Cypress Mountain in earliest ski opening ever

Cypress Mountain opened for skiing on Tuesday, the earliest opening ever for the West Vancouver ski resort.

Trails on the north face of Black Mountain will be open to intermediate and expert skiers and riders, with more alpine runs expected to openon the weekend.

The early opening is largely due to snowmaking equipment used during last year's Vancouver Winter Olympics, when Cypress Bowl suffered an infamous lack of snow.

Long-time ski instructor Lorne Milne explained that a recent dusting of snow and heavy rainfall have combined with zero degree temperatures to produce perfect conditions for snow-making.

"The new snow-making machinery blows the water mist high into the air. Then it turns into snow crystals and gently flutters back down to the ground," he said.

"It lands with bigger snow crystals and it has more of the texture of what we consider powder-like snow."

Skiers and riders will have access to man-made snow trails from the Upper Fork of Upper Maelle Rickers Run through mid Jasey Jay down to the bottom of Eagle Express.

More of the Eagle Express terrain is expected to openon the weekend and Panorama and Windjammer trails will be open as soon as conditions allow.

With Grouse Mountain also expected to open their own man-made snow runs soon, Milne is anticipating a huge boost to Vancouver's ski industry and looking forward to getting back on the slopes.

"This stuff is nice to ski in and I look for it if I'm skiing down the hill. It has a lovely feel to it. It's soft, it's grippy, it's good texture, it's good stuff."

Cypress runs will be open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT from Nov. 8for intermediate and expert skiers only.