Grouse Grind

Today we decided to do the Grouse Grind, as something different. The grind goes from the bottom of Grouse mountain to the main chalet. The grind is approximately 2.9 kilometers long with an elevation gain of 800 meters. The average incline is 15 degrees, but in some sections it is at 40 degrees. It is listed as a hike in the books, but it is no where near a hike, it is a climb.

It started out ok, as it always does, by the ¼ way up sign, I was dieing. It seems I was not the only one who over estimating their abilities to climb this trail at a faster speed. There were many people stopped on the side of the trail. Some were doing better than others, but all were amazed how hard this trail actually is.

The whole time I was struggling with each section. There were spots where I was feeling better, and again started to increase my speed, only to be drained by a steep section. It was good to get in behind a slow group, that way they dictated the pace. That worked real well, until they pulled over and let us pass.

At the top, the “trail” was really wet and slippery, from all the rain from the previous week. When we got to the top time marker, I said lets keep going to the real top, as in the top of Grouse mountain it self. So off we went toward the peak. Since the last time I had been up there, they had actually built a access road to the top. At the top the view is just spectacular, you can see all of Vancouver and all the way to the states and Vancouver Island.

So we did it, from the bottom (where we parked the car) up to the start of the “trail”, and to the actual top of Grouse mountain. It was hard, but I am glad that I did it.