Sebastian Albrecht Sets Grouse Grind Record With 13 Climbs In One Day
33 year old Vancouver Realtor Sebastian Albrecht used to run a lot. But now, with bad knees he’s turned to a less punishing effort – climbing the Grouse Grind.
Last year, for fun, he ascended the 2.9km trail that soars with 800+m of vertical with a friend 12 times in 1 day. He didn’t really plan it very well, had to wait a couple times for fully loaded gondolas and was clogged on the route by a busy trail.
When the anniversary started to roll around, Sebastian challenged himself to break his own record and this time tie it to charity. With a $10 000 goal to raise money for The Shelter Foundation, Sebastian set off at 630a yesterday to climb the Grouse Grind 13 times in one day. He scheduled a pace that would get him to the top with time to refuel on the way down and not miss any gondola rides.
Here are some facts about The Grouse Grind:
Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
Total Stairs: 2,830
Average Time: On average it takes up to an hour and a half to complete the hike. For novice hikers, up to two hours is recommended.
Calories Burned: it all depends on pace, but average is 1 100 calories.
Now let’s multiply that for what Sebastian did:
Length: 37.7 kilometres (a marathon is 42 km)
Elevation Gain: 11 kilometres (Mount Everest is only 8 kilometres of vertical – his climb was 1.5 x up Mount Everest)
Total Stairs: 36 790 (that’s 1226 flights)
Average Time: 50 min (his fastest was 43min, his slowest was 1h10)
Calories Burned: 14 300 (Michael Phelps’ insane diet is only 12 000 calories a day. Some diets recommend 14 000 calories a week)
Without doubt, Sebastian is one of the most accomplished athletes in Vancouver after pulling this stunt not once, but twice (and pumping updates to Twitter the whole time)! I got up early to tackle climb #1 with Sebastian, here’s the interview.
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So impressed with Sebastian! And I had to laugh at how he can carry on a conversation as if he’s standing stationary haha… nice. It was as impressive to track his progress as it is to watch Ironman Canada. Loved it! Congratulations Sebastian!
Wow, that’s pretty incredible! Great interview.. although I have to wonder if the Grouse Grind can be any better for his knees!
Buzz, it was fun doing that first Grouse Grind with you. Believe me, they got a lot tougher for me.
Before all of the media attention, you were the first one to take an interest in what I was doing. I really appreciate that.
Thank you!
Buddy , I did the grind for the first time today , did it in 1 hour 23 minutes and felt like i was gonna die in between …… I don’t know how you pulled 13 times off, but good on you !!