Although Vancouver Island is renowned for its steep, rugged mountains, there's also great beauty in the mellow, rounded hills and snow-carpeted meadows. This terrain is ideal for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, great activities for the family and invigorating exercise for the fitness fanatics. Forty kilometres of quiet track-set trails, partially located in Strathcona Provincial Park , will provide enough terrain for the most demanding adventurer to explore. Self-sufficient skiers intent on winter camping use these trails as starting points for exploring the Battleship Lake and Lake Helen MacKenzie region and beyond. Nordic skiers on Mt. Washington enjoy some of the most diverse and scenic trails in the Pacific Northwest.
All trails are track-set for classic and have a centre lane groomed for skating.
From the cozy, cross-country day lodge at Mount Washington, a series of loop trails offers workouts of between 3 and 12 km long across the gentle terrain of Paradise Meadows. Intermediate and advanced nordic skiers can take advantage of a specially priced lift ticket for the Red Chair, from which you can descend into the upper West Meadows along 10 km of tracked trails. For some of the best cross-country terrain anywhere, try the Lake Trail Loop and the Upper West Trail. There's an unhurried nature to cross-country skiing at Mt. Washington. Families that have divers interests within their group will appreciate the convenience of having both alpine and nordic facilities within a short walking distance of each other.