Mount Seymour Snow Tube Park

One of the best things about Vancouver is that you can decide to do something completely new in the morning, be there my midday, do it and be home for dinner/work/whatever in the evening. Case in point, we went to Mount Seymour the other morning to try out the Snow Tube Park.

Snow Tubes are essentially inflatable tyres that you use to propel yourself headfirst down the side of a snowy mountain. We were initially a bit nervous about the whole thing, but once we saw schoolkids racing down and yelling YOLO ('You Only Live Once' for those of you over the age of 30) we were shamed into having a go.

There were 4 tracks to take, each with charming names like Tear Jerker and Kamikaze. We started with the slowest one, which looks a bit like this:

While it doesn't look particularly fast, it does feel it, especially the first couple of times until you get used to it. You then sit on your tube and get gently pulled up the slope on a conveyer belt. Emboldened by the vaguely taunting shouts of fun from the schoolkids, I ventured onto Kamikaze and brought my camera with me. Apologies for not hitting stop in time...

There's loads more to do up on the mountain like hiking, skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and just general sightseeing. It takes about an hour from where we are in Vancouver, but that includes waiting around for buses. From what we're seeing every little snow village has it's own unique, quirky charm and it's easy to feel like you're getting away when it's actually 'just up the mountains'.