I have a huge desire to walk/run up the Grouse Grind. It is a famed Vancouver workout/hiking trail in North Vancouver. Most people either run or walk up it as fast as they can. It follows the same path, almost, as the sky tram up Grouse Mountain. Because of the trails steepness and tendancy to mud, no doubt due to the the huge numbers of people who use this trail as their summer workout, steps have been built into it using railway ties and stones.
I wasn’t surprised to learn the trail has only been around since the early nineties. I lived in Vancouver from 1978- 1985, jogging not running as it was called back then wasn’t really a mainstream activity. In fact I wasn’t into exercise except swimming or the faddy aerobics, yeah ok I was into exercise a bit but never running.
The Grind is 2.9 killometres long with an elevation gain of 800 metres. In parts the grade is 40%, supposedly this is not very steep, although, if I were out in the backcountry, skiing, I would be very wary of avalanches on a hill this steep.
My fellow hikers have told this is not a nice trail. They say there are not enough view points and if you try to go too fast you risk tripping or slipping. I think the hordes of people on the trail would also slow you down if you wanted to run up it in good time, around ninety minutes or less. Click here to see a series of photos of the trail. via @running bebe.
Now I'm trying to figure out how I can fit a trip to Vancouver into my life before the Grind closes for the winter.
3 comments:
I've never been up the Grind, but I remember a former co-worker of mine, a competitive runner who routinely placed in the top few percent of the tens of thousands of people in the annual 10K Sun Run here in Vancouver. He went up the trail once and said to me afterwards, in his Serbo-Croatian accent, "I did not like it. Very unpleasant."
My wife recommends the trail up the back of the Stawamus Chief near Squamish. But there's no pub at the top, nor a tram down.
I only like it cause of the pub up top. Though since I have no car, if I am there, easy access to it to get my hiking exercise while I'm on holidays.
As far as I've experienced there are no views until you get to the top, or nothing worth mentioning anyways. It is highly unpleasant; I'd call it painful though I do have chronic knee problems. The whole point of it is to suffer through the discomfort/pain and get to the top and then feel really good about yourself that you did it.
If you're a fit and healthy person I suppose I'd recommend you do it once just so you can say you've done it, but the only reason to do it repeatedly is for the adrenaline rush.
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