Grouse Grind

On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary was the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Lucky for us he made it all the way back to base camp as well, otherwise we may never have heard of it. But he did not achieve this all by himself. Tenzing Norgay, a Nepales Sherpa, gave him a big hand. And by that I do not mean a round of applause the moment Hillary reached the summit. Vancouver has its own version of Mount Everest. Well, not quite as high or snow capped in the summer but still a nice bump on the earth's crust. It is called Grouse Mountain and can be found north of Vancouver. It is not mentioned in mainstream travel brochures, which is strange because one can enjoy a spectacular view of Vancouver all the way up the Fraser Valley on a clear day. Not to mention the sea of lights to gaze upon after the sun has set. How to get there? Well that requires a bit of explaining I am afraid.  

Nowadays it is common to provide the public with an abundance of choices. No difference here, albeit that an abundance maybe a bit on the boasting side. For the lazy ones, or the ones that are not sufficiently mobile there is the gondola that will take you up to the summit. Choosing this option requires the purchase of a return ticket as one is expected to go down the same way. Driving up the mountain is also possible. In the summer when not hindered by a coat of snow 5 meters thick cars can reach the top by taking the back road. But I dare say that the only way one should  









contemplate is climb the 'Grouse Grind'. It takes only 2830 steps to reach the summit. But unlike Sir Hillary, there are no Sherpas to lend a helping hand. You are on your own. And what's more, once you have taken the first step there is no way back as it is prohibited to climb down the 'Grouse Grind'. Very clever commercially too because the gondola is the only way down for the brave ones that undertook the climb. At $10 a piece that is. But believe you me, reaching the top is very rewarding. 
 






 





Not only is it a huge achievement, of course, but the view of Vancouver is magnificent. And there is a restaurant that serves a lot of tasty dishes to speed up ones recuperation. All good and well one could argue, but why should you have to go through this ordeal? Why not board a plane and have yourself parachuted down from it? It sounds like a fantastic idea and theoretically certainly will be as gravity is clearly working in your favor. Much easier than climbing up the Grouse Grind too. Of course, a blue sky is to be preferred and an airplane is needed. But that is just a matter of planning and organizing. How hard can it be? Well, that depends on your ability to maneuver the piece of cloth your dangling from. It can get a bit hairy because there is a large pen at the top of Grouse Mountain that houses two Grizzly bears. And you do not want to mess about with these furballs. Cuddly as they seem, they have big teeth and even bigger claws. And worse, you cannot out-run them or out-climb them. So here is my lesson for the would be parachutists. Go for a tandem-jump and make sure that the person joining you is either a worse runner or worse climber than yourself. After all, when being chased by a bear you only have to be one step ahead of the person behind you...