Grouse Mountain

Infobox ski area
name = Grouse Mountain

picture = Grouse Mountain Gondola.jpg
caption = Grouse Mountain Skyride
location = British Columbia, Canada
nearest_city = North Vancouver
lat_degrees = 49
lat_minutes = 22
lat_seconds = 46.40
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 123
long_minutes = 04
long_seconds = 54.49
long_direction = W
vertical = 365 m (skiable)
top_elevation = 1,231 m (4,039 ft)
base_elevation = 274 m
skiable_area =
number_trails = 26 (13 night skiing)
17% beginner
54% intermediate
21% advanced
8% expert
longest_run =
liftsystem = 2 chairlifts
2 ropes
1 magic carpet
external_link = [http://www.grousemountain.com/ GrouseMountain.com]

Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains overlooking Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is the site of a small but well-known ski area and tourist attraction located in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Grouse Mountain is home to the Tyee Ski Club, an organization for training children and youth to become competitive alpine ski racers in slalom skiing, GS, Super-G, and competitions. The club also has a newer program for snowboarding racers.

Layout

Intrepid Scandinavians who were not daunted by winter and snow hand built the first lodge at Grouse in the 1920s. They hauled planks up what would become the GrouseGrind for the venture. Another company wanted to build a funicular railway to a private resort on the mountain, though that venture never materialized. By the 1930s, the success of the lodge meant that access was needed and a toll road was cut up to the top via the slope of the Cut.

The area at the bottom of what is now called the "Cut" – one of Vancouver's most well-known ski runs – is the original base of the mountain. It was here that the area's first lodge and rope tow were built. This original base of the mountain 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 Chair Lift. Some of these cabins still exist and they were/are located below and to the west of the old Cut Chair Lift. The gravel road that was built to access this base, the Old Grouse Mountain Highway, still exists and is currently only used for maintaining the ski area. Sadly, the beloved lodge burnt in a large fire in the winter of 1964.

Public access to the mountain is by a Swiss Garaventa aerial tramway, the Grouse Grind hiking trail, or the Old Grouse Mountain Highway (foot and bicycle access only).

History

In 1949, the first double chairlift in Greater Vancouver opened, allowing skiing down the Cut from the top of the ridge. Grouse Mountain claims this lift to have been the "world's first" [double chair] ; (it was, in fact, the second chairlift in Vancouver after Hollyburn and the third in Canada after Red Mountain; the first chair in the world was at Sun Valley). [See Tramway Titan--Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns] In 1951, another lift – presumably one of the world's longest at the time was opened. This lift ran from a bus stop on Skyline Drive, at the bottom of the mountain, to the base of the Cut. Both the original 1949 lift and the 1951 lift were removed in the 1970s. The chair lift from the top of Skyline Drive to the base of the Cut Chair Lift was known to locals as the 'Village Chair'. This name followed from the village of cabins at the base of the old Cut Chair Lift (as above). This two seater chair lift included wooden towers (some of these towers and the lift line cable wheels are still visible on the hike of the old Village Chair lift line). Each of the Village Chairs for a time were equipped with a metal roof to help keep the skiers dry on days its rained at lower elevations during the ride up to the base of the old Cut Chair lift.

When the original lodge burnt down in the mid-1960s, the government of British Columbia, seeing the possibilities for tourism, provided funding and permits for a new lodge to be built on the ridge, as well as an aerial tramway up from the valley. The "Blue Tram" was built by Voest and was opened and inaugurated on December 15, 1966 by Premier W. A. C. Bennett. Also constructed in the1960s and early 1970s were the Peak and Blueberry Chairs. The Inferno Chair was built in 1976 and removed in late 2003 due to age and insurance problems. Both the Blueberry and Peak chairs were removed in 2004 for the same reasons.

All three chairs were replaced by Grouse Mountain's second "High Speed" detachable quad chair built by Leitner Poma for winter 2005. (The first was the "Screaming Eagle" on the "Cut"). The chair was named the "Olympic Express" because Vancouver had just been awarded the 2010 Winter Games.

The mountain was purchased from its original owners by the McLaughlin family, who provided additional funding for the construction of the Red Tram/Super Skyride in 1976. They purchased total ownership in 1989, and constructed Canada's first high-definition theatre – the "Theatre in the Sky" – in 1990, by expanding the original lodge.

Grouse Grind

Infobox Mountain
Name = Grouse Mountain
Photo =
Caption =
Elevation = 1,231 m (4,039 ft)
Location = British Columbia, Canada
Range = Howe Sound Group
Prominence = 86 m
Coordinates = coord|49|23|10|N|123|04|35|W|type:mountain_region:CA
Topographic
NTS 92G/06
Type =
Age =
Last eruption =
First ascent =
Easiest route = Grouse Mountain [ [http://www.metrovancouver.org/region/grousegrind/Pages/default.aspx Information on the Grouse Grind] ] is also the location of a very popular hiking trail known as the Grouse Grind. It is an extremely steep and mountainous trail that climbs 853 meters (2,800 ft) over a distance of 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles). The trail, nicknamed "Mother Nature's Stairmaster", is known for being 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 45 minutes.

As of September 2007, these are the fastest officially recorded ascents: [ [http://www.cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_grind20040623.html CBC article] ] [ [http://hiking.grousemountain.com/grousegrind/stats Grousegrind statistics] ]

The difficulty of the trail is often underestimated. North Shore Rescue 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. [cite news|title=Grouse Grind open for hiking|last=Jones|first=Tim|date=2005-03-18|work=North Shore News|accessdate=2008-07-29]

Photo gallery

Trivia

* Grouse Mountain and its aerial tramway stood in for the fictional "Skyland Mountain" in the Blue Ridge of Virginia, in a 1994 episode of TV show "The X-Files" in which Dana Scully is abducted on top of the mountain. "The X-Files" was filmed in the Vancouver region for its first five years. [ [http://www.mjq.net/xfiles/goodwin.htm Vancouver Sun - Local Entertainment ] ]

* Its ski lodge and facilities were also used in the filming of the modern movie adaptation of the popular cartoon Mr.Magoo

References

ee also

*Grouse Mountain Skyride
*Cypress Mountain
*Mount Seymour

External links

* [http://www.grousemountain.com Grouse Mountain Ski Resort] Official Site
* [http://www.canadianmountainencyclopedia.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=565 Grouse Mountain] at the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
* [http://www.fasp.bc.ca Grouse Mountain Ski Patrol]