Grouse mountain is front and center in the Vancouver mountain scene and has something for everyone. This is good if you are trying to attract as many visitors as you can to a mountain, but not so good if you are looking to avoid crowds and get some fresh tracks. The one thing that sets Grouse apart from the other two North Shore mountains is that you do not have to drive up a mountain road to reach the base of operations. Instead, you take a high speed gondola right from the base of the mountain, making it the only mountain in Vancouver accessible by public transit. If you don't have a car and don't want to hitchhike this is your only option.
384 metres of vertical puts Grouse in the middle as far as shreddible vertical on the North Shore, but you will find the terrain is a bit different than the other two hills. The lower front part of the mountain is a wide open swath cut into second growth forest with little to no tree skiing, but is home to what is usually the best park of the three local hills. The upper part of the mountain is steeper, more trail like and provides good tree skiing in numerous spots.
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