Skiing at Grouse Mountain

When we moved to Vancouver in 2016, we didn’t ski. As we started looking into options, we were blown away by the fact that there were ski resorts on the North Shore Mountains within an hour’s drive from Langley. Grouse Mountain was the closest one at about 35-40 minutes drive, and Cypress and Seymour are around 50-55 minutes drive. The drive time and discounted seasonal passes likely led us to Grouse Mountain for skiing. From 2016-17 to the 2022-23 ski season, Grouse Mountain was our primary ski mountain, and in this post, I will share our experience skiing on this mountain and key learnings.

Territory Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge that Grouse Mountain is on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain, promoted as the Peak of Vancouver, has a maximum elevation of about 1231 m (4039 ft). At the base of the mountain are the Guest Services and Starbucks. There are about four parking lots that get pretty busy during ski season. 

One of the unique aspects of this mountain is the Skyride. It is North America’s largest aerial tramway and takes you from the base of the mountain to the Chalet, which houses a restaurant, cafeteria, theatre, gift shop, etc. It is an eight-minute ride with amazing views of Vancouver, the Pacific Ocean and the North Shore Mountains.

Besides skiing/snowboarding, other activities like ice skating, snowshoeing, and sliding zone make it a popular tourist attraction. In summer, there is the Grizzly Bear Habitat, the Lumber Jack show, ziplining, etc.  

Finally, the one reason that I have been on the mountain more times than even skiing is for hiking. Multiple trails take you up the mountain, but the Grouse Grind and BCMC trails are the most popular. Both trails are under 3 km but have an 800 m elevation gain, making them one of the steepest trails around Metro Vancouver and an excellent place for endurance training.

Tickets and Passes

The number of tickets and passes available for Grouse Mountain makes it confusing and sometimes needs to be more manageable for new parents.

Mountain Admission Ticket

If you just want to go up and down the Skyride, see some of the attractions on the mountain, or go snowshoeing, this is your ticket. If you are hiking up Grouse Grind or BCMC and want to take the Skyride down, you just need the download ticket.

Day Lift Ticket

This lift ticket includes access to Skyride and all the ski chairlifts. All the tickets/passes are checked at the Skyride’s base and top. There are no ticket scanners at the chairlifts. In all these years, only once have I seen a guy during COVID hike up in his ski boots and carry his skis. He probably hadn’t booked his Skyride slot in advance and was not a happy skier that day.

Regular Winter Season Pass

This is the standard winter season ski pass you purchase at full price ($949 for adults in 2022-23). It includes access to Skyride (only during ski season) and allows you to ski for a single season. Around September, there is an Early Bird Season Pass that you can purchase at around 40% discount compared to the Regular pass. 

Y2Play Pass

This is the most popular pass and the biggest draw for most people. Around mid-Feb Y2Play Pass goes on sale and offers a 50% discount compared to the regular season pass rate. Buying the pass in February allows you to ski (and provides Skyride access) for the rest of the season and the next season.

Most people who continue to ski on Grouse buy this pass every year. Unlike Cypress, where its equivalent of the Y2Play Pass is sold out the same day, the Grouse Y2Play pass is on sale for a couple of weeks.

Y2Play Pass also comes with many other benefits that you can read here.

Annual Pass

This pass gives you access to Skyride and all mountain activities (except skiing/snowboarding) throughout the year. If you are a non-skiing parent and want to go up the mountain, this is the pass for you. This pass also comes in handy if you hike up the Grouse Grind / BCMC trail regularly and just want to take the Gondola down. 

They used to offer Silver (cheaper) / Gold Annual passes, but unfortunately, they only offer one pass priced similarly to the Gold Pass. We buy these passes as a family when we buy our Y2Play Pass or around Christmas, when you can get it at a 50% discount.

Other Tickets / Passes

Over the years, I have purchased an Early Season Night Ski Pass (after 3 pm), 3-Day Ski Pass, and Evening Ski Ticket. Except for the 3-Day Ski Pass, others have been discontinued. There is also a Spring Pass priced similarly to 3-Day Ski Pass, which gives you unlimited access to skiing in the spring. Never purchased it, but it might be a good option for some.

Ski Lessons

Ski-Wee

Kavya was about to turn four when we enrolled her in the Ski-Wee Program. The first day on the mountain, like it is for most non-skiing parents, was a struggle. It was almost an hour-long process, from standing in line to get our tickets/passes, taking the Skyride up, getting the rental gear, and figuring out where to go.

It all seems simple now, but it was not when we started. So if you are going up to ski with your kids for the first time, give yourself some extra time and be patient with the little ones. 

The rental store is just a few minutes from the Chalet, and we used it for the first season. Once we knew we wanted to continue skiing, we bought used gear from Sports Junkies.

Zone Camps (7-12, 13-18)

Once Kavya was 7, we enrolled her in half-day camps. Since she already had the gear and the Y2Play Pass, she just had to pay the Camp fees. We had to just drop her off at the Valley Station at the base of the mountain, and the instructor would take the entire group up. This works great for parents, not skiing, as they don’t have to buy a Skyride ticket.

