Div. 35 Survives the Grind

Last Friday, Div. 35 traveled to Grouse Mountain to complete the Grouse Grind.Below are some perspectives on our first field trip of the year and our video "Grinding the Grind Year 2" 


Grade 7 Perspective ~ By Abby 


Bright and early Friday morning our class of 54 packed up our bags and headed to Grouse Mountain in North Van. I had done the Grind before and knew how hard and tiring it was, so I made sure that I was good and ready for the track that lie ahead of me.  After dragging my sorry butt out of bed and into school at 8:30 we got into our cars and headed to Grouse. With me in the car was Jamie, Courtney and Jamie’s mom Christy. All and all we got there safe and sound and were still bright, cheery and full of energy, but that didn’t last long.

The excitement I had, had the night before quickly wore off as we approached the trail. There it was standing directly in front of me, all of  its 2880 stairs waiting to be climbed up. I stood at the starting line with Hannah just waiting for Mr. Mac to say the command. “Go!” he yelled, and we were off! The first ten or fifteen stairs were manageable and with a little bit of flat path I found myself to almost be enjoying the hike. That was until it got steeper and steeper and soon the only thing I was enjoying was the thought of getting to the top. The first quarter past and I filled with excitement, not only because we had got past the toughest part but because I was a quarter closer to accomplishment. Hannah and I were still going at it alone until we met Emily at the beginning of quarter two. As my heartbeat started to get used to the fact that I was working hard the hike started to get easier. I was able to easily communicate with my hiking buds. At the three quarter mark, the used to be 3 amigos turned into 4 when Jamie joined the group. We were almost done and as I saw the sign that said “Downhill Travel Prohibited” I nearly jumped with excitement! 

The second I finished my group picture with Ms. Wilson I opened up my bag and grabbed as much food as I could...I had never been so starving in my life! After cheering for everyone that came up after me, the group made our descendant into the the lodge so the we could use the washrooms and the moms could get their well deserved coffees. Unfortunately we could not spend a lot of time on top of the mountain because the sky tram that took us back down the mountain was scheduled to leave at 1:15, not that we made that one anyways. My group headed over to the lumberjack show but because the moms took their time getting their coffees we missed it, which was kind of disappointing because its always entertaining watching them chop wood. But there was an upside to missing the show because we got an amazing look at Grouse’s two grizzly bears Coola and Grinder.   After taking many, many pictures our time was up and it was time to start heading to the sky tram. 

Like I said before our tram was supposed to leave at 1:15 but we didn’t exactly make it. When we got their the line was unbelievably long, we probably would have saved time by just hiking back down the grind, even through the sign says that downhill travel is strongly prohibited. After what felt like an hour of waiting our tickets finally got scanned and we slowly and unsteadily shoved our way into the tram. I have been on the tram countless amounts of times so it was nothing new to me but it always puts a smile on my face listening to people scream as the tram slightly drops when it hits the tower!

The ride home was surprisingly very quiet, but that was probably because we were all so tired. Jamie fiddled with her phone and Courtney and I were playing games on my I-pod. I very much enjoyed the Grouse field trip both this year and last year. Unfortunately I will not be able to do it with the class next year, but I hope the tradition lives on and that lots of kids in the class down the road will get to experience all the fun we have!


Grade 6 Perspective ~ By Roxanne

On Friday we traveled to Grouse Mountain in West Vancouver. Getting there was a loud, one hour car ride. My mother and I were accompanied by my two best friends Emily and Kelsey.  The hour went by in a flash because of our continuous conversations. I thought to myself the next few hours would be very interesting.

When we arrived, we met everyone in the parking lot. I gulped and told Emily that we can do this. She had a smile on her face. I reminded myself I'm doing this for Kelsey because of her injured foot. As we approached the entrance my stomach turned. Emily and I stuck together for the first quarter of the climb. We talked about the walk that was coming up ahead of us. Emily decided to stop and hydrate. I knew if I stopped I would not continue at the pace I started at. I decided to continue, Shelby and Alexis were ahead of me walking at the same pace. The climb was like a continues staircase. 

As I got higher and higher the stairs got taller and taller and soon half of it was climbing small bits of rock. At the half way mark Alexis stopped but Shelby and I continued. We talked about how much harder the climb was getting and soon we would be pulling ourselves up with the rope. The climb went by in a flash and before I knew the dark trail was filled with light. A rush of relief washed over me. Cole and Kelsey cheered me on at the top.

When I got to the top, I saw Ms.Wilson and got my time which was 61 minutes. I was happy with my time and went to go see my friends. Cole, Kelsey and I cheered on anyone who walked out of the trail. Then before we knew it Emily and Stefan were there. We decided to sit down for lunch. Sydney was more than happy to share her pretzels with us, and they were done in a second. After everyone got to the top we split up into our driving groups and set off. My group went to the store to get some delicious hot chocolate. Then we headed off to go see the lumberjack show to find out that we missed it. So we went to go see the bears. Well it looked like they were happy to see us because they were in the wide open. They posed for pictures also. But before we knew it was time to go. Just before we went, we took a picture of the whole class and are hoping it gets into the Times newspaper. It was time to get in the line to go on the sky ride,  Ms. Wilson gave us our passes to go on it. Stefan, Cole, Kelsey, Emily and I were all holding onto one rope when the sky ride went off at speed and bumped which made everyone scream and gave me butterflies. My scream was a mix of scared and excited. The ride down was pretty smooth expect when we were going over the towers. Near the bottom we got to see the wolf enclosure. It was really cool to see.

The ride back was quieter than the ride there. Mostly because Emily and I were half asleep. We talked a little about places to live but then before we knew it, we were at the school. I think Grouse was a great field trip and I am hoping I can do it again.


Click on the video below to watch the Animoto of our class field trip. A huge thank you to all parents who came with us on Friday. We could not have done it without you!