The Grind

Connor was inspired by his friend, Adam, whom had done the Grouse Grind earlier in the week. The Grind, if you don’t know is a tough hike from the foot of Grouse Mountain, to the base of the skiing portion of the mountain. It’s a popular hike that tests your endurance and will. It’s a 2.5km hike with 800 meters of elevation gain. You climb from 290 meters above sea level, to 1090 meters above sea level. The total amount of actual stairs, 2830; and the average completion time is 90 minutes.

Connor actually made the recommendation to do the grind, and we were pleasantly surprised by this proposal. Of course when your boy, whom would normally never propose such a proposition, actually suggests doing something as difficult as this; we had to concede to his request! So we made the hour long drive to the North shore, and proceeded to trek up the mountain.

Jacob and Jen accompanied us as well, so he had a friend to hike with as well. Isla was game for the challenge as well… which was rather surprising, but I think it was because she had no idea what she was up against. I did warn her of how challenging the hike would be, but it didn’t sink in… (more on that later).

So we began our hike up the mountain not long after 2pm. Connor wanted to beat Adam’s time of sub 54 minutes, which is very impressive. Connor and Jacob headed out quickly, which I warned Connor not to go out too quickly. Isla stuck with me… well at least for the first 400 meters. Lisa and Jen made sure the stay behind everyone just to make sure.

Isla as mentioned slowed down fairly quickly. She hung back with Mommy, and was complaining about how tired she was. Luckily, Lisa brought some electrolytes in her water bottle, and gave that to Isla to drink. Isla was traveling pretty slow until about the 1/2 way point, when Lisa said it seemed like the electrolytes kicked in, and Isla got a second wind. After that, she had no issues continuing, and was pushing the pace with Lisa. Here’s Isla at the 3/4 mark.

Isla ended up going ahead of Lisa, and finished the Grind in just under 1 hour 49 minutes. Very impressive for a first time, and 9 years old! Lisa followed suit not long after.

As for Connor and Jacob, as I said earlier, they were traveling at a quicker pace than myself when near the 1/4 mark, Jacob fell off the pace of Connor, and I passed Jacob as well. He decided to rest for a bit, then continue forward after. Connor on the other hand stopped at the 1/2 way point because his orthotics in his shoes were killing him. He removed his orthotics, and during that time, I passed him. He was a sweaty mess when I passed him. Glistening of sweat beads on his entire face. He had also brought a water bottle with electrolytes of which he was regularly sipping from. I continued on at a steady pace, never stopping, just continuing, step by step, one at a time.

Eventually, I got to the summit in 54 minutes 58 seconds. I waited for Connor at the top, while sipping from my water bottle. Connor wasn’t that far behind. He didn’t beat Adam, but he did finish in an impressive 61 minutes 44 seconds.

Anything around the hour mark is really good. I was happy with my 55 minutes too. I figure if we were to do it more regularly, I could go sub 50, and Connor could get fairly close to that as well. Here we are at the summit.

Connor and I chilled out and enjoyed the view while waiting for Jacob. He completed the Grind in just under 80 minutes. Here he is with his proud accomplishment.

Here’s a video of Isla arriving at the top. She’s in good spirits.

Here they are basking in their accomplishment!

The kids were hungry when we got to the top, so Lisa bought them some chicken strips and fries.

At this time, Jen made it to the summit! Yay! Lisa had already purchased 4 tickets to download on the gondola. The tickets themselves are $20/person! Such a jip! Connor didn’t want to, but I convinced him to make the trek back down. There’s a neighboring trail that you can take back down to the the bottom called the BCMC. You aren’t supposed to go back down the Grind, but you are allowed to go down the BCMC. Soooooooo, Connor and I did that. It ended up taking us over an hour to descend. The BCMC is a little more gradual in it’s elevation, and thus longer. It’s 3.1km as opposed to 2.5km. The average gradient being 25.45%.

Here’s an image of the 2 trails.

When we got to the bottom, it just coincided that the other 4 had gotten to the bottom not long before us. So it was great timing! Due to the volume of people at the top of the mountain, there was a substantial lineup to download on the gondola!

Anyhow, we saved $40 and were no worse for wear!

It was a great day, my legs are sore from the experience, but I’m proud of the kids. They showed determination and will today!