The other day I went to The Juice Truck for lunch. It was pouring so hard that the sound of drops hitting the pavement drowned out all other noise. Ponds formed around curbs and Ontario Street transformed into a slow-flowing river.

When I made it down the hill from Broadway, I was soaking wet and questioning my decision to get something cold for lunch.

I asked the cashier how her day was going. “It’s awesome because I’m one of those weird people who love the rain,” she said.

I could only laugh and agree that it was her lucky day. As I walked back up the hill, thankful for rubber boots, I wondered how anyone could choose this over sunshine.

If you call Vancouver home, you either “live with” or “love” the winter weather. I belong in the first group. I’m from Ontario. For me, winter will always mean blue skies, crisp temperatures and snow. Not rain.

But Vancouverites have the best of both worlds: warm winters with true winter only a short drive away – should you choose to experience it.

A Bird’s-Eye View

I’ve lived in the city for more than 10 years and have skied my whole life, but I’ve never been to any of the local tubing parks. So on a sunny Saturday in January, my husband and a couple of friends joined me for a winter adventure at the Cypress Snow Tube Park.

We dug our ski gear out from storage and headed up Cypress Bowl Road. The drive is beautiful and funny at the same time.

One minute you’re on bare roads and then, suddenly, both lanes are bookended by towering snow banks. Every time I see this, it reminds me of a time I was walking downtown one summer and came across several blocks sprayed with fake snow for a movie shoot.

Cypress is like a winter wonderland set. If it’s a clear day, make sure to stop at the Cypress Bowl View Point. You can see most of the Lower Mainland from this lookout.

Tubing Time

Getting to the tubing part of the day is a bit of a process. You have to line up to buy tickets ($20 per person) and then head over to another line to get into the park.

In total, it took us around 45 minutes to start tubing, but the time passed quickly. It’s just nice to hang out in the sunshine with friends.

As a kid, sledding meant trudging up steep hills in knee-deep snow for the brief reward of speeding down a few times.

At Cypress, no trudging is required. A tube tow pulls you, and your inner tube, up the hill. However, we quickly realized walking was much faster and had the added bonus of thawing our freezing toes.

Rubber boots with thick socks aren’t substitutes for real winter boots, but they will do in a pinch if you don’t want to buy boots that you’ll only wear a couple times a year.

The tube park has a total of six chutes – each with a Cypress Mountain staff member as a pusher. You can slide solo or hook yourself together and slide as a group. We saw one group that included around 15 people!

Some runs and tubes are faster than others, so if you’re wary about speed, ask one of the Cypress employees to point out the slower lanes. We thought the speed was pretty good – not too fast and not too slow. But speed really depends on weather conditions and how many people you are sliding with.

If you want to experience winter, but don’t want to spend $50-$60 to ski, tubing is a fun option for any age. Try it in big groups, in pairs and solo. You’re sure to laugh a lot no matter what.

Tips

• Real winter boots will keep your feet warmer.
• You can rent Neo Overboots from Cypress for $5. They are basically boots you wear over your shoes or boots to keep your feet warm.
• Use the tube tow once for novelty, but walk up the rest of the time. You’ll get a lot more runs in that way.
• The red tubes are the most comfortable.
• If a Cypress Mountain employee asks you if you want to spin, do it!