all Okanagan varietals. Photo courtesy Sun Peaks Resort

6 A-Vin-Lanche Patrol
Winter Wine Festival/Sun Peaks Resort, near Kamloops
The ancient Olympiad began with the Greeks offering wine to Zeus. So it is fitting that the Winter Wine Festival will flow January 16 to 24 – right before the Games. For 11 years, this was the Icewine Festival, a Sun Peaks swish-and-spit jamboree dedicated to the only vino harvested in the dead of night and dead of winter. This year’s grape party will continue to honour the elixir from the frozen vine, but festival organizers have also opened up the spigot to include all Okanagan varietals. New events include Wild Meats and Wild Wine at Masa’s Bar + Grill, a Varietal Showdown at the M Room and a Mixology Event for those who like sampling beyond the wine lists. January 16 to 24. 1-800-807-3257

7 Dude Meets dweeb
Old School Giant Slalom/Mount Washington, near Courtenay
There are bound to be neck-wrenching double takes at Vancouver Island’s alpine resort this winter as Olympic snowboarders share Mount Washington’s slopes with some bizarrely attired skiers. The elite boarders will be cramming for their parallel giant slalom test at Cypress. The downhillers, with their kamikaze headbands, one-piece neon hot-dogger suits, mirrored sunglasses and skinny, straight skis, will be there for the inaugural retro ’80s fun race January 30. Totally wicked! 1-888-231-1499

8 Oval Au Naturel
Polarthon, Kamloops
Kamloops is a hotbed for speed skating talent, but the city can’t afford a $178-million long-track oval like Richmond’s new Olympic venue. So its determined blade racers came up with a more affordable alternative: Logan Lake. Each winter a local ATV club sweeps the lake’s frozen surface, transforming it into a giant outdoor rink and the home of the Southern Regional Long-Track Speed-Skating Championships (January 9), a fun winter triathlon called Polarthon (January 10) and the Western Cup of Pond Hockey (January 15 to 17). Located just outside Kamloops, Logan Lake is the only lake-surface speed-skate venue in B.C. 250-523-6225

9 The Cold Lebowski
Winter Festival, Valemount
The Olympic torch passes through this gateway-to-Mount Robson community January 29, just in time to kick off Valemount’s second-annual icicle whoop-up. Frosty frolics on January 30 include a wacky winter triathlon (skate, cross-country ski, run), milk-jug curling, dogsled rides and the little-known sport of body bowling. The latter involves participants being hurled across a frozen lake in the hopes of knocking down a set of oversized pins. 250-566-4435

10 Fork Lighting
Lighting the Way, Grand Forks
Many towns throughout B.C. will celebrate the arrival of the Olympic torch when it passes through their communities. Grand Forks, for instance, will party it up January 24 as the flame flickers down its main streets – hopefully keeping its distance from the snow-and-ice sculpture contest. Plus: fireworks and performances by First Nations and Metis jig dancers, the Doukhobor Seniors Choir and the Sopranos Youth Singers. 1-866-442-2833

11 Follow the Pack
Sled Dog Tour, Invermere
Sled-dog racing was a demonstration sport in the 1932 Lake Placid games, and the International Federation of Sled Dog Sports has been agitating for a second chance ever since, though it may be awhile before Fido tops the podium again. In the meantime, mountain mushing experiences can be had at Toby Creek Adventures (just down the road from Panorama Mountain Village), featuring a full-day backcountry romp to the Delphine Glacier. (Movie-goers may recall this stunning icefield from the 1993 survival film Alive.) Many of the trek’s guides and dogs are veterans of the Iditarod and Canadian championship sled dog races, so you’ll want to hang on for the mad dash up Delphine Creek to the glacier’s spectacular, cliff-top icefall. 1-888-357-4449

B.C.'s second-annual Cultural Olympiad: more than 600 free and ticketed acts and exhibitions. Photo courtesy Trudy Lee Photography

12 Brrrrravo!
Cultural Olympiad 2010, Various B.C. Locations
The Cultural Olympiad has wowed audiences in Vancouver and along the Sea-to-Sky corridor since its launch last year. But the closer we get to the Games, the more spectacular those performances. More than 600 free and ticketed acts and exhibitions will be showcased January 22 to March 21, including the rare double-billing of Canada’s National Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet – but also relative unknowns: e.g., The Only Animal theatre company’s ambitious production of NiX. The tiny Vancouver troupe will construct Canada’s first theatre of snow and ice at Whistler’s Lost Lake and fill it with a frozen fantasy about fireworks at the end of the world.

