For most of the past four months, the drive up Cypress has meant gravel. Crews have been working Monday through Saturday on a two-shift schedule that runs up to 24 hours a day, traffic has alternated through a single lane, and cyclists have been banned from the road entirely. The repaving covers 12 km of Cypress Bowl Road, from the resort down to the West Vancouver works yard at the base of the mountain.
BC Parks is also reviewing a 60-year Ski Resort Development Plan for Cypress, and that plan will shape the mountain for decades. It rebuilds the bottom of the mountain far more than the top. Most of the changes go to the beginner area, the Nordic base, the tube park and the parking lots. The resort boundary and the backcountry routes stay as they are. The public survey on that plan closes 15 days after the road reopens to bikes.
The road comes back first
The District of West Vancouver's traffic updates page lists the Cypress Bowl Road job from July 6 to November 1. It says cyclists are barred until November 1, 2026, because of "extreme hazards, including gravel surface conditions and ongoing construction activities." Cypress Mountain's own pages disagree on the finish. The hours page gives the Ministry's estimate of the end of October. The Red Bull Hardline event page says bicycles stay off the road until the work is done "in November." Anyone planning a first climb back up should check the District page before heading out.
According to the provincial tender, the existing asphalt is being pulverized and a new asphalt-concrete overlay laid on top. The job is part of a $102.5-million south coast resurfacing program the Province announced in June, with $46 million going to Lower Mainland projects. The Province does not give a separate figure for Cypress. All through the work, BC Parks has kept vehicle access to the park open, with warnings about delays, gravel and restricted roadside parking.
The road also reopens just ahead of the snow. As of October 8, the Ikon Pass opening-dates table still listed Cypress's 2026/27 opening as "TBA." The resort's FAQ says the season usually opens between mid-November and mid-December, depending on natural snowfall.
What the plan keeps, set against what it adds
The Ski Resort Development Plan replaces governing plans that the resort describes as 30 and 22 years old. Cypress's Park Use Permit runs to 2034, and BC Parks policy requires resorts in provincial parks to keep their plans current. The process began in 2019. The 2026 draft also carries forward some projects that were already approved under the 1996 Master Plan and its 2004 amendment.
Here are the plan's own numbers, current figures next to full buildout:
| Measure | Today | At buildout |
|---|---|---|
| Controlled Recreation Area | 293 ha | 293 ha |
| Skiable terrain | 137 ha | 139 ha |
| Ski trails | 61 | 66 |
| Alpine skiers at one time | 4,713 | 4,866 |
| Total resort capacity per day | 6,942 | about 8,082 |
| Tube park, riders per day | 250 | 800 |
| Parking stalls | 2,540 | 2,880 |
The top rows hardly change. Skiable terrain grows by two hectares, and the number of alpine skiers the hill is planned for at one time rises by about 3 percent. The bottom rows are where the plan does its work. Daily resort capacity grows by roughly 1,140 guests, and the tube park more than triples.
The parking row has one discrepancy. The resort's web page calls the change from 2,540 to 2,880 stalls "an increase of about 780 spaces." The actual difference between those two figures is 340. The resort's own FAQ also says the added parking will ease pressure on the busiest days without ending it.
The alpine changes stay on lines that already exist
The centerpiece on the ski hill is a new beginner area. Surface carpets would replace the Easy Rider chair, and the Easy Rider Quad would move to the Lower Bowen alignment, where it replaces the aging Midway double chair. Three chairs get bigger, all on their current alignments:
- Lions Express becomes a detachable eight-person chair
- Eagle Express becomes a detachable six-person chair
- Raven Ridge becomes a detachable quad
The resort states that no new lift corridors are proposed. Snowmaking would expand to the Beginner Area, Rainbow and Lower Bowen, Lower Fork, Cascade and the Raven Ridge pod. The resort says the aim is a more reliable season from November to early April. At the Alpine East Base, the plan adds a children's centre and ski school building, an updated patrol and first-aid facility, and priority drop-off for buses and shuttles.
The first phase covers the beginner carpets, the Easy Rider move, removal of Midway, the Eagle Express upgrade and the first round of snowmaking. Raven Ridge comes in Phase 2, and the Lions Express and a new Lions Lodge café and viewpoint come in Phase 3.
Hollyburn's side gets the largest rebuild, and waits the longest
The resort calls the Nordic base its most undersized area. The plan would put the restaurant, rentals, retail and guest services in one new Nordic Lodge, with more parking, a dedicated drop-off and direct connections to the trails and the tube park. The tube park would move closer to the Nordic base, under an existing transmission-line right-of-way, and grow to eight lanes. Warming huts and lighting would be added across the Nordic and snowshoe network.
The trail additions are modest. Nine beginner and intermediate trails first approved in 1996, labeled A1, B2, C1, D1, E1, Y1, X1, X2 and X3, would add about 2.9 km. That splits into roughly 1.15 km of beginner trail and 1.75 km of intermediate. The resort says the network currently has too much advanced terrain compared with beginner and intermediate terrain.
The renewal of the Nordic base sits in Phase 4, with Cypress Creek Lodge expansion and Black Mountain Lodge replacement or renovation in Phase 5. The draft lists historic Hollyburn Lodge as an existing Nordic facility. It does not say what happens to the lodge once a new one is built. For anyone who skis or snowshoes from that side of the mountain, that is the most consequential open question in the plan.
A summer season with one firm date
The only phase with a confirmed year is the summer one. A lift-accessed bike park on Black Mountain, designed and built by Gravity Logic in areas already approved under the 2004 plan, is expected to open in summer 2027. It will include a beginner learning area. The plan also proposes relocating the mountain coaster and expanding hiking and interpretive signage. A list of candidate activities, including a zipline, aerial adventure park, via ferrata, climbing and disc golf, would each need separate BC Parks approval.
That summer focus helps explain why Cypress scheduled Canada's first Red Bull Hardline for October 16 and 17. When Pinkbike reported the bike park plans in August, it said it had no information on whether the Hardline course would open to the public in 2027. The resort is also clear that winter stays its main season. It says summer visits are expected to grow without overtaking winter, and that summer activity does not change the plan's capacity, parking or building numbers.
Hikers and backcountry skiers keep the routes they use now. The plan leaves the marked corridors to the Howe Sound Crest Trail, Black Mountain Trail and Hollyburn Peak unchanged. The plan document describes backcountry users staging from Lot 3B to climb Hollyburn Peak.
What approval would and would not settle
Even if BC Parks approves the plan, nothing gets built on approval alone. Each project still needs its own BC Parks submission, its own environmental and archaeological assessment, and its own First Nations consultation before construction starts. The resort says the pace of each phase depends on market conditions, visitation and economics. According to BC Parks, survey responses will be weighed alongside technical studies, environmental work, Indigenous consultation led by the Province, and input from other interested parties.
Outside coverage so far has come mostly from the outdoor press. Powder ran an overview on September 29. The Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC has said its Recreation and Conservation Committee will review the plan.
The dates for the coming weeks:
- November 1: the District's cycling restriction on Cypress Bowl Road is listed as ending.
- November 16 at 4 pm: the BC Parks survey on the plan closes.
- Mid-November to mid-December: Cypress's usual opening window, depending on snowfall.
Season passes are also on a deadline schedule. Adult Bronze passes currently start at $389 and adult Gold at $899, and Cypress raises prices at each deadline.
For West Vancouver homeowners, the mountain above the neighborhood is a big part of what the address offers, and the 60-year plan will change how it works for decades. If you would like to talk through what the plan's phasing could mean for living on the slopes below Cypress, Amir Miri Personal Real Estate Corporation is available. Request a Private Consultation.