Venue City: West Vancouver, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding

                                      Olympic Mascots ride the escalator in Park Royal

by Lisa Ovens

Since everyone's been talking about the lack of snow on Cypress Mountain, home of the Freestyle Skiing and Snowbaording events, I figured I'd head down the mountain to sea level and take a look at the North Shore's biggest Olympic Party,  Park Royal's Winter Carnival.

The website is calling it  "A Magical Outdoor Ice Skating Experience For All". From February 12th to 28th, Winter Carnival visitors can glide along an outdoor ice-skating canal. The canal will be about 6000 square feet and is "entirely synthetic." It's located at the Village of Park Royal Shopping Centre and will be free for skaters from noon until 10pm every day. There will be a limited number of skates to rent, and if you are bringing your own pair, here is a tip from the website:
- Your skates need to be super-sharp – the nature of the surface dictates that all skates be sharpened after only an hour and a half of skating. But don’t worry, we will have a skate sharpening service on hand and you can get yours sharpened for only $2.

- No hockey sticks please

- Helmets are recommended but not mandatory
- ALL skaters need to sign a waiver before they get on the – just go to our Skate Centre and sign in. Please note: Those under the age of 19 need to get their parent or guardian’s signature.

And then there is the Beverage Tent; can't forget about that! Wine, beer and other drinks will be available from 4pm to 10pm nightly. For a complete list of entertainers performing at the Winter Carnival please visit the webpage here on Park Royal's website
For the Village shopping and restaurant directory please click here.

Park Royal shopping Centre was the first covered mall in Canada. it opened in 1950. Above photo shows the Main Street of the Village during a hot rod event. photos from Park Royal's facebook page.

Lisa's West Vancouver...

Many moons ago I used to work at the north side of Park Royal Shopping Centre. And a few moon's before that I used to hang out at "Cypress Beach". With all the warm weather talk concerning the mountain and its Olympic events I was reminded of the springtime, and sunny days on Cypress Mountain. Digging a big fox hole in the snow with my friends, chucking in some lounge chairs, tanning lotion, snacks and stashing copious amounts of canned beverages in the snow. Nothing more fun than partying wearing big snow boots and bikinis!

                              Cypress Mountain: currently the most famous hill in the world
Here's a shot, not a very good shot of Cypress Bowl taken from Iona Beach Reginal Park, a park located next to the airport. I was walking on the breakwater and took the picture. The breakwater path has you walking straight out on the Pacific Ocean. It's long walk (over 3km's one way) and not much to see at the end other than the view of the long walk back.