The Red Skyride can bring twice as many people to the summit and is used most times.Monster tower number 2.Tram saddles with Cypress Mountain in the background.Both towers.The bottom dock in North Vancouver.Top dock.Top dock. Notice the new Garaventa hanger on the cabin.
14 thoughts on “Red Skyride – Grouse Mountain, BC”
MilanYVRJuly 1, 2019 / 12:25 pm
This lift drives me crazy.
Its the only public way to get up the mountain without doing a gruelling mountain hike. Ive waited so long to get on this rat cage from a great day of skiing/hiking. Lines can sometimes get up to 3 hours. The record is 6.5 hours on Christmas day. The Cabin itself is in pretty bad condition. Water stains, pealing paint.
What can be done? well grouse makes a sh*t tone of money. Why not replace it with a 3S gondola? a new tram at this point is kind of a waste of money (for example Jackson hole is kind of crazy for spending like 35million on a new tram). The only other option i can think of is once again fully opening the Blue tram to public, and using the old Grouse Mountain Highway for supplies. Its surprisingly in great shape (according to a friend that works on it) and is in a perfect location. With grouse blue and red open on busy days (aka every day) the mountain would be way better.
I agree. Running blue and red together might be needed soon. It would cost more to do that, but I think they might need to do it. I don’t thing they can replace it with a 3s because a normal gondola can get you 3,600 people an hour, which is pretty good.
Coloradoskilifts, remember that most people use the gondola, and the tram is kind of a backup lift, when they replace it, I don’t think it will be a Tri-Line.
Peak 2 Peak isn’t that high capacity of a 3S. With a listed capacity of only 2050 pph, that’s crazy low for an access lift replacing a 1200 pph tram and a 700 pph tram. A fixed grip quad with a loading carpet at its max capacity could get more capacity than that. An 8 or 10 person gondola looks to be the best option with a capacity of 3600 pph, which is twice the current capacity. Leave the Red tram in and that’s a combined 4800 pph.
I don’t know what the average capacity of a 3S is, but spending all that money on less than 2400 pph lift doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. It is possible to have a 3S with a capacity of 5000 pph, but I’m sure that would be crazy expensive. Especially when roughly the same capacity can be reached with an 8 or 10 person gondola + the existing tram.
The 3s “max capacity” version is nuts. Because everything is so heavy, 3 lines, giant cabins, etc… It is much much more expensive to upgrade designed capacity than on any standard monocable lift. Mostly in extra towers, 3s sized sheaves, extra concrete… Not to mention the cost of the very complex cabins themselves.
As said, the best option would probably be to replace blue with an 8-10 person gondola. They could even go relatively mid- capacity from 2400ish if they plan to continually operate red on weekends/busy times. It is a lot easier (and cheaper) to design a 3400pph monocable gondola and hang 2400pph of carriers on it, then upgrade later.
With a 3s a capacity upgrade or initial design upwards of 3400pph, you’d probably be paying near the cost of a new HSQ.
Back in about 2016, I was in an advanced ski school class and lines were soo long that they stuffed us in the blue tram, and let me tell you, that thing works like a charm. Sure the cabins are smaller but it’s in remarkably good shape considering its age.
This lift stopped midspan with passengers for about an hour yesterday before the evac drive got them to the terminals. It is still shut down today while lift maintenance works on it.
Lift Blog 
This lift drives me crazy.
Its the only public way to get up the mountain without doing a gruelling mountain hike. Ive waited so long to get on this rat cage from a great day of skiing/hiking. Lines can sometimes get up to 3 hours. The record is 6.5 hours on Christmas day. The Cabin itself is in pretty bad condition. Water stains, pealing paint.
What can be done? well grouse makes a sh*t tone of money. Why not replace it with a 3S gondola? a new tram at this point is kind of a waste of money (for example Jackson hole is kind of crazy for spending like 35million on a new tram). The only other option i can think of is once again fully opening the Blue tram to public, and using the old Grouse Mountain Highway for supplies. Its surprisingly in great shape (according to a friend that works on it) and is in a perfect location. With grouse blue and red open on busy days (aka every day) the mountain would be way better.
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I agree. Running blue and red together might be needed soon. It would cost more to do that, but I think they might need to do it. I don’t thing they can replace it with a 3s because a normal gondola can get you 3,600 people an hour, which is pretty good.
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the lift line seems too short for 3 s
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Yeah, I think a traditional 10 person gondola with maxed out capacity would do the job just fine and also keep the line flowing at a continuous pace.
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A Tri-line could be beneficial here!
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Coloradoskilifts, remember that most people use the gondola, and the tram is kind of a backup lift, when they replace it, I don’t think it will be a Tri-Line.
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Didn’t really do my homework on this lift. I just was looking at recent comments and ended up here
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3s like the peak2peak would do great here. Non-locals do not understand just how huge the crowds can get at this place.
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Peak 2 Peak isn’t that high capacity of a 3S. With a listed capacity of only 2050 pph, that’s crazy low for an access lift replacing a 1200 pph tram and a 700 pph tram. A fixed grip quad with a loading carpet at its max capacity could get more capacity than that. An 8 or 10 person gondola looks to be the best option with a capacity of 3600 pph, which is twice the current capacity. Leave the Red tram in and that’s a combined 4800 pph.
I don’t know what the average capacity of a 3S is, but spending all that money on less than 2400 pph lift doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. It is possible to have a 3S with a capacity of 5000 pph, but I’m sure that would be crazy expensive. Especially when roughly the same capacity can be reached with an 8 or 10 person gondola + the existing tram.
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The 3s “max capacity” version is nuts. Because everything is so heavy, 3 lines, giant cabins, etc… It is much much more expensive to upgrade designed capacity than on any standard monocable lift. Mostly in extra towers, 3s sized sheaves, extra concrete… Not to mention the cost of the very complex cabins themselves.
As said, the best option would probably be to replace blue with an 8-10 person gondola. They could even go relatively mid- capacity from 2400ish if they plan to continually operate red on weekends/busy times. It is a lot easier (and cheaper) to design a 3400pph monocable gondola and hang 2400pph of carriers on it, then upgrade later.
With a 3s a capacity upgrade or initial design upwards of 3400pph, you’d probably be paying near the cost of a new HSQ.
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Back in about 2016, I was in an advanced ski school class and lines were soo long that they stuffed us in the blue tram, and let me tell you, that thing works like a charm. Sure the cabins are smaller but it’s in remarkably good shape considering its age.
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because grouse takes care of its lifts unlike other mountains
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This lift stopped midspan with passengers for about an hour yesterday before the evac drive got them to the terminals. It is still shut down today while lift maintenance works on it.
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the tram is strangely closed in 2025, it recently opened for the bke park, but feels weird
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