You'll find plenty of green and white in the Comox Valley region

My husband has become an obsessive golfer, but the kids and I still love to ski and snowboard. With these irreconcilable differences, how can we have a successful winter family vacation?

Fortunately, we can head to the Comox Valley, about three hours north of Victoria on Vancouver Island. There, thanks to two starkly different climate zones in one geographic location, he can hit the green fairways of some top-notch golf courses and we can frolic in the snow -- all on the same winter's day.

Then, in the evening, we can enjoy dinner together and finish with a hot tub or a board game -- parents vs. kids. For us, it is the recipe for family fun and vacation harmony.

In British Columbia, due to mild winter temperatures at sea level and subfreezing conditions at the higher elevations, at least four ski resorts are within 30 minutes of golf courses that remain open during winter.

These include Mount Washington and the golf courses around the cities of Comox, Courtenay and Campbell River on Vancouver Island, and the three Vancouver-area ski resorts of Grouse Mountain, Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour and more than half a dozen golf courses in the greater Vancouver region.

In spring the number of possible locations to ski and golf in British Columbia on the same vacation jumps to almost a dozen, including Whistler-Blackcomb in April and May, and at least four ski resorts in the Okanagan in late March and early April.

BOOMER JERRITT

Keith Baldrey practices putting at the Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community just outside of Courtenay on Vancouver Island.

But our favorite destination is the Comox Valley, midway up Vancouver Island 70 minutes north of Nanaimo.

We headed there in the first week of January this year so that our daughters, ages 14 and 12, and their two friends and I could ski and snowboard the diverse runs of Mount Washington while my husband, Keith, could play two award-winning links, Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community, just outside Courtenay, and Storey Creek Golf Club, about 10 miles south of Campbell River.

Mount Washington, about 30 minutes from both golf courses, sits a mile high above the Comox Valley, and is renowned as a snow magnet, receiving an average snowfall of 29 feet in a typical winter, which usually makes it the snowiest resort in Canada.

By the weekend of Jan. 7, the resort boasted a base of 6 feet -- the deepest in Canada -- and the latest reports have it topping 11 feet.

Fortunately for my husband, there was no sign of even frost a mile below -- all the golf courses were open. We picked up the phone to call Crown Isle to book a weekend family getaway.

Crown Isle is an elegant, well-maintained resort-style course and, according to my husband (I don't golf -- yet), the 18-hole championship layout is a treat for the average golfer. Crown Isle has been ranked the No. 1 public course on Vancouver Island.

BOOMER JERRITT

Mullens, left, daughter Kate Baldrey and Kate's friend Molly Hackett get ready for dinner in their rented loft villa at Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community. The resort also has studio and condo rentals and offers ski packages to Mount Washington.

Along with its permanent residences, it has a number of condos, studios and villas for vacation rental. Each winter it promotes ski packages, starting from $85 (U.S.) an adult, that include accommodations beside the golf course, a day lift ticket at Mount Washington ($44) and a complimentary shuttle to the ski resort.

They had a loft villa available, with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a king-size bed and two double beds in a loft on the second floor. With a round of golf, the ski shuttle and five lift tickets, the whole package was $400 a night for the six of us.

We arrived Friday night and my husband booked tee times while I booked the ski shuttle for the next morning. While the kids settled into our posh, comfortable digs, Keith and I walked the winding green paths to the central lodge for a nightcap in the Timber Room pub as the balmy wind whistled through the tall pines. It felt like spring and it was hard to imagine I could be skiing the next day.

The Crown Isle shuttle was at our door bright and early and, after an effortless and comfortable ride, we were on the mountain before 8 a.m. That gave us oodles of time to get our gear together and have a leisurely breakfast before the lifts opened at 9.

BOOMER JERRITT

Keith Baldrey, far left, gets set to sink a putt as golf pro Jason Andrews holds the flag at the Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community, just outside of Courtenay.

It was a blustery, snowy day, making visibility difficult at times, but the snow conditions were perfect and the grooming almost impeccable. If at times you couldn't see clearly, you could go with the flow, knowing the ground would be forgiving.

Mount Washington has an even three-way split of novice, intermediate and advanced runs among its 60 trails. My girls and their friends, novice boarders all, stuck to the greens and blues. And knowing the mountain was safe for them to explore, I even got a few black diamond runs in on my own. Ah, bliss.

At the top of the mountain, the frosted, gnarled trees, some bent over with the sheer weight of snow, were a postcard wintery wonderland that made the contrast with my husband's day, a mile below, all the more stark. On a clear day, I could even look from the summit to the green valley and its golf links.

On Saturday, he played Storey Creek in drizzly rain, no deterrent to him in his wet-weather gear -- he'll play in anything. And Storey Creek was a treat. He described it as a surreal experience, like playing in a lush rain forest, with tall trees towering around him. At each hole he usually would come upon a family of deer nibbling around the greens.

Storey Creek is an 18-hole championship course just a 20-minute drive north from Crown Isle. It features narrow fairways on many holes, long doglegs and water hazards galore. In the winter, a gentle mist can blanket the course, lending a deep quiet to each hole.

The course is very challenging, says Keith, but even golfing novices can take great pleasure working their way around (even if it means more than a few lost balls along the way). And with winter rates at $31 a round, it was a terrific bargain.

This golf/ski combo had another unexpected bonus for me: Keith was finished a few hours before us, so when we arrived back at our villa, he had dinner waiting for us on the stove. All I had to do was help boil the noodles and make the salad and we were ready to eat.

An evening in the resort's fitness club, soaking in the hot tub, rounded off the perfect day. The villa even had a convenient clothes dryer for out wet outdoor duds.

The following morning, we girls took our own van up the mountain for another day of skiing in blizzard and clouds while Keith played Crown Isle under clear blue skies. He described Crown Isle as a delightful challenge, with several very long par 5s, tricky doglegs that demand the correct club selection, and par 3s with lurking bunkers and water hazards.

The undulating greens made putting tricky, and one's concentration on the green, notes Keith, could be broken by the stunning view of the snow-capped mountains and glacier in the distance. At times, some of the resort homes appeared nervously close to the tee box, tempting him to leave his driver in the bag. But the homes were set back enough that they never came into play.

A highlight for Keith was getting lessons from the excellent staff at Crown Isle. Keith wound up his round with lunch at the Timber Room pub, talking golf and comparing notes with other avid golfers -- another one of his favorite activities.

When we reconvened at 4 p.m. to load up for our drive home, each of us was aglow from the pleasure that comes from indulging, guilt-free, in your individual hobby.

Rather than drive us apart, our disparate interests, when shared so easily on a common weekend, brought us even closer together. Paraphrasing that saying about the cake -- indeed, you can have your golf and ski weekend, too.

If you go

* Location -- Crown Isle and Mount Washington are 150 miles north of Victoria on the east side of the island.

* Contact -- Mount Washington: 888-231-1499 or www.mountwashington.ca.
Crown Isle: 888-338-8439 or www.crownisle.com.

* Other B.C. golf/ski locations -- In late March and April, golf clubs in the Okanagan open up when there is still good skiing to be had at Sun Peaks outside Kamloops, Silver Star by Vernon, Big White near Kelowna and Apex near Penticton. There are more than 15 top-ranked golf courses in the Kelowna region alone. Visit www.tourismkelowna.com.

* For more information about golf/ski packages in other parts of British Columbia, both on the coast and in the interior, and in the spring season, call Tourism British Columbia at 800-435-5622 or visit www.hellobc.com.

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