The 2010 Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver are you ?

The storms that regularly smash the Pacific coast from October to April  leave the mountains in a blanket of white but sometimes bring fog and rain, while the sea level city of Vancouver is usually just plain wet.

But when a day dawns crisp and bright on the coast there are few more stunning places in North America to be.

If you want to test the frozen waters of winter adventure you can get your ski or snowboard fix at any of the Vancouver Ski Mountains, Grouse, Cypress and Seymour Mountains all within about 45 minutes of Downtown Vancouver.

Of those Cypress Mountain is the best, Thredbo-like in size with more reliable snow. Grouse Mountain may not appeal to serious riders but its view back to the city - particularly under a clear sky at night - are worth the trip alone.

Big mountain skiers and boarders will make the trek to Whistler, a veritable behemoth when it comes to making serious turns and regularly voted the No.1 resort in North America.

If snow doesn't float your boat a simple bike ride around Stanley Park is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours and still get the heart pumping.

For those looking to take it easy shopping in Kitsilano, hitting the markets at Granville Island Vancouver or dining and taking on a few bars in Robson Street should work well.

Or you can do all that and more on the cobbled streets of historic Gastown, northeast in the downtown district.

With the athletes village at False Creek and the modifications to the Sea to Sky Highway - the conduit between Whistler and Vancouver - the only major works to be completed a year out from the Games it was hard not to be impressed. And the locals certainly were.

"Fifteen hundred people a day were going to (national trials) skating events. The skaters were saying when we have these in Calgary we just get 50 people," says Bell.

"At the Callaghan Valley for the ski jumping there was 6,000 people turn up for the event and they had to close the road and turn people back.

"There was just a real groundswell of enthusiasm and excitement."

And that, despite a few grumbles, seems to be the overriding feeling in Vancouver.

Add the A-grade facilities, a cosmopolitan city and hopefully a block of good weather - and the 2010 Games look like competing with the benchmark Winter Olympics of 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway and as such well worth checking out.