The Lions ( peaks ) The Lions are a pair of pointed peaks ( West Lion - ; East Lion - ) along the North Shore Mountains in Metro Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada . They can be seen from much of the Greater Vancouver area , as far as Robert Burnaby Park in East Burnaby , south to parts of Surrey , and from the west on the Howe Sound Islands and the Sunshine Coast . Along with the Lions Gate Bridge named in their honour , these twin summits have become one of the most recognizable Vancouver landmarks . The city ' s BC Lions CFL football team is also named in their honour . Lions Gate Entertainment which was founded in Vancouver in July , 1997 is also named for the peaks . Geology . The Lions are composed of hornblende diorite , the oldest plutonic rock on the West Coast of Canada . Hiking and rock climbing routes . Hikers can climb up to the ridge between the East and West Lion peaks using either the Binkert Trail leading up from Lions Bay , or the Howe Sound Crest Trail . The Binkert Trail , named after Paul Binkert of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club , is one of the most popular in the Lower Mainland . Hiking to the ridge from Lions Bay takes approximately four hours and gains in elevation . Most hikers stop there as both the East and West Lion peaks require rock climbing equipment and expertise . The East Lion is out - of - bounds for climbing as it is located in the Greater Vancouver watershed . Early ascents . According to an article by Steven Threndyle in " The Greater Vancouver Book " , " the earliest recorded climb of the West Lion in 1889 happened almost by accident . A group of hunters following a herd of goats found themselves at the top with no place to go but down . The hunting party was guided by native chief Joe Capilano . One of the members of the hunting team was Doctor Henry Bell - Irving , who asked Capilano if he could time one of the chief ' s young natives to see how long it would take him to run from the base of the West Lion to the summit . The youth , stripped completely naked , made the round trip ascent and descent in under 20 minutes . With its steep granitic face the East Lion was believed to be impossible to scale . That did not deter John Latta and his two brothers from setting out to climb the East Lion in 1903 . Hearing that climbers often used ropes for mountaineering ascents , they packed one along but actually had no idea of how to use it . Their technique was to grasp the small shrubs and bushes growing out of the cracks in the rock . The Latta brothers also climbed the West Lion on their way out . " The Sisters " . The Indigenous Peoples Sḵwxwú7mesh named these two prominent peaks " Ch ' ich ' iyúy Elxwíkn " ( translates as ' Twin Sisters ' ) . These mountains remain sacred for their legal marker of a Peace Treaty , family lineage histories , and spiritual value . The two peaks were transformed by the Sky Brothers , or " Transformers " , after twin sisters that had married with Haida twins created the path for the war to end between the Sḵwxwú7mesh and Haida . The families that made the Peace Treaty and married together still live in the Sḵwxwú7mesh and Haida Nations . Sometime around 1890 , Judge John Hamilton Gray proposed that Canada rename the mountain peaks to lions " couchant " from heraldry