AKA Goatseye Mountain according to the folks at Sunshine Village
Quick Stats
Distance: 16.8Km Round Trip
Height Gain: 1195m
Round Trip Time: 3h3m
Kane Ratting: Easy
Resources: More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies
Normally, you could park in the Sunshine Village parking lot. However, due to construction they were not allowing it and the guy in the Volvo was stopping people. Since I’m riding a bike, the extra few KM are not a big deal, but would add up if you were on foot. I’ve read other reports of sunshine closing their parking lot in the summer.Having snowboarded down the ski out many times, I remember it being a nice gentle downhill slope. Going up it on a bike is a completely different story. It is a much steeper grind than I anticipated. But I’m foolhardy and just keep going. At the Goats eye lunch tent I left the ski out trail and started heading up what Sunshine calls Goatseye mountain. Most people start hiking from here, but there was a wide cat track up the mountain, so I just kept peddling.Eventually, the double track ends in a loop and I decide it is a good place to abandon my bike. The larch trees have changed to yellow which is why I chose to come here this time of year.The larches really do steal the show. Well worth the trip. Not long after leaving the bike, I traversed along the hill toward the chairlift. The rocky slope in the distance is North America’s steepest in-bounds ski terrain, Delirium Dive. You can learn more about the dive here: https://www.tripbagger.com/2015/03/23/shawn-bags-delirium-dive/From here, I simply went to the chair lift and hung a right, following the chair lift up the mountain.
I must have taken a hundred pictures of the larches. As my friends from out east would say, they just turn yellow, what’s the big deal?
Unfortunately, the ski hill is littered with trash. Even parts that appear to be from the ski hill operations just tossed onto the mountain. I picked up a good number of liquor bottles and cans, decided that Captain Morgan seems to be the drink of choice for skiers and snowboarders.
The chairlift doesn’t go to the top of Eagle Mountain. When you reach the chairlift top terminal, just keep heading up the mountain in the same direction.On the summit! Marked with a ski pole. And a cool pile of rocks. I tried to take a picture through the hole in the middle, but a sudden blizzard showed up and made for near white out conditions.I imagine on a clear day the views up here would be pretty good. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I managed to capture before the snowstorm blocked my view.Traditional Summit Selfie, in a blizzard.The snowstorm is really starting to pick up now and visibility is dropping. Time to head back down. The route down is just the reverse of the ascent.Back down at the spot where I left my bike. It was a very fast, but hand numbingly cold ride out.
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