Grouse Mountain is one of the
North Shore MountainsThe North Shore Mountains are a mountain range overlooking Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Their southernmost peaks are visible from most areas in Vancouver and form a distinctive backdrop for the city....
of the
Pacific RangesThe Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges.The Pacific Ranges...
in North Vancouver,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Exceeding 1,200 m (4,000 feet) in altitude at its peak, is the site of an
alpineAlpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
ski area in the winter season overlooking
Greater VancouverMetro Vancouver is the brand name of the board of the inter-municipal administrative body known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District , a regional district in British Columbia, Canada...
with four
chairliftAn elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...
s facilitating 26 runs. In the summer, the mountain features
lumberjackA lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
shows and a 2.9 km (1.8 mi.) hiking
trailA trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
known as the Grouse Grind. Year-round operations include a 100-seat mountaintop theatre and a
wildlife refugeA wildlife refuge, also called a wildlife sanctuary, may be a naturally occurring sanctuary, such as an island, that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition, or it may refer to a protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected...
. Public access to the mountain top is by a Swiss Garaventa
aerial tramwayAn aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
, or the Grouse Grind hiking trail.
Original ski area
Grouse Mountain's first lodge was hand-built by
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
ns in the 1920s. They hauled planks up what would become the Grouse Grind hiking trail for the venture. Another company wanted to build a
funicular railwayA funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
for a private resort on the mountain, though that venture never materialized. By the 1930s, a
toll roadA toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
was built to the top via the slope of what is now the mountain's primary ski run, the "Cut", to access the lodge.
The area at the bottom of the "Cut"—one of
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
's most well-known ski runs—is the original base of the mountain, where the area's first lodge and rope tow were built. The base became known as the "Village" to local skiers, since numerous cabins were built in the trees surrounding the lodge and the base of the old Cut chairlift. Some of these cabins still exist and they are located below and to the west of the old Cut chairlift. The gravel road that was built to access the base, the Old Grouse Mountain Highway, still exists and is currently only used for maintaining the ski area.
In 1949, the mountain's first double
chairliftAn elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...
was constructed, allowing skiing down the Cut from the top of the ridge. Grouse Mountain claims this lift to have been the world's first double chairlift, however, it was actually the second chairlift in Vancouver after the "Hollyburn" on Cypress Bowl and the third in Canada after
Red Mountain-Canada:* Red Mountain , a mountain near Rossland, British Columbia** Red Mountain Resort, a ski resort on Red Mountain in Rossland, also known as Red Resort* Mount Price, a volcano in British Columbia, Canada formerly known as Red Mountain...
; the first chair in the world was at
Sun ValleySun Valley is a resort city in Blaine County in the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum, lying within the greater Wood River valley. Tourists from around the world enjoy its skiing, hiking, ice skating, trail riding, tennis, and cycling. The population was 1,427...
in 1936. Two years later, in 1951, another a longer lift, running from a bus stop on Skyline Drive, at the bottom of the mountain, was opened, known as the Village Chair. This two seater chairlift included wooden towers (some of these towers and the lift line cable wheels are still visible on a hike following the Village Chair's lift line). Each of the chairs were, for a time, equipped with a metal roof to keep skiers dry on rainy or snowy days during the ride up to the base of the old Cut Chair lift.
Plane crash
On February 12, 1954, a
U.S. Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
F-86 SabreThe North American F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as America's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly-winged Soviet MiG-15 in high speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War...
aircraft entered Canadian airspace from Washington State, and collided with the southern slope of Grouse Mountain near one of the old chairlifts, scattering debris around a wide area. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Lamar J. Barlow, died still strapped in his chair.
Present-day lodge and ski area
After a fire destroyed the original lodge in the winter of 1964, the two original lifts were removed in the 1970s. The
government of British ColumbiaThe Executive Council of British Columbia is the cabinet of that Canadian province....
, seeing the possibilities for
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, provided funding and permits for a new lodge to be built on the ridge, as well as an
aerial tramwayAn aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
travelling to the mountaintop from the valley below. The tramway, known as the Blue Tram, was built by
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n steel company
VoestalpineVoestalpine AG is an international steel company based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries....
and was opened and inaugurated on December 15, 1966, by
PremierPremier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
W. A. C. Bennett.
Ten years later, the mountain was purchased from its original owners by the McLaughlin family in 1976. The new ownership provided additional funding for the construction of a second aerial tramway, built by von Roll, known as the Red Tram or Super Skyride, that same year. The Super Skyride, using much larger gondola cars holding several dozen passengers, is now the main tram, arriving at a separate top terminal building a short walk from the lodge. The older Blue Tram is now mainly used to transport staff and supplies directly to the lodge structure.
