Grouse Mountain

The Skyride carries visitors from about three hundred metres to just under twelve hundred on the shoulder of Grouse Mountain, and the platform gives Vancouver, the delta and, on clear days, Mount Baker in Washington. A refuge on the summit holds two grizzly bears, Grinder and Coola, both orphaned as cubs in 2001 and unable to survive in the wild; they hibernate through winter in a den on site. The Grouse Grind, a trail of about two point nine kilometres gaining eight hundred and fifty-three metres, climbs the face and is walked by around a hundred and fifty thousand people a year; it is one-way up, with the Skyride down.

History

The mountain stands on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, and the first recorded non-Indigenous hikers reached its peak in October 1894 and named it after the sooty grouse. Scandinavians hand-built the first lodge in the 1920s, hauling planks up what became the Grouse Grind, a toll road reached it by the 1930s and the first double chairlift opened in 1949; after a fire took the original lodge in the winter of 1962, a new lodge was built on the ridge and the Blue Tram aerial tramway opened on 15 December 1966 (Wikipedia, Grouse Mountain).

What's there

• The Skyride - a large aerial tram to just under 1,200 metres.
• The grizzly refuge - two orphaned bears in a summit enclosure.
• The Grouse Grind - a punishing 853-metre climb up the face.
• The city panorama - Vancouver, the delta and Mount Baker on clear days.

When to go

Year-round: skiing and snowshoeing in winter, the Grind and lumberjack shows in summer. The Grind opens roughly May to October depending on snow. Bears hibernate from about November to April.

Practical notes

The bears are asleep for nearly half the year. The Grind is steep and people are regularly rescued from it; descending on foot is prohibited. The summit is often in cloud when the city is clear.

Nearby

Capilano Suspension Bridge lies south; Deep Cove is east.

Key facts