Kirsten Heal has been going up Grouse Mountain for as long as she can remember.
She began skiing with her family on the mountain at age seven. Grouse Mountain was her favourite place to go to ski with her brother.
In 1988, she started as a ski instructor at the resort. Over the next 38 years, she held various positions, from serving food and beverages to sales, before becoming director of guest services.
And the rest is history, as Heal met her husband, who worked on the snow-making crew, and today both her children work there as an instructor and an adventure guide.
“That’s one of the magical things about the mountain is that for a lot of Vancouverites, it’s part of their history, it’s part of them growing up,” Heal said. “You meet lots of people that say ‘I learned to ski there’ or ‘I hike the grind all the time.’”
It’s those formative memories that Grouse Mountain would like to celebrate this year as the resort marks its centennial birthday with events throughout 2026.
The resort has launched “Mountain Memories,” collecting stories from guests, employees or anyone who has a memory or tale they’d like to share. Some memories are already on display on Grouse's website, and will be updated bi-weekly, with stories soon to be posted in the Theatre in the Sky pre-show area.
“I look at it as kind of a time to reflect on the past and the people who have shaped Grouse Mountain,” said Michael Cameron, president and general manager of Grouse Mountain Resort. “Everybody’s got a story.”
And that includes Cameron. His very first job was doing what he calls “odd jobs” on Grouse at just 14 years old. For six weeks, he and his friend did summer grooming – picking rocks, taking nails out of plywood stacks and even driving a Jeep around on top of the mountain, which is something a 14-year-old couldn't get away with now.
“As a 14-year-old, it was pretty incredible,” he said. “Like it is today, it’s just a beautiful place to work, being outdoors and being on top of the mountain is pretty special.”
Cameron also learned to ski at the resort. He came back to Grouse in 2003 and has been the president ever since.
“It really is a massive milestone for the community and our staff,” he said.
The resort kicked off the century celebration on New Years Eve with fireworks, extended hours and entertainment. Other events for the three digit birthday include Grouse being open for 24 hours Feb. 21-22, the return of the Slush Cup in April, a centennial festival Aug. 10-16 and more.
On Oct. 12, 1894, the first non-Indigenous hikers climbed up Grouse Mountain. The mountain got its name after the hikers shot a blue grouse on their trek.
It became the home base for the Vancouver Mountaineering Club in 1907. By the 1920s, the mountain was home to a village of cabins growing into a small but lively community.
The resort's history began in the fall of 1926 with the construction of the Grouse Mountain Chalet and the Grouse Mountain Highway, funded by businessman and later politician William C. Shelly.
In the same year, Grouse Mountain’s original chalet opened. Designed in 1925 by Townley & Matheson, a local architecture firm known for designing Vancouver City Hall, the chalet was made from local yellow cedar logs. The chalet burned to the ground in a huge fire in 1962, and was temporarily replaced with what now stands as The Outpost.
Skiing started to become popular in the 1930s, and with that the ski village at the bottom of The Cut ski run grew to more than 200 cabins. Around that time the Tyee Ski Runners Club – which later joined with the Grouse Mt. Ski Club to form the still-thriving Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club – installed the first rope tow at the base of The Cut, according to Grouse Mountain’s website.
When the Great Depression hit, it forced the transfer of the chalet and Grouse Mountain Highway to the District of North Vancouver. The resort closed for a decade, though avid skiers could still access the mountain in the winter under municipal operation.
The Cromie family, former owners of the Vancouver Sun, played a huge part in reshaping Grouse Mountain, purchasing the resort for $75,000 in 1945.
What followed in the years after the Second World War was a period of steady growth on the slopes, including the opening of a double chairlift on Dec. 1, 1949. It was the first double chairlift in Greater Vancouver and the third in Canada.
More initiatives and inventions came soon after, with the launch of the Sun Ski School in 1950 offering free lessons, until the program ended in 1964, and a second double chairlift opening on The Cut in 1951.
After ownership changed to Andrew Saxton Sr. and other local investors, more inventions came along for easier access to the mountain, including the first aerial tramway in 1966, bringing people up to the Peak Chalet. Exactly a decade later, the second aerial tramway system called the Red Skyride came, allowing 100 people at a time to hop on board.
“Every time that we made it easier for people to enjoy the mountain, it was a new era and a new milestone,” Cameron said.
Greater mountain access allowed activities to expand on the resort. By 1983, the Grouse Grind opened to the public, and the Theatre in the Sky became the resort’s first year-round attraction in 1990.
The hÍwus Feasthouse, a Pacific Northwest Longhouse, opened in 1998, bringing First Nations dining, entertainment and cultural programming to the resort, hosted by a Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) First Nations Elder.
With the new millennia came Vancouver’s first high-speed quad chairlift, the Screaming Eagle, alongside additional summer activities like ziplining and a refuge for endangered wildlife. Activities have continued to grow over the new century, with rope adventures and the Birds in Motion exhibit providing thrills in the sky.
Over the years, the resort has hosted numerous events on the world stage, including Vancouver's first World Cup FIS Race, the du Maurier Giant Slalom in 1970, and the TISSOT/UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 2001.
When the 2010 Winter Olympics came to Vancouver, it was a big deal for Grouse, said both Heal and Cameron.
For 12 days, Grouse Mountain was open all-hours, with NBC's Today show using the resort as its broadcasting home base for the Games.
“It was really cool that you got to watch somebody win an Olympic gold medal and about seven hours later, they were at the top of the mountain, having an interview in front of the fire pit,” Heal said. “I got to meet all kinds of people that I never would have had the opportunity to meet.”
She went down the Red Skyride with iconic Canadian singer-songwriter k.d. lang, chatted with various athletes and saw famed Vancouver crooner Michael Bublé a few times over the course of the show.
Cameron said it was logistically challenging to operate at all-hours for the duration of the Games, but it was an exciting moment for everyone involved.
“It was great to see what it meant to people," he said. "The production crew at the Today Show just thought that Grouse was an unbelievably special place.”
With its first century completed, the resort is aiming to have a great start to its next 100 years.
Cameron said that the 2024 opening of the Blue Grouse Gondola has expanded access to the mountain, creating new opportunities, such as the return of mountain biking last summer.
The next big thing for the resort is the opening of the Grouse Gravity Coaster this summer, reaching up to 45 kilometres per hour while showing off stunning views of Vancouver on a 515-metre descent.
Aside from attractions, the resort is looking to enhance the guest experience by adding more food and beverage options, nighttime attractions, light experiences and potentially boutique accommodations, said Cameron.
The mountain is a special place for many people on the North Shore and beyond, said Heal.
“It’s really been a place of escape," she said. "Whether you live on the North Shore or whether you live out in Richmond, you can see the mountain from everywhere. I think people know that they can leave the business of the city and then come up and do something that is calm and peaceful.”
To see the full list of centennial events or submit a story, visit grouse100.com.
