Overall:
3.8.
Based on
62
votes
and
40
reviews.
Vote
Access: 4.7
(1) At least one overnight stop, (2) requires a whole day, (3) requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns (4) arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon, (5) there is a main airport within an hour of Mt Seymour.
Public Transport: 3.9
(1) There are no buses or taxis to Mt Seymour, (3) there are slow or infrequent buses / trains available, (5) getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections.
Scenery: 4.4
(1) An ugly resort in a bland setting, (3) average mountain views and resort, (5) a spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town.
Accommodation: 2.8
(1) No places to stay in/near Mt Seymour, (3) a few places to stay in the resort, (5) a wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets.
Cheap Rooms: 3.1
(1) No budget accommodation available, (3) just one or two hostels so book ahead, (5) several cheap hostels and pensions available.
Luxury Hotels: 2.8
(1) No luxury accommodation available, (3) just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead, (5) several up-market hotels in Mt Seymour.
Ski in/Ski out: 2.8
(1) The ski area is located far from any accommodation, (3) a free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip, (5) Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available.
Childcare: 3.2
(1) There are no child care facilities at Mt Seymour, (5) the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche.
Snowsure: 4.0
(1) Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing, (2) is often closed due to a lack of snow, (3) occasionally suffers from a lack of snow, (4) rarely suffers from a lack of snow, (5) Mt Seymour is snowsure even in the poorest seasons.
Snowmaking: 1.8
(1) Mt Seymour relies entirely on natural snow, (3) there are just a few snow cannons, (5) there are snowmaking facilities on all pistes.
Snow Grooming: 4.3
(1) There are no snow groomers at Mt Seymour, (3) occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state, (5) all the runs at Mt Seymour are groomed daily.
Shelter: 4.2
(1) there is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut, (3) there are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close, (5) Mt Seymour is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close.
Nearby options: 3.2
(1) If snow conditions are poor at Mt Seymour, it will be poor everywhere nearby, (3) there are good alternatives within an hours drive, (5) other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions.
Regional rating: 4.1
(1) Mt Seymour usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region, (3) has average conditions for the region, (5) usually has the best snow conditions in the region.
Lift Staff: 4.5
(1) The staff at Mt Seymour are rude or unhelpful, (5) lift staff at Mt Seymour are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help.
Crowds/Queues: 3.6
(1) the resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues, (3) it is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays, (5) it is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare.
Ski Schools: 4.4
(1) No ski schools available, (2) one or two ski schools but local language only, (3) a few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors, (4) plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available, (5) excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors.
Hire and Repairs: 4.3
(1) Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex. (3) there are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance, (5) good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible.
Variety of pistes: 3.9
(1) The ski runs are featureless and unvaried, (3) the ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week, (5) Mt Seymour has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain.
Beginners: 4.4
(1) Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard, (3) a few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week, (3) Vast areas of gentle terrain.
Intermediates: 4.3
(1) No intermediate terrain at Mt Seymour, (3) intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days, (5) vast areas of cruising runs.
Advanced: 3.9
(1) Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders, (3) enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste, (5) Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week.
Snow Park: 4.5
(1) Not even a kicker at Mt Seymour, (3) average sized park quite well looked after, (5) huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails.
Off-piste: 3.9
(1) No off-piste worth mentioning, (2) off piste is out-of-bounds, (3) some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days, (5) a vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days.
Cross-country: 3.1
(1) There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Mt Seymour, (3) there are some cross country trails available, (5) the area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails.
Luge/Toboggan: 4.0
(1) No designated luge or toboggan runs, (3) there are toboggan runs that open quite often, (5) Mt Seymour has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages.
Mountain Dining: 3.7
(1) Nowhere to buy food by the pistes, (3) some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive, (5) there is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets.
Eating: 3.6
(1) Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop. (5) A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants.
Apres-Ski: 3.4
(1) Nothing to do, not even a bar, (3) there are a few bars in the resort but nothing special, (5) clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere.
