News from The Team - 04.20.04 - Back to News

NORTH VANCOUVER - Parents are being warned not to take young children on the Grouse Grind trail unless they know what they are getting themselves into after a frightening incident on the weekend.

Tim Jones of North Shore Rescue is seeing an increasing number of poorly-prepared parents taking young children on the grueling 2.8 kilometre near-vertical hike to the top of Grouse Mountain.

On Sunday evening, he came across a 49-year-old woman and her eight-year-old son stuck half way down the pitch-dark trail. They had spent three hours walking to the top and were on their way back down when they got into difficulty. Most hikers take the SkyRide cable car back down the mountain.

Jones said they left it too late in the day to head back down. "It was obvious they were not going to be able to get out," he said. "The mother later realized the danger she put herself and her son in by trying to go back down the trail."

Jones said parents often head out late in the day without flashlights and without water and it could be a matter of time before there is a tragedy because the trail becomes hard to navigate in the dark.

"What I have a problem with is parents who are not prepared and who are not in good shape going up with young children," he said.

Other parents forget to take provisions or have no idea what to do when their children become tired.

He said fit parents with water, flashlights, food, warm clothes, and cell phones can take their kids on the trail without problems.

The popular trail, which is know to may who use it as Mother Nature's Stairmaster, reopened April 9 after being closed for the winter. Most people who use it treat it as a vigourous workout.