Grouse Mountain Resort makes millions every year off the legions of hikers completing the Grouse Grind, through tickets to ride the aerial tramway back down the mountain as well as food and beverage sales.

 

As such, should it be chipping in for the direct annual maintenance costs of the iconic trail, which is now officially part of Metro Vancouver’s 75-hectare Grouse Mountain Regional Park?

 

“We’ve got new owners there and we look forward to having a conversation with them about how the park and trail is used and how we work together,” Greg Moore, chair of the regional district, said in an interview. “I’m sure these things will be part of our conversation.”

 

Jodi Westbury, director of marketing and communications for Grouse Mountain, said Monday the resort is committed to continuing to work with Metro Vancouver and noted that in addition to paying taxes, the resort “maintains the regional park base area landscaping and parking as part of a lease agreement” and has a revenue-sharing arrangement to ensure all benefit.

 

The resort paid $190,000 last year to the region’s water district as part of a lease on about 40 hectares for the tramway route along with buildings and parking at the base.

 

It also paid $45,669 in taxes on that leased land, which the District of North Vancouver ultimately received.

 

The province also receives two per cent of gross revenues from the Sea to Sky Gondola, near Squamish, which is pumped into general revenue.

 

The Vancouver-based McLaughlin family put the resort up for sale last September for $200 million. It sold in July to GM Resorts Limited Partnership.

 

The regional district estimates up to 400,000 people will hike the one-way Grouse Grind and less-popular two-way B.C. Mountaineering Club trail this year, both within the new park.

 

If each of those hikers paid $10 to the resort for a ticket to come down the mountain to the parking lot via the Skyride tramway, it would amount to $4 million in annual revenue.

 

That does not include all the beer, chicken wings and other food and beverages consumed by hungry and tired hikers before they board the gondola down.

 

Joe Foy, of the Wilderness Committee, said that parks are generally good for business and that public funds spent on parks generate important economic activity. “Parks more than pay for themselves,” he said. 

 

He doesn’t believe Grouse Mountain Resort should have to help pay for the new regional park, noting it “is a slippery slope that could make parks tied to corporate donors. Parks should be paid for out of general revenue …”

 

Grouse Mountain Regional Park — 24th in Metro Vancouver’s portfolio, officially unveiled last Friday — also includes a portion of the Baden Powell trail within its boundaries. The region says it will work with the public and stakeholders to develop a park management plan over the next year, focusing on protecting and enhancing ecological features, improving trails and convenience facilities, and identifying opportunities for public programming and stewardship.

 

The estimated annual maintenance cost for the new park is $250,000.

 

“We’ve been looking after this trail (Grouse Grind) for years,” Moore said. “Most people probably thought it was a park and didn’t think much about it when they went to use it.”

 

John Blown, spokesman for North Shore Search and Rescue, noted that “Grouse Mountain pays nothing” to the volunteer organization, but held a pancake breakfast this year that raised $5,000-$6,000 and provides season passes to members.