Grouse Mountain’s new access gondola from the parking lot to open next winter

With the end of winter and the start of optimal weather for working conditions, construction on Grouse Mountain’s new major peak access gondola is about to kick it up a notch for the final home stretch towards full completion.

Grouse Mountain provided a construction update on the project this week, indicating that the gondola is on schedule to open during the upcoming 2024/2025 winter season, which means an opening sometime between December 2024 and March 2025.

This is a new gondola line between the mountain’s base parking lot and the Peak Chalet, which will nearly double the vertical capacity for accessing and reaching the mountain’s summit attractions and slopes.

Construction on the $35-million gondola first began in September 2022. It includes 14 towers and cables that span over a 2,600 ft vertical rise, with the base terminal located immediately northwest of the existing Red Skyride’s base terminal, and the plateau terminal located immediately northeast of the existing Red Skyride’s base terminal. The new gondola’s cables will cross under the Red Skyride mid-mountain.

The new gondola will carry 27 eight-person gondola cabins for a capacity of 1,000 passengers per hour, with far higher frequencies than the Red Skyride’s two aerial trams.

When combined with the existing 900 passengers per hour capacity of the Red Skyride, which will be retained, Grouse Mountain will have an expanded capacity of 1,900 passengers per hour.

Colorado-based gondola company Leitner Poma is the supplier of the lift equipment and cabins.

Future configuration of Grouse Mountain’s base area and parking lots. (Grouse Mountain)

New plateau plan for Grouse Mountain, showing the location of the new peak terminal for the gondola immediately east of the chateau. (Grouse Mountain)

Planned route of the new Grouse Mountain gondola (red), which crosses under the Red Tram. The Blue Tram, which will be decommissioned, is also shown. (Grouse Mountain)

Elevation of the new gondola. (Grouse Mountain)

Each one-way travel time on the new gondola will be about five minutes and 30 seconds, which is faster than the Red Skyride.

In this week’s construction update, the first such update since construction began, Grouse Mountain notes the concrete foundations of the base station and plateau station have reached completion, a 14-metre wide easement area has been created along the side of the mountain, and work is well underway on completing all of the concrete foundations for the towers.

After the tower foundations are completed, the towers will be installed, with helicopters used to lift the towers in place in challenging locations, followed by cable work.

grouse mountain new gondola construction

Completion of the foundation for the new gondola’s base terminal. (Grouse Mountain)

Completion of the foundation for the new gondola’s plateau terminal. (Grouse Mountain)

Completion of the new gondola’s easement. (Grouse Mountain)

All remaining construction work will advance over the coming spring, summer, and fall months, with commissioning and testing also slated for the fall. If all goes as planned, the new gondola will open next winter, and improve the flow of visitors, and reduce the length of wait times and lineups.

After the new gondola reaches completion, the existing Blue Skyride, which has a smaller capacity than the Red Skyride and a plateau station inside the upper level of the Peak Chalet, will be decommissioned.

The Blue Skyride is rarely used to transport visitors, and mainly only activated for freight and emergencies.

Red Skyride of Grouse Mountain. (Grouse Mountain)

Blue Skyride of Grouse Mountain. (Shutterstock)

The existing Blue Skyride’s peak terminal is located in the mountaintop chateau. (Grouse Mountain)

The Blue Skyride opened in 1966, while the Red Skyride opened in 1976. When complete, the combined new gondola and the continued use of the existing Red Skyride will allow Grouse Mountain to return to its original capacity when both the Blue and Red Skyrides were fully operational.

Other work being conducted to improve Grouse Mountain includes renovations to the existing base buildings, and improvements to vehicle parking and ground access. The parking lot will be expanded, with capacity increasing by 193 additional parking stalls — from the existing 925 stalls to 1,118 stalls across four lots. Improvements will be made to the existing area for TransLink’s public transit buses.

All of these various improvements are being timed with Grouse Mountain’s 100th anniversary in 2026.