13 Learn From the Master
Nipika Classic Loppet, Radium Hot Springs
Can’t define “loppet”? All the more reason to attend Nipika Mountain Resort’s Learn to Cross Country Ski Week (January 18 to 25) – for classic and skate-skiing taught by resort co-owner Lyle Wilson. The former Olympic coach has been a dominant force on the Canadian Master ski circuit for 30 years. So, you can hone your skills on Nipika’s 50 km of trails, then be well-primed to race in its Classic Loppet at week’s end. 1-877-647-4525

Kimberley's Family Festival: Bands, glow-stick parades, a mountain scavenger hunt and s’mores by the skate pond. Photo courtesy Kimberley Family Festival

14 Kin Who Huck
Family Festival, Kimberley Alpine Resort
The Olympic family that shreds together breaks bread together. And so, in honour of the fact that skiing is such a great family activity, Kimberley’s ski hill has declared Valentine’s weekend a giant brood bash. There will be bands, glow-stick parades, a mountain scavenger hunt and s’mores by the skate pond. February 13 to 14. 1-800-258-7669

15 O Yes You Did
The O Zone, Richmond
An official celebration site of the 2010 Winter Games, the O Zone will showcase art, culture, entertainment and sport via a main stage for international headliners, giant outdoor ice rink, interactive exhibits and a towering 43-metre screen carrying live feeds from all Olympic venues. To find: just look for the colourful, 30-metre-long wall of ice at the O Zone entrance (by B.C.’s Gordon Halloran, who also designed the Turin Games’ 2006 sub-zero installation). 604-276-4000

16 Spread the Warmth
Hudson Bay Mountain Resort, Smithers
The Olympic Flame isn’t the only torch drawing crowds this winter. On January 29, evening skiers brandishing flares on bamboo poles will create what will look like a giant glowing red snake – descending the slopes of Hudson Bay Mountain Resort via its new eight-km trail to town (one of B.C.’s top-three longest runs). Torch bearers will finish their burn turns on the edge of Smithers, where a bus waits to take them to the resort’s watering hole, Whisky Jack’s, for the Torchlight Dance. All proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society. 250-847-2058

17 Totem Polar Party
Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver
The towering glass walls of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology Great Hall still offer a stunning view of Vancouver’s outer harbour, and the hall itself still displays an amazing collection of totem poles. But huge changes are afoot thanks to a $55-million expansion and facelift. Highlights: new exhibition gallery and revitalized lobby, gift shop and café unveiling; plus the launch of “Boundary and Translation: New Art Across Cultures,” a cultural Olympiad exhibition of contemporary works by 12 international artists. January 23, 24. 604-827-5932

18 Don’t Piste Me Off
Big Mountain Freeskiing, Revelstoke
Skiers who find Olympic slope events too constraining can always sink their fat planks into competitive Big Mountain Freeskiing – a sport that’s been around for 15-plus years but is not yet on the Olympic radar. Revelstoke intends to change that when it hosts the Canadian Freeskiing Championships January 6 to 10. Competitors are given a start gate and a finish line; what they do with the mountain in between is up to them. But usually that means huge carves on open faces, bombing through tight chutes, launching off 15-metre cliffs and a smattering of tricks in between. 1-866-373-4754

19 Play Safe
National Avalanche Awareness Days, Various B.C. Locations
You can’t host the Winter Games without a few words of winter caution. In fact, more than 30 Canadian communities will hold white-thunder safety programs in January, with Fernie the anchor city for this season’s campaign. The East Kootenay powder pocket is a fitting location to headline the Canadian Avalanche Centre initiative because it draws both skiers and snowmobilers, and it’s the latter that took a beating in the backcountry last winter (avalanches smothered twice as many snowmobilers in the 2008-09 season than in any preceding winter). Still, all slope-lovers will appreciate the beacon searches, snowpit profiles and search-dog demonstrations January 8 to 10 at Fernie Alpine Resort (simultaneous activities at local sled area, January 9). 250-837-2141

20 Potluck Potlatch
Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, Whistler
Fans of Whistler’s Farmers’ Market, which packs the Upper Village with organic goodness summer through fall, can now get their slow- food fix at a winter version – Sundays at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC), an impressive structure designed to evoke a traditional Squamish longhouse and Lil’wat Istken pit house. Sunday shoppers can stock up on storage crops, root vegetables, late-season fruits and locally prepared artisan breads before paying by donation to access the SLCC’s exhibits and weave-your-own-bling Salish Craft Workshop. 1-866-441-7522