Santa's Reindeer have arrived at Grouse Mountain!

Today marked the arrival of two of Santa’s reindeer – Dancer and Vixen. They are here to rest up and eat well before their epic journey around the world on Christmas Eve!

Starting this Saturday, November 28th, you can visit Dancer and Vixen at their habitat next to Santa’s Workshop at the Skating Pond

During The Peak of Christmas at Grouse Mountain through December 24th, we will be holding two daily Reindeer Interpretive Sessions at 2pm and 4pm. At these sessions a formal talk will be given and guests can get up close and personal with these vital members of Santa's team.

Please stop by and visit Dancer and Vixen and don’t forget to ask them to put in a good word with Santa for you!

Healthy action taken to help kick the habit

Grouse Mountain becomes the first smoke-free resort in B.C.

New measures take effect on Sunday, May 31, 2009, at Grouse Mountain to help keep the air clean and healthy for everyone, while making it easier for existing smokers to kick the habit.

Grouse Mountain is the largest youth employer on the North Shore and has a responsibility to be a beacon of health for all our staff and visitors. All of Grouse Mountain will be smoke and tobacco free, and the realization of this long-awaited goal will further the good health practices recreation enthusiasts expect and value.

“As a recreation provider we are committed to health promotion and disease prevention,” says Michael Cameron, Grouse Mountain General Manager. “It is also our duty to ensure a healthy work environment and preserve our mountain.”

As a smoke-free resort open to the public, guests and company employees should consider their own well-being, the health of others and the preservation of pristine natural environment.

Education tools are being utilized to reinforce this health conscious message across the resort, and to explain how smoking restrictions in public places are successful in providing the following benefits to public health safety:

• Reduced exposure to second-hand smoke (which contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals and increases risk of heart disease)
• Decreased tobacco consumption
• Reduction in serious health-related hospital admissions
• Increased rates of persons who quit smoking

Smoking is recognized as the most preventable cause of death in Canada by health officials, and the action taken at Grouse Mountain will also serve to reduce public exposure to another serious and inextricably linked health hazard. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, and it is widely acknowledged that such contact can lead to disease and premature death in children and adult non-smokers.

We appreciate your support in this endeavor. If you have any questions or comments please contact Guest Services at guestservices@grousemountain.com or call 604.980.9311.

Two Great Big Announcements!

Grouse Mountain Passholders: Bring a Guest to Ski or Ride for FREE this Friday!
Also, Grouse Mountain extends the downhill season!

As a gesture of our appreciation for another fantastic winter season, Grouse Mountain invites all current Y2Play Snow Passholders and Full Season Snow Passholders to bring a guest to ski or ride for free on Friday, April 3rd, 2009.

With nearly 500 cm of snow atop our downhill terrain, this is an excllent opportunity to showcase your favourite mountain to friends or family.

Grouse Mountain has consistently had the best downhill offering in British Columbia all season and relishes the opportunity to keep winter alive for a while longer. To that end, we are pleased to announce that we are extending our downhill operation until April 26th, nearly two weeks longer than any other North Shore mountain. Please see the schedule of operations below for specific details.

For all the rest of you, if you know a Grouse Mountain winter season passholder - and chances are you do - now is a good time to give her/him a call!

With Y2Play in its final stretch for another year, this is another good reason in a long list of good reasons to buy or renew your Y2Play Pass if you haven't done so already. Once they're gone, there's no bringing them back!

Passholder Free Guest Stipulations:
• Grouse Mountain winter passholders must accompany their guest to the Ticket Centre and present a valid season pass.
• Tickets are non-transferable and valid for April 3rd, 2009 only.
• There is a limit of one guest per passholder.
• This offer applies to: valid Y2Play and Full Winter passes only.
• This is a one-for-one promotion, meaning that even a valid child’s season pass is entitled to a free lift ticket for one guest, irrespective of age.

Schedule of Operations for the Remainder of the Season:
Until April 13, 2009 (inclusive): 9:00am to 10:00pm (weekends from 8:30am)
April 14th to April 26th (inclusive): Monday to Friday: 3:00pm to 10:00pm, Saturdays & Sundays: 9:00am to 4:30pm

Awesome, awesome, weather

I can't say much other than this weather is awesome. I mean, it's cold, but it's beautiful... just in time for Spring Break.

Monday morning saw nearly a foot of fresh snow:



And today I was on the mountain early enough to catch the beautiful corduroy slopes:



Thanks Dave Norona and noronalife.com for the videos.

VASS Corporate Cup

Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports held the 2nd Annual VASS Challenge Cup yesterday at Grouse Mountain. Today I saw some of the results of the event in video... and was really touched.

The promotional video was created by Giant Ant Media:



Dave Norona, one of Vancouver's most notorious adventurers, created this beautiful video highlighting his experience at the event. His adaptive teammate is a young boy named Karl who lost two of his brothers and was rendered paraplegic in a motor vehicle accident here in Vancouver not long ago. I quickly found myself moved to tears sitting at my desk this morning.



And here's another great video showing the excitement of the day.



Congratulations to all the teams who participated!

The Snow is AMAZING

Well this morning I took the opportunity to enjoy one of the best perks of my job... a little on-hill time. I decided to check out the new chairs and, well, the new snow.

As of this morning, we'd received 14cm in the last 24 hours and rediculous amounts in the last week. I found some fantastic powder on Paper Trail and under the Screaming Eagle chair on Cut.

Here are some photos from the morning...













This, incidentally, is the child safety restraint on the new Greenway Chair:



So come on up and join us during this beautiful Christmas break!

The Peak of Christmas begins Saturday!

Enjoy one of Vancouver's favourite holiday traditions with your family this year. A visit to The Peak of Christmas includes ice skating, a visit to Santa's Workshop, reindeer interpretive sessions, daily live entertainment and classic Christmas movies in the Theatre In The Sky.



The Peak of Christmas activities (.pdf) are available from November 29th through December 24th and activities are complimentary with a Grouse Mountain General Admission, Annual Membership, Lift Ticket or Winter Season Pass.