Recently, officials in the North Shore have been warning people to be prepared when doin' the Grouse Grind, and encouraging people to not take small kids. Well this morning, on my (somewhat) regular Saturday morning Grouse Grind i watched the people a little more closely. First of all, it was pretty crowded..much like a slow moving line at an amusement park during some sections. Occasionally, I'd be trudging my way up with my head down for a few seconds, then look up to find my nose about 6 inches away from someone elses butt (i hope people don't eat beans before heading up!!). I passed several old folk doin the grind wearing nothing more than jeans, a t-shirt and loafers. They didn't look prepared, and they weren't carrying any water. One particular lady who was dressed as if she just came from the mall, was literally using the ropes on some steep section to pull her way up the trail. I also saw one lady, pulling her son by the hand....the boy looked no older than 5 years old! Interestingly enough, the people who looked the least prepared to go up were Asian...i don't know what that means....but that's what i noticed.
Anyways...despite the crowd, i managed to finish the grind in 52min 14sec. Oh, and the nice thing about doing the grind, is that you can enjoy most of the mountain-top activities for free (well, i did pay $5 for the download, but compare that to $27 for general admission at the base)!! So i took advantage, and took the Screaming Eagle gondola chair for a nice view of the city. If i had stuck around a little longer, i could have seen the Lumberjack Show and Grizzly exhibit for the Nth time. Oh well...maybe next Saturday.
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