The Lions

Description

This image is 48 x 20.25-inches (122 x 51.4cm) in size. Canvas prints are sold stretched or unstretched. Stretched prints are available for pick up only in Vancouver. Addresses further afield will get unstretched canvases and paper prints rolled up in a tube for shipping. Instructions for stretching/framing will be included in the shipping tube.

In the year leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver I had a season pass at Cypress Mountain Ski Resort and was up there on an almost weekly basis. That was when I came to the conclusion that the view from the top of Cypress has to be in the top 10 fabulous views from a ski resort anywhere in the world. On a sunny day you can see The Lions to the north and the city to the south and east and out across the Salish Sea to Vancouver Island. Mount Baker in Washington state often stands out on the horizon to the south east. This shot was taken from the top of the Sky Chair on Mount Strachan at 1440 metres in elevation. I took a number of different shots on different days. That’s why this one is called The Lions #14.

On some days there was nothing to see –you’re skiing in the clouds and can’t see more than a few metres through the thick, wet fog. But when the sun comes out it is truly gorgeous up there.

The Lions themselves are known to the local Squamish First Nations as The Two Sisters. They were named The Lions by white settlers who thought they resembled the twin lions seated in London’s Trafalgar Square. They are believed to be the remnants of an ancient volcanic cone. The West Lion on the right stands at a height of 1646 metres while the East Lion is 1599 metres. In the background of this photo, beside the East Lion (the one on the right) you can see Mount Garibaldi just past Squamish on the Sea to Sky Highway. That’s a distance of about 50km. To the right of that is the closer Skypilot Mountain -a distance of about 35km.