A Vancouver hiker that just smashed Grouse Grind climbing records said he was just practicing for an upcoming trail race.
Ian Robertson was one of 37 participants in Tuesday's Multi-Grouse Grind Challenge, which raises money for BC Children's Hospital.
The annual competition, now in its third year, sees hikers vying to slog up the mountain on "Mother Nature's Stairmaster" as many times as possible in an 18-hour day.
For most people, doing the 2.9-kilometre trail up Grouse Mountain once is more than enough.
Starting out at 4 a.m., Robertson made 16 trips to the top by 10:45 p.m. – breaking the previous record of 15.
"I'm using it as training, basically, for Knee Knacker, a big race in three weeks from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove, up and over each mountain," the Vancouverite told CTV News.
Robertson is no stranger to Grouse Mountain: earlier this year he won the Snowshoe Grind Mountain Run, which sees participants running a five kilometre race in the snow while strapped to snowshoes.
A new female record was set as well for Tuesday's Multi-Grouse challenge. Andrea Johb completed 15 Grouse Grinds, setting a new benchmark for women. The previous record was 13 Grinds in 2014, according to Grouse Mountain.
All told, the participants had hiked a collective 362 Grouse Grinds in a single day.
The event raised over $21,000 for the Grind for Kids program. Since its inception, it has contributed over $870,000 to the cardiology unit at BC Children's.
A 16-trip slog was completed once before, in 2013, by Oliver Bibby. The then-18-year-old was also raising money for BC Children’s Hospital, but not as part of the Multi-Grouse Grind Challenge, which mountain officials said is the only sanctioned event for record-setting.
