One of Grouse Mountain’s most recognizable pieces of infrastructure is getting a major upgrade during the resort’s 100th anniversary year. The British Columbia ski area has begun installing new tram cars on its Red Skyride, the aerial tramway that has carried guests between the base and mountaintop since 1976.
Grouse Mountain announced this week that the new cars are being installed over the next couple of weeks. During the work, mountain access will be provided exclusively by the newer Blue Grouse Gondola. An opening date and additional details about the replacement tram cars are expected to be announced soon.
The Red Skyride opened in 1976
The Red Skyride has been a fixture on Grouse Mountain for exactly 50 years. According to Grouse Mountain’s official Centennial History, the 100-passenger Red Skyride opened in 1976 as the mountain’s second aerial tramway. It joined the original Blue Skyride, which had opened a decade earlier in 1966.
For decades, the two large aerial tramways served as the primary way for skiers, snowboarders and sightseeing guests to reach Grouse Mountain’s upper facilities and ski terrain from North Vancouver. That system began changing dramatically in 2024. The original Blue Skyride was retired after 58 years of service as Grouse Mountain moved ahead with construction of an entirely new gondola.
New gondola now takes over during construction
The Blue Grouse Gondola opened in December 2024, adding a modern second route between the base and mountaintop. Unlike the large reversible tram cars used by the Red Skyride, the Blue Grouse Gondola operates continuously with 27 eight-person cabins.
According to Grouse Mountain, the gondola travels across 15 towers and completes the trip in approximately 5.5 minutes. It initially opened with a capacity of 1,000 passengers per hour. The gondola replaced the former Blue Skyride rather than the Red Skyride, leaving Grouse with two very different mountain-access systems operating side by side. That redundancy is now allowing the resort to temporarily shut down the Red Skyride while its new cars are installed without cutting off access to the mountaintop.
Grouse Mountain turns 100
The tram upgrade arrives during a significant year for the North Vancouver landmark. Grouse Mountain is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its first official ski season throughout 2026. The mountain’s centennial timeline traces its development from the opening of the Grouse Mountain Highway in 1926 through decades of ski racing, lift construction and year-round recreation.
The mountain has undergone particularly significant changes over the past several years. Construction on the Blue Grouse Gondola began in September 2022 before the system opened on Dec. 12, 2024. The resort then opened the Grouse Bike Park in 2025 and added the Grouse Gravity Coaster in 2026.
Now the Red Skyride, one of the longest-serving pieces of Grouse Mountain’s modern infrastructure, is receiving its own overhaul. The tramway itself will remain, but the familiar cars that have defined the Red Skyride for decades are being replaced after approximately half a century of service.
Grouse Mountain says additional information on the new tram cars, along with an opening date, will be released soon.
