The Grouse Grind at North Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain opens for the season
North Vancouver's Grouse Grind trail at Grouse Mountain, one of the Lower Mainland's most popular destinations, is now open for the season.
One of Metro Vancouver’s most popular locations for outdoor activities opened on Saturday. The Grouse Grind trail at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver opened its gates this morning at 6:15 a.m. PDT.
The 2.9-kilometre trail is a popular destination for hikers and runners. The ability to run the trail is highly dependent on foot traffic as the trail is relatively narrow. Most people who do the trail for speed do so in the early mornings. The trail opens at 6:15 a.m. local time and closes at 7 p.m.
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Park officials open and close the gates manually each morning and evening. In the summer the first downhill ride on the Skyride, the mountain’s aerial tram, is at 7:30 a.m. The trail will remain open until the fall but with reduced hours as the days become shorter late in the year.
More than 150,000 people hike the trail every year. The hike can be done in an hour for the more experienced or as long as two hours for novice hikers. Descents on the trail are prohibited and hikers are to take the aerial tram down from the summit of the mountain. Cost is $10.
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Trail facts
Length: 2.9K
Elevation Gain: 853 metres
Base: 274 metres above sea level
Summit: 1,127 metres
Total Stairs: 2,830
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The trail hosts the annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run and the course record for the event is 25:01 for men (Sebastian Salas, 2010) and 30:52 for women (Kristin Størmer Steira, 2014). This summer, the mountain will be the site of Seek the Peak (June 12), the Multi-Grind Challenge (June 21), Grind10 (July 1-15) and the Grouse Grind Mountain Run (Sept. 24).
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In addition to the opening of the Grouse Grind, the BMO Vancouver Marathon is taking over the downtown core this weekend as the city will host its only marathon. Canadian Running will be live in Vancouver on Sunday morning for all the action in the 8K, half-marathon and marathon (and don’t worry, the marathon won’t actually be 45K).
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