Parents can pick up the kids back at the base of the mountain or the Chalet / Snow School area on the mountain. Since I usually skied at the same time, I would usually pick up Kavya from the Snow School area.

These camps are available on weekdays as well as weekends. Initially, we registered Kavya in weekday afternoon camps starting around 4:30 pm. But as she got better at skiing, her instructor recommended that we register for the morning camp as there was limited terrain available in the evening.

These are three and half hour camps, including a snack break. The time also includes going up and down the Skyride. The actual time on the slopes is probably around 2-2.5 hours.

Adult Clinics

Similar to Zone Camps for kids, there is a 4-Session Clinic for Adults. I started skiing on Grouse with a Beginner clinic. All of us were at the same level, and it was a good way to get started. We would meet at the Snow School area on the mountain for two-hour sessions. 

Day Lesson

There used to be a drop-in clinic in the evening where you could select a Ski Level and join a group of skiers at a similar level. This was a good option if you couldn’t book the Adult Clinic or just needed one or two lessons. However, Day Lesson (two hours) has replaced the drop-in clinic, which is only offered at 2:30 pm.

When I did the drop-in clinic, I was grouped with kids (7+). Even though everyone was technically at Level 3, there was a range of ski levels. On top of that, the instructor had to drop off a kid back at Snow School, leaving me (the oldest) in charge of the group for a while. It was a waste of time and money, so I didn’t sign up for a drop-in clinic/day lesson afterward.

Private Lessons

For the last three years, I have taken Private Lessons at Grouse. Even after the Y2Play Pass discount, these lessons are expensive. But these are 1:1 two-hour lessons, and I have found them valuable. 

The instructor would take me down an easy/moderate run, review my skiing and identify specific areas for improvement. Then, we would practice drills and gradually progress to difficult runs. In these private lessons, I went on some of the most challenging runs on Grouse and got the confidence that I could survive it.

Runs

Grouse has four chairlifts servicing 33 runs with about 70% beginner-intermediate (green-blue), and the rest are advanced-expert (black, double black) runs. There are some freestyle terrain parks, but I have never used them. 

Most beginners start skiing on Paradise and graduate to the Cut. It is the most popular one and provides excellent views of Vancouver on a clear day. But one of my favourite runs is to the (skier’s) right of the Cut. Paper Trail (blue) runs parallel to the Cut and is relatively narrow, with some good variations. 

Paradise and Cut are the first to open, sometimes as early as mid-November, and the last to close around the end of April. Most other runs are open and have good snow Jan-Mar. 

Kasturi also took lessons on Grouse, but in 2018, she had a bad fall resulting in high-grade MCL and ACL tears in her left knee. She was on crutches for a month, and it took more than a year to trust her knee again. Kasturi decided that skiing was not for her, so she now goes snowshoeing if she joins us on the mountain.

As Kavya and I got better, we started doing blue runs serviced by the Olympic Express. Actually, it was unintentional the first time we went down to the Blueberry Bowl base of the Olympic Express chairlift. I wanted to go down Centennial and then connect Skyline to get to the base of Cut. But I went too far, and we took Olympic Express to the Peak. There was no other option. 

I was relieved to find Heaven’s Sake (blue) run coming down from Peak and that we didn’t have to come down the Peak/Lower Peak (black) run. 

Over the last few years, Kavya and I have progressed to Level 5 of Grouse Ski Ability Levels and have done about 29 of the 33 runs on Grouse. Depending on the conditions, on some runs like Devil’s Advocate, Chimney and Inferno, it is just survival skiing. But now we feel comfortable at least getting on some of these difficult runs. Next season, we will switch from Grouse to Cypress, which has 53 runs.

Key Learnings

Looking back, if I were to do this again, I would get a Y2Play pass every year, get skiing lessons regularly and ski at least 25-30 days each season. Of course, this is not much compared to some of my friends, but it is still a good number for me. 

I was not very deliberate about skiing in the first few years and skied less than ten days in a season. However, as I met more experienced skiers, I was inspired to do more and last season was probably my best at about 27 days of downhill plus backcountry skiing. This year, I missed skiing due to injury and COVID-19 for almost four weeks, but still happy to get about 22 days of skiing.

The other aspect is the total distance and vertical drop each session. In the early years, I probably did less than 20 km and about 3000 m vertical drop. But more recently, Kavya and I have had some days with a total distance was 30+ km and more than 5000 m drop, and it felt great. Hopefully, we can continue to build the volume as we get better in our technique and are more efficient.

The best part in the last two seasons has been skiing with Kavya and her friends on Grouse. Seeing the kids progress and get more confident in their skiing has been gratifying. Soon, it will be hard to keep up with them, but that would be a good problem to have. Hopefully, the kids continue to ski as they grow older, and skiing will become a lifelong sport.

Resources:

First Nations Websites: Squamish | Musqueam |  Tselil-Waututh

Grouse Mountain: Tickets and Passes | Lessons | Map

Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not Affiliate Links.

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