First Time Doin' the Grind

My wonderful daughter is away at camp this week. A couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted to do something completely out of my comfort zone, something beyond what I think I can do. So what is the opposite of sleeping in and watching movies? Well climbing a mountain of course!

Trail Facts of the Grouse Grind

Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
Total Stairs: 2,830

Before I could talk myself out of this crazy notion, I texted my friend of 20 years. A dear friend who has seen me at my worst and my best. I knew I'd need someone who wouldn't judge me if I vomit on the climb or start to cry. Her response was 'When did you start doing drugs?'. But of course she was a willing participant in this crazy venture. The average hiker completes the Grind in 1.5-2 hours. But we are not the average climbers, we are overweight, 38-41 year old sedentary women so we gave ourselves 4 hours to complete

I knew this would push me to my limits. I knew it would be hard. But I knew I had to try this.

This morning we arrived at the base of the mountain, thankfully clouds covered most of it so we couldn't see the entire foreboding height. After a short stretching period, we began the ascent. As I took the first step up I actually tripped and almost twisted my ankle. We should have turned around then, but alas, we persevered. It is a long hike up with innumerable stairs (ok theres 2830, but it feels like 20830). There are portions where we were literally using our hands to help us haul our carcasses up the mountain. By the time we reached the 1/4 mark we were already committed and there's no turning back. We encountered a fairly fit woman vomiting off to the side. I felt the same myself at a couple points. We took a lot of small breaks and a couple longer ones to fully catch our breath.

Aside from labour this is absolutely the most difficult thing I've ever done. There is no quitting, you just have to keep climbing. Every time I'd think we couldn't have that much farther to go, I'd look up and just see stairs and people and more trees. When we finally reached the top, it was surreal. I couldn't believe we'd actually made it. I climbed a mountain. I did it! I may or may not ever do it again, but today, I DID IT!

Our total time was 3hr 32min.

http://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind/