North Shore Triple

Once upon a time, I set out to ride all 3 Shore mountains in a day. I made up a route that started and finished at my house in Lynn Valley (at the time). It's been a long time since I did that on my (high-end-at-the-time) hardtail DeKerf Team SL with V-Brakes and Rock Shox Judys (2"!!). At the time, a couple of people refered to a Triple as pretty much anything that crossed Seymour/Cypress/Fromme.

I'm looking at celebrating the 20th anniversary of that ride (and somehow grabbing back some long-lost youth, and pride) by repeating it...although somewhat older and heavier, but with a plusher ride.

My question is...is there an "official" Triple route? Or rather, would I be worthy of bragging rights and a post-ride reward beer (or 3) if I simply repeated my feat?

I did not have a car at the time, so I had to make it a loop. Here's my 1997 version: 

Start/Finish in Lynn Valley (near where End of the Line is now).

Ride the highway (hear me out) to West Van, head up Stupid Grouse to 1st switchback, then up Cypress rd to the 4th switchback and into the trails to head down Mystery Downhill, through the BP to Cleveland Dam. Cross the dam and head back towards Lynn Vall via Montroyal/Braemar/Dempsey.

Refuel in Lynn Valley, then head over pipe bridge to Twin Bridge, up Mystery Creek to Bridal Path, Bridal to Old Buck, to Baden Powell, down Ned's and Bottle Top, back up Twin Bridges to Lynn Valley.

Refuel in Lynn Valley, head up Mountain Highway to Grouse Mtn and enjoy a burger and a cold one at the restaurant at the top....head down and ride 7th, Leppard, Crinkum, Kirkford, Griffen, Griffen switchbacks, back to the house.

I realise that trails/access have changed over the years, so the 2017 version will be updated accordingly....just like the bike itself.

Going all the way to the top of grouse is epic and not necessary imo.
In my view a true triple would be CBC elevation on Seymour, 7th elevation on Fromme and 2nd switchback elevation on Cypress.
You'd also have to touch water at the bottom of all three mountains, so start in Deep Cove and go from there

To make it a truly evil suffer fest I'd say have to dip your toes in Deep Cove, ski hill parking lot on Seymour, ski hill on Fomme and ski hill lot on cypress. That's a bigly day tho.

Im far too lazy to be trying to raise the bar on what a "triple" is, but second switchback on cypress? The lookout? I think that it should be at least the 4th, which is the road to get to Meat Sweats and Mystery...or you can go another 200m up the road and hit Blind Skier, Reapers, etc....

Posted by: syncro

Going all the way to the top of grouse is epic and not necessary imo.
In my view a true triple would be CBC elevation on Seymour, 7th elevation on Fromme and 2nd switchback elevation on Cypress.
You'd also have to touch water at the bottom of all three mountains, so start in Deep Cove and go from there

To make it a truly evil suffer fest I'd say have to dip your toes in Deep Cove, ski hill parking lot on Seymour, ski hill on Fomme and ski hill lot on cypress. That's a bigly day tho.

Pfft, like anyone would ever do that.

Posted by: syncro

Going all the way to the top of grouse is epic and not necessary imo.
In my view a true triple would be CBC elevation on Seymour, 7th elevation on Fromme and 2nd switchback elevation on Cypress.
You'd also have to touch water at the bottom of all three mountains, so start in Deep Cove and go from there

To make it a truly evil suffer fest I'd say have to dip your toes in Deep Cove, ski hill parking lot on Seymour, ski hill on Fomme and ski hill lot on cypress. That's a bigly day tho.

Done the down to Marine on the road bike, on the MTB that would really crank it up a knotch.

Last summer our route was: Bro's house near Inter-river up to Ricelake, down across Seymour:Hyannis, Bridal, CBC, Neds- Fromme: Up NQ ( ugh)...Executioner, Dreamweaver. Cleveland Dam thru BP's up Millstream to 1st lookout, road to Meat sweats, Stupid Grouse, Spirit Trail ( The best part) : Black Kettle, Greenleaf, Bridge, Home for BBQ.

No more Twin Bridges.

Posted by: switch

No more Twin Bridges.

...but think of all the fun of climbing up the steps from the Riverside pipe bridge! At least it's "early" in the day.

Posted by: syncro

Going all the way to the top of grouse is epic and not necessary imo.
In my view a true triple would be CBC elevation on Seymour, 7th elevation on Fromme and 2nd switchback elevation on Cypress.
You'd also have to touch water at the bottom of all three mountains, so start in Deep Cove and go from there

To make it a truly evil suffer fest I'd say have to dip your toes in Deep Cove, ski hill parking lot on Seymour, ski hill on Fomme and ski hill lot on cypress. That's a bigly day tho.

I would agree with that, but I would agree with Ddean that the 2nd switchback is too "lite" on Cypress.

For the evil-est version, I would add skis into the mix so that one would have to touch the true summit of each climb (or at least, run up).

whoops - yeah I meant to say third for a pre-reap and blind skier combo

Posted by: bux-bux

Posted by: syncro

Going all the way to the top of grouse is epic and not necessary imo.
In my view a true triple would be CBC elevation on Seymour, 7th elevation on Fromme and 2nd switchback elevation on Cypress.
You'd also have to touch water at the bottom of all three mountains, so start in Deep Cove and go from there

To make it a truly evil suffer fest I'd say have to dip your toes in Deep Cove, ski hill parking lot on Seymour, ski hill on Fomme and ski hill lot on cypress. That's a bigly day tho.

Done the down to Marine on the road bike, on the MTB that would really crank it up a knotch.

Last summer our route was: Bro's house near Inter-river up to Ricelake, down across Seymour:Hyannis, Bridal, CBC, Neds- Fromme: Up NQ ( ugh)...Executioner, Dreamweaver. Cleveland Dam thru BP's up Millstream to 1st lookout, road to Meat sweats, Stupid Grouse, Spirit Trail ( The best part) : Black Kettle, Greenleaf, Bridge, Home for BBQ.

I thing the last part here needs to be added!

I'm pretty sure that somewhere on here one of the Traslins posted a TR of their quadruple crown, starting on Burke, all self propelled. Did a quick search, but couldn't find it.

Last year I did a triple crown where we went to the ski lifts of each mountain. 82 km and 3,300 m climbing. I don't think I'd do that again, I'd do what others have suggested and just goto the tops of the normal trail networks on Seymour & Fromme. IMO not worth the time and effort going up to Grouse.

I do agree you have to start and end at Deep Cove and Horseshoe bay though!

Screenshot of ride gps & stats