Venture Vancouver

Saturday 5th February 2011
Location: Grouse Mountain

I went skiing for the first time in my life today. I took a bus to Grouse Mountain. When I got there I put myself down to get a beginners lesson. I have a yearly membership to the mountain and I find it frustrating that my membership only gives me discounts to rental equipment and nothing else, where as people who don’t have membership can show up to the mountain and purchase a Lift+Rental+Lesson package for $122. If I were to purchase Lift+Rentals (with my membership discount) + Lesson, it would cost the same as it does for non members. So essentially my membership is useless when I have to pay the same as non members.

I also don’t see the value in season passes, all it does is give you admission to the mountain. You would still need to rent equipment and I am not sure if it even covers the costs of lift tickets. To make it worth while you would have to be go to the mountain more than twice a week, otherwise you might as well just get a Lift+Rental package or Lift+Rental+Lesson package.

I had a lot of fun learning to ski. About 10 years ago I had tried to snowboard and I did a beginners lesson. I thought snowboarding would be easy since I knew how to skateboard. I was wrong, I couldn’t even complete the beginners class and the instructor had to leave me behind because I was was holding up the class too much. This time I was the best at skiiing in the beginners class. The first time I have ever been first at anything in a class.

There are a lot of other winter activities to do on the mountain such as ice skating and snow shoeing. I think Grouse Mountain is a place for all tourists to this city to visit at any time of the year, but I think the snow season is probably the best.

Tags: canada, grouse, mountain, ski, skiing, snow, snowboarding, Vancouver

I took a seabus to north vancouver. The seabus docks at Lonsdale, from there I take the Grouse Mountain bus (Route 236) to Grouse Mountain. The bus was very packed. The bus was so full that on the way to Grouse Mountain the bus would not stop at any stops, even if only one person needed to get on. There were a lot of angry and annoyed people at bus stops. They really should use a extra long bus for this route.

It doesn’t take long at all to get to Grouse Mountain from the city and the bus takes you right to the admissions office. I love this city, I love how it is so easy to get to wonderful places with just one or two bus rides.

I choose to purchase a yearly membership because there are lots of things to see and do at Grouse Mountain and you can’t do them all in one day. Instead of taking the skyride up to the peak chalet part of the mountain, I decided to try the Grouse Grind. It apparently takes most people an hour an a half to climb it. I figured I could get some exercise, make it up to the peak for lunch and then walk around the mountain.

The Grouse Grind is like the 1000 steps climb in the Dandenong ranges in Melbourne, but the grind is a lot harder. The Grind is also 3km but at a much higher elevation. Read more… …

Tags: bears, canada, eye of the wind, grind, grouse, mountain, north van, north vancouver, turbine, Vancouver, wind, zip lines