It’s Thursday. That’s my night to ascend Grouse Mountain in a vain attempt to lose some weight and perhaps last a few more years. Especially as I can’t find the warranty card – if indeed I ever came with one!
The last couple of weeks I’ve used the longer but less steep “BCMC Trail” rather than the more direct “Grouse Grind“.
A couple of reasons really. For variety – I’ve done the GG plenty of times, and I get bored easily. Mainly though – I don’t like to be jostled when I’m hiking , and the GG is very popular. Now the weather’s hotter (Vancouver hasn’t seen a whiff of rain in 28 days) there are even more Lululemon models traipsing up the GG.
So tonight I did the BCMC trail again, but took along some new toys. I recently bought some “Komperdell Ridgehiker Cork Power Lock” hiking poles, and figured it was time I gave them an airing. Another reason not to do the GG – I’d almost certainly spike one of the many folks who like to barge past – safe in the knowledge that THEIR time up is so much more important than MY time up.
My other recent toy though is much more nerdy.
I recently bought a new GPS. Number 1 offspring asked why I needed a new one, and I had to admit that with the ultimate irony… I’d lost my old one! Perhaps I should invest in a couple of “Tiles“. My new GPS is a Garmin eTrex20, and when coupled with their free download “BaseCamp”, it lets you do all manner of cool map-type things. Just to show off then, I present to you, dear reader, the track I took up Grouse Mountain, as well as a rather embarrassing graph showing how slow I was at some points along the way.
BCMC Trail
Elevation in metres for the equally nerdy amongst you.
Speed and Elevation as I progressed up the BCMC
According to the RFID timer chip, I did it in 1:34 – almost a full half hour faster than last week, but still 6 minutes slower than the week before. At least I’m consistently inconsistent! 🙂
Quieter Elephant 