The new ski area featured the Peak and Blueberry Chairs, which were both built in the 1960s and early 1970s, while the additional Inferno Chair was constructed in 1976. With only partial ownership of the mountain, the McLaughlin family obtained full ownership in 1989 and proceeded to construct Canada's first high-definition theatre, dubbed the Theatre in the Sky, in 1990 by expanding the present-day lodge.
As the Inferno, Blueberry and Peak Chairs began to age in the 2000s, all three lifts were removed due to insurance issues, beginning with the Inferno in late 2003 and the Blueberry and Peak the following year. All three were effectively replaced by Grouse Mountain's second high-speed and detachable quad chair built by
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n
aerial liftAn aerial lift is a means of transportation in which cabins, cars, gondolas or open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more cables.Types of aerial lifts include:...
manufacturer
Leitner-PomaLeitner-Poma of America is a North American aerial lift manufacturer based in Grand Junction, Colorado. It is the North American subsidiary of French-based Poma, which is owned by the Italian company Leitner Technologies, part of the Leitner Group. The North American company was formed in 2000 when...
for the 2005 winter season. (The first was the Screaming Eagle on the Cut.) The chair was named the Olympic Express in commemoration of Vancouver's recent designation for the
2010 Winter GamesThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
. Although no official 2010 Olympic events were held on the mountain (snowboard and freestyle ski races took place at the Cypress Mountain Ski Area a few kilometres to the west), during the Games, NBC
Today broadcast its coverage of the games live from Grouse Mountain.
In 2008, Grouse Mountain constructed two new quad chairs; one to replace the Courtesy rope tow at the bottom of the Paradise run and the other to replace the defunct peak chair, which closed after the Olympic Express was built in 2004. Both chairlifts were designed to run at a slower speed to accommodate beginners and children.
Wind turbine and observation deck
Grouse Mountain has built a 1.5 megawatt
wind turbineA wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
of Leitwind LTW77-1500 type with 65 metres hub height and 76.8 metres rotor diametre at the peak of the resort. The facility, which is anticipated to eventually supply 25% of the resort’s electricity, is the first wind turbine built in North America in an extreme high altitude location. The design was recognised in the 2011 Consulting Engineers of British Columbia "Awards for Engineering Excellence".
Construction of the turbine began in September 2008 as a collaboration between Grouse Mountain and Italy’s Leitwind Technology. It was inaugurated on February 5, 2010, by BC Premier Gordon Campbell prior to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Tours of the facility officially began on February 26, 2010, and the turbine was connected to
BC HydroThe BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia generally known simply as BC Hydro. It is the main electric distributor, serving 1.8 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the Kootenay region, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis...
's transmission system on September 22, 2010.
The turbine weighs more than 250 tonnes and rises 65 metres from its base to the top of the tower. Three 37.4 metre, fibreglass reinforced polyester blades sweep an area of 4,657 square metres. The support tower includes an observation deck that is accessible by elevator.
Ski and snowboard
The ski and snowboard area, located on the southern slope of the mountain, operates in the winter months between December and May, approximately. Accessed by taking the gondola from the base to the mountaintop chalet and lodge, it features four chairlifts (two high-speed quads, the Screaming Eagle and Olympic Express; and two quads, the Greenway and Peak Chairs) facilitating 26 runs, half of which are lit for night skiing and snowboarding.
The most prominent run on the mountain is the Cut, one of two beginner runs, which is easily visible from the Vancouver area. It runs alongside the Screaming Eagle chairlift. East of the Cut are several intermediate runs, which take skiers and snowboarders down to the Olympic Express, which accesses the mountain's easternmost expert runs, most of which originate from the mountain's 4100 feet (1,249.7 m) peak. Altogether, Grouse Mountain features three green (beginner), 15 blue (intermediate), six black diamond (advanced) and two double black diamond (expert) runs. There are also three freestyle terrain parks—the novice to intermediate Rookie Terrain and Paradise Jib Parks, as well as the intermediate to expert Quiksilver Terrain Park.
Grouse Mountain is also home to the
Tyee Ski Club, an organization for training children and youth to become competitive
alpine skiAlpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
racers in
slalomSlalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...
