Winter at Grouse Mountain offers snowshoeing, ice skating and much more!

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Keith and Kristie at the start of the Light Trail

    On Wednesday, December 29 we headed to Grouse Mountain with our daughter Kristie and her boyfriend Eric to try out the snowshoeing on their Light trail. We were not sure about what kind of crowds we might encounter so thought if we arrived around 6:00 pm we would arrive while many people would be having dinner. It proved to be a good plan and we arrived to light rain at the base but we were soon being whisked into to the snow by the large Grouse Mountain gondola. We arrived on top to falling snow and a winter wonderland. There were people skating on the outdoor pond, many people skiing and snowboarding in powdery snow and lots of people trying out the lighted snowshoe trail.

It was snowing heavily while we snowshoed along the Light Trail

      Although we had snowshoes many people were simply walking in hiking shoes or snowboots and the trail was delightful with the hanging lights and Christmas music playing along the route.  With the heavily falling snow we found snowshoes to be the preferred choice but we certainly saw many people who weren’t using them. The trail is just 500 meters long so is attainable by a wide variety of people. We finished the Light trail at the start of a sleigh ride so we opted to do that while Kristie and Eric tried the 1 km Blue Grouse snowshoe trail. The large sleigh is pulled by a snowcat and winds for 10-15 minutes across some of the flatter terrain near the Peak Lodge. In the lodge you can have a quick snack or elaborate dinner and it is a perfect place to come inside and warm up.  We warmed up with a hot chocolate while Kristie and Eric finished their showshoe jaunt. Grouse Mountain is much more than skiing and we fully recommend heading there to try the snowshoeing, take a sleigh ride and go ice skating.  Kids can also enjoy sliding on their dedicated sliding hill. It is all included in the cost of the Alpine Experience pass (except skiing and riding). Next time we head up we are planning a day time visit so we can check out more of their 12 km of snowshoe trails and we would like to explore their ski runs as well.  For more information see: https://www.grousemountain.com/

The Peak Lodge is a perfect place to warm up, meet friends or have a meal