Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is the most visible of the North Shore peaks from downtown Vancouver, and the most developed. The Skyride gondola has been running visitors to the 1,100-metre summit station since 1966, making it the oldest aerial tramway in North America. At the top you're 1,100 metres above the city with a 270-degree view south across the entire Lower Mainland, east to Mount Baker in Washington, and west to Vancouver Island on clear days. It's the single best view accessible to visitors in Metro Vancouver.

In winter, Grouse operates as a ski resort with 33 runs across three peaks — small by BC standards but surprisingly good for its elevation, and it's the only ski hill in North America where you can literally see the downtown of a major city from the runs. The lighted night skiing is a Vancouver tradition. In summer, the summit hosts a Refuge for Endangered Wildlife (home to two orphaned grizzly bears rescued as cubs), lumberjack shows, a wind turbine observation deck, hiking trails, a disc golf course, and the Altitudes Bistro restaurant.

The most famous hike on the mountain is the Grouse Grind — a 2.9-km trail that climbs 800 metres from the base to the summit. Locals use it as a fitness test; visitors use it as a masochistic alternative to the gondola. It's genuinely steep (roughly 1 metre of vertical gain for every 3 metres of horizontal distance) and takes most people 1.5–2 hours. After finishing the Grind, you ride the Skyride down for free. The Grind reopens each spring after the snow melts, typically in May.