Do The Grind Blind

September 10, 2017 | North Vancouver

On September 10, 2017, after several months of training and preparation, nine youth who were blind or partially sighted along with Blind Beginnings Founder Shawn Marsolais climbed 2,830 steps and ascended 853 vertical meters up Grouse Mountain. Vancouver hikers will immediately recognize this to the the infamous “Grouse Grind”, which has been lovingly dubbed “Nature’s Stairmaster” by the Lower Mainland hiking community for many years.

The idea behind the event was to showcase the abilities of youth who are blind or partially sighted while giving them the opportunity to try something that they weren’t sure was possible.

A volunteer gives a thumbs up as she guides a young male hiker with a rugged mobility cane up a steep section of the Grouse Grind hiking trail.

One of the exhausted hikers takes a moment and is interviewed by a camera crew.

The entire group of Grouse Grind hikers, volunteers, and guides pose at the top of the Grouse Grind smile and cheer as they pose for a picture.

A sighted guide leads a hiker who is blind up a winding section of the Grouse Grind.

Shawn and Jinnie pause near the top of the hike and pose, both smiling and holding their respective mobility canes.

In tRaining

May - August 2017

A group of youth, all dressed in activewear, sit on the floor and participate in a stretching exercise.

A young male hiker wearing glasses and using a walking stick, holds the elbow of his sighted guide as they manage a section of hiking trail, thick forest in the background.

A sighted guide reaches back to take the hand of a female hiker in order to help her up a treacherous section of a steep hiking trail.

A female hiker holds a mobility cane in one hand and the elbow of her sighted guide in the other as they navigate a series of steep steps that winds through a collection of brush and trees.

A young male hiker holds a mobility cane and pauses alongside his sighted guide, thick forest and a hiking trail in the background.

A female hiker wearing glasses and activewear pauses on a trail surrounded by thick forest and smiles for the camera.

Do The Grind Blind Documentary

In this spirited AMI Original Documentary, Do The Grind Blind, ATW presenter Grant Hardy joins a group of blind and partially sighted hikers on a treacherous journey to conquer Vancouver’s infamous mountain hike, the Grouse Grind.

BONUS Material

To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Do The Grind Blind, we reunited a group of the participants (lovingly dubbed ‘Grinders’) for a very special episode of the Limitless Podcast to discuss what it was like the day of the Grind, inside stories, and what it was like to train for the event.