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Published: August 28th 2009
Grouse Mountain
We would climb that mountain. The Grouse Grind!Day 7 - Thursday was another big day of Adventure.
Little did I know that the training I was doing for the past 2 days with Kelly was actually preparing me for the Big Kahuna! That is, climbing up Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. It's called the Grouse Grind for good reason. It's a tough, steep, uphill hike. It's definitely not for the fainthearted as the signs at the start of the trail warn you. So how did this all happen? Well Kelly casually mentioned the day before, "Oh, we can climb up Grouse Mountain in the morning and have a Latte afterwards". I thought that sound like a good idea. Nice walk, exercise, fresh air, this will be fun. She didn't really let on how difficult it would be and I think Uncle Binnie and Cohen were also in on it. Oh, they did say it was tough, don't get me wrong, but something just wasn't right! Anyway, I thought, these are my relatives, they wouldn't do anything to harm or injure me, so I gladly went along with the plan. Ha Ha....
As we drove up to Grouse mountain I saw this huge mountain, and I said, "That's
a large mountain". Kelly said, "Yeah, we're climbing up it". That's when the panic set in. Well not really, but I started to realise the ramifications of my decision. No turning back now. Sharleen, Kelly's friend was also coming for her "Annual" climb. Note that people only do it once a year, because that's how long it takes to get over the experience.
Well, yes I am dramatising a bit really, just for effect. But honestly, it was a very tough climb. I class myself as average fitness and it did push me to the limit. The only signs on the trail are the 1/4, halfway and 3/4 mark signs. When I saw the 1/4 mark sign, I did curse under my breath, and asked myself "What has Kelly done to me". At this point her and Sharleen had shot passed me with their Ipods strapped on and zoned out for the ascent. Kelly and Sharleen are pretty darn fit, and I guess having done it before is an advantage. As this was my first time, I had no concept of where the finish line is, so psychologically itwas difficult to ration out my energy and water along the
Warning Sign
Not for the fainthearted. way. Anyway, the encouraging thing was to see other people suffering like me, sweating like no tomorrow. I did try to make frequent stops, however you couldn't stop too much, as stopping and starting also saps your energy. I think I did pretty well until the 3/4 mark, and after that I felt my blood sugar drop a bit low and my water was running out. A Big Mac would have come in handy at this point, so that's a tip for anyone reading this. So the last quarter of the way, I was taking it very slow and conserving as much energy as possible. And then, just when the tank was totally empty, I saw the light. I had made it. I did the Grouse Grind! And I could see Sharleen and Kelly at the Cable Car station relaxing on the balcony waving down at me and smiling! "Thank God we didn't kill him, what would we tell his mother", I'm sure they thought!
I had a sudden energy boost at the end as I knew I had finished and the thrill of adrenalin started to kick in. I gave Kelly and Sharleen a congratulatory hug and all
Lamb to the slaughter
I didn't have the best shoes for the job. They were pretty heavy. Before too long they felt like bricks strapped to my feet. was forgiven. At least until they come to Australia and I take them surfing with some sharks.
It took me 90 minutes to climb Grouse Mountain and Kelly and Sharleen did it in about 1 hour. We took the cable car down which took us about 5 minutes! On the way down I asked the attendant how high Grouse mountain is. It is about 1200 metres, which is about 3 times higher than the hills I've climbed in Wollongong, so I was pretty proud of my achievement.
We drove down to West Vancouver, to Cafe Artigiano's for our "Latte". I also had something to eat, although I was past the point of hunger. It felt so nice to sit down again.
Sharleen left us, looking way too refreshed after that climb. Sharleen was a really fun, chatty person and it was great to meet her. So Kelly and I did a spot of shopping, specifically to Old Navy to get me some new flip flops to replace the one's I had broken the day before. We then picked up Cohen from his summer school and went back to Deep Cove.
