Grouse Mountain

Activity date: 11 July 2010.
Energy level: 6/10.
Approx. cost: $50.

I am catching up on a backlog of postings here, from mid-summer until late summer.

I was keen to take the boys on the Goat Mountain hike that I had read about in Easy Hiking around Vancouver. We didn't make it to the hike that day but still had a good time. We have been back a few times this summer to go hiking.

Finding Grouse Mountain was easy. We just headed for the Capilano suspension bridge, then kept going.

We rode a gondola up the mountain, climbing to approximately 3,700 feet in six minutes. My ears felt the pressure change but Thing One (8) and Thing Two (6) didn't seem bothered. Thing Two was nervous as the gondola passed each tower and swayed a little, but got in the spirit of things when the other passengers shouted "wheee" as if it were an amusement park ride.

The mountain was not what I expected. It's a ski field in the winter (we must try it out this year) and in the summer has a rather touristy flavour. I don't usually like tourist traps but the boys were captivated by the free lumberjack show. One of the lumberjacks sounded like a Kiwi. It turns out he is. I can't tell if he lays it on thick with the accent or if my own accent is just completely gone now.


Here is a lumberjack on top of a 60' pole.

We had brought lunch but couldn't resist trying the beaver tails. They looked like what we called elephant ears in Seattle -- deep fried dough with sugar and chocolate on top. Yum. I had my eye on the slope and figured they would burn off the sugar.

We watched a show about raptors that was fairly informative, checked out the grizzly bears in the enclosure then headed for the last patch of snow on the slopes. The snow patch was little more than a filthy patch of ice, but it seemed incongruous on a blazing hot summer day.

We hiked up the slope, walked to the enormous wind turbine (but decided not to pay extra to go inside it), then rode the chair lift down the slope.

We rode the gondola back down and went to the membership services office. We were able to credit our gondola tickets towards a one year membership. We have been back several times this summer and plan to visit in the winter.