,
giant slalomGiant slalom is an alpine skiing discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles spaced at a greater distance to each other than in slalom but less than in super G....
and
super-giant slalom skiingThe Super Giant Slalom is an Alpine skiing discipline. It is usually referred to as Super G and is a "speed" event, along with the faster Downhill event; the Giant Slalom and Slalom events are known as the "technical" disciplines.-History:...
.
In addition to the 305 centimetres of annual natural snowfall, the mountain uses 37 snow guns, covering 75% of the ski and snowboard terrain, for artificial snowmaking. With the capacity to extend the snow season into the spring and account for fluctuations in weather, the mountain invested in a self-reported $7 million in snowmaking equipment over a decade spanning the mid-1990s and 2000s.
Snowshoeing
The Munday Alpine Snowshoe Park includes four main groomed snowshoeing trails—the beginner-intermediate Blue Grouse Loop and three trails circling Dam Mountain and Thunder Bird Ridge.
Ice skating
Adjacent to the mountaintop chalet and lodge is an 8000 square feet (743.2 m²) outdoor
ice rinkAn ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
.
Grouse Grind
Grouse Mountain is also the location of a very popular hiking trail known as the Grouse Grind. It is a steep trail that climbs 853 m (2,798.6 ft) over a distance of 2.9 km (1.8 mi), with an average grade of 17 degrees (or 31%) and short sections of up to 30 degrees. The trail, nicknamed "Mother Nature's
StairmasterStairMaster is the name of a line of exercise machines, which includes stepping machines and revolving stairs.StairMaster was founded by Lanny Potts and Jim Walker and introduced by Tri-Tech, Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1983 at the National Sporting Goods Association trade show...
", is notoriously grueling due to its steepness and mountainous terrain. Hikers, who often time themselves on the trail, reach the top in approximately 90 minutes on average although some who are very fit can finish in under 30 minutes.
Don McPherson and Phil Severy built the Grind in the early 1980s, uninvited by the regional district or the owners of Grouse Mountain.
As of September 2010, these are the fastest officially recorded ascents:
(Note: The unofficial record is on the Grind Trail only, while there is a slight additional distance to the finish line for the Grind Mountain Run event. The unofficial record was properly timed, but on a shorter course.)
| Event | Person | Time (min:sec) | Date |
| Overall Unofficial Record |
Sebastian Salas |
23:48 |
August 24, 2010 |
| Annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run (Men's) |
Sebastian Salas |
25:01 |
September 19, 2010 |
| Annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run (Women's) |
Leanne Johnston Leanne Johnston is a Canadian hiker who was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. She now lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia. She is known for having the fastest woman's time on the Grouse Grind race that takes place every year on Grouse Mountain. She currently holds the women's time record. Her...
|
31:04 |
September 21, 2007 |
Sebastian Albrecht of Vancouver holds the record for most grinds completed in a 24-hour period, having done the grind 14 times on June 29, 2010. Albrecht held the previous record of 13 climbs, which he set on June 22, 2009, and eventually shared with Vicki Mann.
The difficulty of the trail is often underestimated.
North Shore RescueNorth Shore Rescue is a non-profit organization dedicated to wilderness search and rescue around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It consists of a team of approximately 40 volunteers who perform approximately 90 search and rescue operations each year, mostly in the rugged, steep, and thickly...
conducts many rescues each year of hikers who collapse on the Grouse Grind, or begin too late in the evening and are unprepared to find their way in the dark.
Trivia
- Grouse Mountain and its aerial tramway stood in for the fictional "Skyland Mountain" in the Blue Ridge
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
of VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, in a 1994 episode of TV show The X-FilesThe X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
in which Dana ScullyFBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
is abducted on top of the mountain. The X-Files was filmed in the Vancouver region for its first five years.
- Its ski lodge and facilities were also used in the filming of the modern film adaptation
Mr. Magoo is a 1997 live-action comedy film based on the original cartoon of the same name. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and originally released to movie theaters in 1997. It starred Leslie Nielsen as the title character. It was produced by Ben Myron and was the first English...
of the popular cartoon Mr. MagooQuincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
.
See also
- North Shore Mountains
The North Shore Mountains are a mountain range overlooking Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Their southernmost peaks are visible from most areas in Vancouver and form a distinctive backdrop for the city....
- Pacific Ranges
The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges.The Pacific Ranges...
- Cypress Mountain Ski Area
- Mount Seymour
Mount Seymour is a mountain located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a part of the North Shore Mountains, rising to the north from the shores of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm to a summit of above the Indian River and Deep Cove neighbourhoods...
External links