Vancouver Island cross country skiing, alpine skiing British Columbia,
Canada travel, tourism
Cross Country Skiing
Vancouver Island, British Columbia,
Canada
XC skiing is a one of many winter recreation activities enjoyed on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. There are many cross country trails on the island - some maintained by ski clubs others left as wilderness trails.
Trails include snow covered gravel roads, hiking trails and deactivated train tracks. The high elevation backcountry gravel roads and the wilderness hiking trails located in the mountains are often transformed into cross country ski trails in the winter.
Cross country ski season on Vancouver Island usually runs from late November to late April. Snow usually falls only on the mountains on Vancouver Island but in recent years snow has been falling more regularly at the lower elevations in the communities. This makes for good xc skiing.
XC skiing on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada is most enjoyed in the resort mountains near the communities of Courtenay and Port McNeill, BC. Mount Washington is near Courtenay (central Vancouver Island) and Mount Cain is near Port McNeill (north Vancouver Island).
There are 15 nordic trails on Mt. Washington. 51 kilometres
are classic trails and another 51 kilometres are skate trails. The nordic trails cater to all
skill levels with 2 green trails, 6 blue trails and 7 black diamond
trails exploring Paradise
Meadows. There is also a Nordic Centre
providing rentals, maps and lessons.
There are accommodations on Mount Washington. The next closest
accommodations are only a 1/2 hour to an hour drive away in the communities located at the base of the
mountain - Courtenay, Comox, Campbell
River and Saratoga
Beach .
Mount Cain is the smaller cross country ski area located further north
on Vancouver Island near the community of Port McNeill. It is 60 minutes from Port McNeill to the mountain driving along the highway and dirt roads.
Bring chains or phone ahead for
road conditions.
There are accommodations on Mt. Cain, although
few. Most of the accommodations are located in the northern communities
including Port
Hardy and McNeill.
