This is Def. the old Grouse Mountain Chairlift that opened Dec. 2nd 1949 from the top of Skyline Drive to the bottom of the Cut. It was 5.130' long and just over 1,600' vertical.
.........oh yes, I can attest that this is indeed a real 8mm film of the original Grouse Mountain chairlift that used to whisk skiers and tourists up the mountain to the mid station at the bottom of the 'cut'. I was feeling nostalgic last weekend so I made the winding drive and hike in North Vancouver (you can no longer drive all the way up) in hopes to find the location of the original valley station of this old landmark. Thirty years later the old right-of-way that climbed the mountain and once housed all the old wooden tower timbers are now being re-claimed by nature..... so I wanted to make one more trek before it totally gave way to the surrounding forest and disappeared forever from the façade of the mountain. I finally made my way up and was surprisingly rewarded when I came across an unmistakable clearing where the building that housed the lift itself must have stood. Mind you, all traces of it had since been dismantled but I could clearly see the original asphalt where it once stood as well as the painted stall lines where the parking lot still appeared in between the new undergrowth . I was desperately hoping to find remnants of part of the building or the machinery that housed the chair lift itself to take home as a keepsake but the workers had done a thorough job of cleaning the area up. Even the large hand painted billboard that used to grace the parking lot opposite the lift depicting a young couple riding the lift at sunset with the lights of Vancouver twinkling in the background was gone. Such a shame as I spent many a weekend in my youth riding that chairlift anticipating a great day of skiing ahead. I guess you really can't go back. Sad.
The chairlift stopped running in 1973. One can still see the decaying wooden fallen lift towers on the way up "skyline Trail" the trail on the east side of what used to be the chairlift right of way that formed when they installed the sewer fro Grouse Mountain sometime around the same time thy stopped running the chairlift. Thanks for your impressions.
BTW This is the only moving footage of the chairlift looking up the lift right of way in two different places; looking up: from the bottom and a little over halfway up. Looking down it: as well as about a 5th of the way down and about 3/4 of the way down with a flash of it almost at the bottom at the end. the right of way is almost grown in now and all the old cabins are gone. Wondering if how far down the lift you have to go before seeing the bottom and how far up before seeing the first cabin. How long was the ride? was it, 10 minutes or even slower, like 15? I climbed up it when I was 19 in 26 minutes. Looking for moving and still pics of the right of way of this lift in 1949, 50s, 60's 70's and early 80's. Also wonder when the right of way was last trimmed of trees: the late 50s? the 60s? the early 70s? Lots of questions for this mysterious convex and 5130' long direct right of way from 1300'-2900' from it's 1st third of a century
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This is Def. the old Grouse Mountain Chairlift that opened Dec. 2nd 1949 from the top of Skyline Drive to the bottom of the Cut. It was 5.130' long and just over 1,600' vertical.
.........oh yes, I can attest that this is indeed a real 8mm film of the original Grouse Mountain chairlift that used to whisk skiers and tourists up the mountain to the mid station at the bottom of the 'cut'. I was feeling nostalgic last weekend so I made the winding drive and hike in North Vancouver (you can no longer drive all the way up) in hopes to find the location of the original valley station of this old landmark. Thirty years later the old right-of-way that climbed the mountain and once housed all the old wooden tower timbers are now being re-claimed by nature..... so I wanted to make one more trek before it totally gave way to the surrounding forest and disappeared forever from the façade of the mountain. I finally made my way up and was surprisingly rewarded when I came across an unmistakable clearing where the building that housed the lift itself must have stood. Mind you, all traces of it had since been dismantled but I could clearly see the original asphalt where it once stood as well as the painted stall lines where the parking lot still appeared in between the new undergrowth . I was desperately hoping to find remnants of part of the building or the machinery that housed the chair lift itself to take home as a keepsake but the workers had done a thorough job of cleaning the area up. Even the large hand painted billboard that used to grace the parking lot opposite the lift depicting a young couple riding the lift at sunset with the lights of Vancouver twinkling in the background was gone. Such a shame as I spent many a weekend in my youth riding that chairlift anticipating a great day of skiing ahead. I guess you really can't go back. Sad.
The chairlift stopped running in 1973. One can still see the decaying wooden fallen lift towers on the way up "skyline Trail" the trail on the east side of what used to be the chairlift right of way that formed when they installed the sewer fro Grouse Mountain sometime around the same time thy stopped running the chairlift. Thanks for your impressions.
BTW This is the only moving footage of the chairlift looking up the lift right of way in two different places; looking up: from the bottom and a little over halfway up. Looking down it: as well as about a 5th of the way down and about 3/4 of the way down with a flash of it almost at the bottom at the end. the right of way is almost grown in now and all the old cabins are gone. Wondering if how far down the lift you have to go before seeing the bottom and how far up before seeing the first cabin. How long was the ride? was it, 10 minutes or even slower, like 15? I climbed up it when I was 19 in 26 minutes. Looking for moving and still pics of the right of way of this lift in 1949, 50s, 60's 70's and early 80's. Also wonder when the right of way was last trimmed of trees: the late 50s? the 60s? the early 70s? Lots of questions for this mysterious convex and 5130' long direct right of way from 1300'-2900' from it's 1st third of a century
Unfortunately, the 1st 7 seconds and the last 10 seconds where the only really historically telling moments of footage; looking for more like that.