Relocation services for British Columbia, Canada

Snow sports

One of the great things about living in BC is the chance to ski, snowboard, snowshoe or just play in the snow. But if you haven't done it before it can be expensive to get equipped.

Getting equipped

Here are our tips for equipping yourself for the winter season.

Consignment shops

Consignment shops are ones where people take in their used clothes and equipment and the shops sells them, taking a percentage of the sale. There are consignment shops for all sorts of things, but ski and snowboard equipment is a big part of it. There are specialist consignment shops (see consignment sales or sporting goods in the SuperPages (yellow pages).

Cypress Mountain is one of three
ski hills on Vancouver’s north shoreWinter gear appears from October and runs through to March. Look early in the season, and again at the end. Remember that you can sell your own gear as well. This is particularly useful for kids who grow out of their stuff from one season to the next.

Consignment shops are great for all kinds of sports - soccer, hockey, baseball, bicycles. You can save yourself big bucks using them both to buy and sell used gear.

Leasing or renting

Some stores run special programmes where you lease your child's equipment and can upgrade as your child grows. This tends to work out a bit more expensive than buy used items, but it gives you the ability to cope with those growth spurts.

Renting your equipment might be a good idea while you decide whether skiing, snowboarding or sitting in the cafe is your sport. It does work out expensive of course. You can rent equipment on the mountain, but local shops often have their own rental schemes. These can be a good way to try out specialist equipment before buying expensive gear.

Learning to Ski or Snowboard

We didn't know how to ski when we arrived and so have gone through the whole learn to ski process. This is such an easy place to learn to ski or snowboard. There are adult learn to ski courses available most places, and you can get private lessons too.

For kids snowboarding is the cool choice. Our kids started out with ski lessons, but after two lessons had switched to snowboarding. A few lessons were enough for them to get started. The best way to learn is a camp. Our son did a snowboard camp. This was four full days (8am to 4pm) over two weekends. By the end he was confidently doing blue runs (intermediate) and had even ventured onto black runs (advanced). This gave him enough skill to go out snowboarding with his new Canadian friends - an important factor in settling into Canada.

Check out the ski and snowboard camps at the local mountains in your area. Book early as the first sign of snow usually means these camps fill up quickly.

There are plenty of adult classes too. Mostly they are in small groups with people of similar ability. We found these groups ok, but made the most progress when we splashed out on private lessons. The personal attention you get for an hour or two can really accelerate your learning. We did our private lessons at Mount Washington and can recommend the resort as a great family destination - if you want a party town, then Whistler would be better!

Ski passes

There are lots of deals around for passes for lifts and rentals. Check out the deals in your local mountains.

In Vancouver, Cypress Mountain has discounted tickets available before the season starts (available until the end of October). Buying these can be a bit of a risk as you do not know how much snow Cypress will get.

Grouse Mountain usually does a special deal at the end of the season, allowing you to buy a pass for the rest of the season and the whole of the next season. This has been a great deal in the past.