In the afternoon, we took the
Looking down
It was pretty steep going boat for a spin and Cohen would give us a wakeboarding demonstration. Kelly is a great boat driver, having being brought up on the water in Campbell River, Vancouver Island.
Cohen is a great wakeboarder and it was good to see him "getting air" behind the boat. We did a quick refuel of the boat in Deep Cove, before heading off to Vancouver where the civilised, intellectual part of my day would begin. I would be meeting Beatrice and Amber, the 2 interior design students I mentioned previously that I saw in the Richmond News Newspaper. After that, Kelly, Cohen and I would meet Uncle Bin Keng at the Lift Seafood Restaurant at the Vancouver Waterfront.
The boat ride to Vancouver from Deep Cove was amazing. It was great seeing the waterfront houses, tugboats and ships along the way. It only took us about 20 minutes as we cruised into the harbour. It was there I left Kelly and Cohen and went to Starbucks to meet Beatrice and Amber.
It was great to meet Beatrice at Starbucks for a coffee. Amber and another classmate Shannon would join us later on. My original intention was to create a DVD
Stairway to Heaven
Well hopefully not literally. I didn't want to see any more steps for a while. montage of photos and audio, so I recorded my interview with Beatrice and hopefully that will materialise down the track. I wanted to find out from young Vancouverites what it's like to live in Vancouver and what people do here as locals. Well that can be answered in a million different ways, however in Beatrice's case, she has an extremely diverse background, with her father being Polish and her mum being Chinese Jamaican. She was born in Toronto, but came to Vancouver when she was 5 years old. She can therefore be classed as a Vancouverite. She lives downtown and originally wanted to study science, but later changed to Interior Design. Interestingly her boyfriend is from Melbourne and she was considering to study there until the recession hit.
We talked about Beatrice's fundraising for her upcoming overseas field trip and how they are holding 2 events, one for a younger crowd, and another for a more sophisticated older audience. It all sounded very well organised and unfortunately I would be gone by the time of their event, however I did buy 2 tickets for Uncle Bin Keng and Kelly to attend their latter event to be held in False
More steps
It felt like it would never end Creek.
We also spoke about what Vancouver meant to Beatrice, and she focused on how she enjoyed the laid back, West Coast outdoors lifestyle, recommending the waterfront walks as one of her favourite activities. She was however a bit disappointed by the lack of focus on the arts in Vancouver compared to other parts of Canada such as Toronto which has a much larger arts scene.
So all in all it was a very pleasant meeting with Beatrice and great to get an insight into the life of a local Vancouverite to add to my impressions of Vancouver and its people. Amber and Shannon, classmates of Beatrice, came in at the end and they were also really nice. Amber is actually from Calgary and Shannon from Richmond. I look forward to keeping in touch with those guys and seeing how their fundraising efforts pan out. I'm sure they will do well.
From there I took a stroll along the waterfront to the Lift restaurant to meet Uncle Bin Keng, Kelly and Cohen for dinner. It was a lovely walk, a bit similar to circular Quay and Darling Harbour in Sydney.
The food and the scenery at
The End
I was very happy to see sunlight again the Lift was totally amazing. It has to be one of the best restaurants I've been to. Sometimes restaurants can have great views, but have disappointing food or service. This restaurant definitely had everything.
After dinner, Kelly drove back to Deep Cove in Bin Keng's car and Bin Keng, Cohen and drove the boat back to Deep Cove. It was another great ride back as the sun set. It gave me a different perspective going back the other way and seeing Vancouver in a different light.
It was quite a day, from the Grouse Grind to dinner at the Lift. If that wasn't enough, there would be a fireworks display that evening. Vancouver has fireworks competition that runs through summer with several countries competing against each other. So as not to get stuck in the crowds in downtown, we took our vantage point at the Holliburn Tennis club in North Vancouver. We had a pretty good view of the fireworks although it was quite a distance away. It was a great way to end an adventure packed day.
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