Elevation Gain: ~139m (from end of Grouse Grind)
Distance: ~3km (from end of Grouse Ground)
Total Time: 30 minutes
Date: June 9th, 2021
Grouse Mountain is a 1231m peak along the north shore that’s primarily used for skiing in the winter and is famous for a grueling trail called the Grouse Grind in the summer. The Grouse Grind starts at the base of Grouse Mountain and finishes around 200m below the summit, where the top of the main gondola is located. I typically try and do the Grouse Grind once a week during the spring/summer for conditioning, but despite that I’ve never actually gone to visit the summit of Grouse Mountain. Last summer I walked past it on the way to Crown Mountain, but otherwise I just take the Gondola down immediately after finishing the grind.
On the Wednesday, Laura and I finished our trek up the grind and had about 40 minutes to kill before our down load time. We figured, why not check out the true summit and so off we went. From the lodge, it was a short plod along a paved path (in the warmer months) and then we reached the base of the summit slope. There was an option to take an FSR that looped around back or boot pack up the still partially snowy slope from the South side. I didn’t feel particularly motivated to try the snow approach in light runners and so the FSR it was. It’s a few hundred meters at most and then we’re at the top without any difficulties to speak of.
Once at the top, there’s actually some nice views which the Grouse Grind always fails to provide. We hung out taking a few photos and then it was a short walk down to the lodge to take the gondola back to the base.