Other Sports: 2.5
(1) No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts, (3) resort has just a small public swimming pool, (5) resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool.
Entertainment: 2.9
(1) Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here, (3) the non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week, (5) the resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports.
Winter Walks: 4.4
(1) Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails, (3) a couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails, (5) extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities.
Ski Pass Value: 4.2
(1) A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available, (3) the ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts, (5) ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area.
Value (National): 4.3
(1) Overall, Mt Seymour is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money, (3) overall represents average value for money, (5) overall offers the best value resort in the country.
Value (Global): 4.2
(1) Overall, Mt Seymour is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world, (3) overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries, (5) internationally the resort offers excellent value for money.
Love this place! The only complaint I have is the parking and on busy days you have to wait in line at the bottom of the mountain in your car. But I guess that helps keep the crowds in check.
They seem to get more snow than the other two local mountains. Not sure how that works but when there's snowfall and I check the reports, they always get a few more CMs, which is great. And even though there are less runs, I find them in better shape.
They have a wide variety of options to get on the slope for cheap. 3-ski day or night only pass, night only season pass that includes weekends, and so on. Many options on the lessons too if you or your kids need to take lessons.
Oh, and the Lodge chair can get very busy which is why I end up mostly avoiding it. Don't know what they can do to fix that. But I do love the wide, long, blue run at the beginning to practice going down steep blue slopes with lots of space for error.
Best bang for buck skiing or snowboarding in Vancouver. Seymour is all natural snow. Seymour gets the most powder out of the small mountains. They recently upgraded their main chair lift to a quad fast chair. Making line-ups better. Seymour has the best terrain parks to learn on out of the small mountains off Vancouver.
Main disadvantage is that the resort is a provincial park that is run by a family during the winter. This creates a situation where the family does limited investment in the growth of the winter capabilities.. And the province washes it's hands from any significant investment in infrastructure and recreation for it's citizens. Leaving the mountain in a management limbo... It could be so much better.
Ski more or stand more?
We bought a family season pass here for the first time. It may be our last season. We came on Feb 23 for 2.5 hrs and spent 1.5 hrs in lines. If you don’t have lessons or are not in a ski race, forget about getting on the lift in a reasonable time.
At Seymour you stand more. Go somewhere else if you want to ski more.
I paid $100 for a group lesson only to watch 1 out of a 7 person group get a private lesson because they were ill-matched to the group. When I reached out for a refund or to reschedule my session I was told that they wouldn't take care of the lesson and I'd have to pay more if I wanted to come up again.
Not worth it IMO.
[note from editor: names of individuals not included in reviews.]
Mount Seymour is the smallest of the 3 local mountains. They do not have any snowmaking so they might not be open when the other mountains are. Seymour and Grouse have a smaller elevation than Cypress which does not matter too much but It might affect snowfall. *Mt. Seymour is 1,265m, Grouse is 1,231m, and Cypress is 1,440m. I personally like skiing at Cypress the best but I haven't skied at the other mountains for a long time. Cypress has the biggest amount of terrain over Grouse and Seymour. I get that some people really like skiing at Seymour because it is a smaller mountain and a more tight-knit one? So that is my opinion on Seymour.
I first skied here in the 70's and then didn't return until 2013 when I moved to Deep Cove and bought my first early bird senior's season pass for 100 bucks. I love this little mountain. I can get here and be on the lift in 30 minutes, do 2 to 2.5 hours of cruising and call it a day any time I like. Whistler is not a value proposition for me now since it costs more for one day than my entire season at Seymour.
Just had my best day ever on any of the local mountains. Even Whistler doesn't get the kind of grooming that we have come to admire at Seymour. These guys kick it big time.
The groomers at Seymour are some of the best in BC. Jay and Matt.were head hunted by Seymour. They were the design build guys from Cypress who built the the hill that won Canada's first gold medal at the 2010 Olympics. Veteran groomers with many years experience. In case you didn't know Seymour is touted as one of the best terrain parks in North America.
[note from the editor: names of other reviewers are not included in posts.]
