This post is more of a general interest story and may benefit you if you are planning to visit BC any time soon. I was recently in BC visiting my finance and doing a little training and he suggested that we go and do the Grouse Grind. There is a race up the Grind once a year, however the rest of the year it is open for tourists and local athletes. I thought, how hard can this be, lets do it. Well let me tell you it is hard.
The Grind is a 1.8m or 2.9km trail straight up the face of Grouse mountain. The peak of the Grind is at an elevation of 853 meters or 2800 feet (one and half times the height of the CN tower). It took me 54 minutes of pretty hard effort to get to the top and I was out of breath the whole way up, wow and i thought the ironman was hard! The trail is very steep and uneven, most of the way there are make shift steps carved into the rock and for some portions I had to use my hands on the rock ahead to maintain my balance. The climb gets steeper as you get closer to the top as well. Once you get to the top there is an amazing view of North Vancouver and into Vancouver city and the beautiful mountains surrounding Grouse Mountain. There is a snack shop and restaurant at the top for people to take a break and for $5.00 you take the gondola ride back down the mountain. I would not recomend trying to walk down it, at least i was not about to.
So the purpose of this post was to share this great story with you and hopefully give you all an excuse to go out to BC and explore! If you are ever out in BC and want a challenge, a work out, some hill training and a great scenic view of BC this is the place to be! The Grouse Grind was challenging and a lot of fun!
Here are some stats off their web page:
Average completion time: 1.5 hours
Fastest completion time for men: 26:26 held by Michael Simpson, set at the 2005 Grouse Grind Mountain Run.
Fastest completion time for women: 32:54 held by Kelly Matoul, set at the 2002 Grouse Grind Mountain Run.
Check out the site below for more info!
nice work Lisa: this indeed is a good workout. What? You didn’t walk down? I think former Sea2Summit Champion Dave Norona did the grouse 10x up and down as a workout averaging about 45min a climb!
Now try that climb repeated for hours or even days in an adventure race, or carrying your bike up it (like Transrockies!).
that is crazy!!! 10 x up and down would be a serious hill workout. Well since i am moving to BC i am going to have to hit the trails a lot more and get out and buy a mountain bike!