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Sunshive Village 03/26-03/27/2015

dlague

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Nov 7, 2012
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Conditions: Freshies, frozen PP, Corn snow, Mash Potatoes (Time of day dependent)

TR:
Ok Sunshine - OH MY GOODNESS! Talk about a beautiful place. Not even sure where to start. The resort is technically broken into three parts. Goats Eye, Lookout and Mt Standish. All stand out well in their own right but one thing for sure - BUMPS are alive and well at Sunshine no matter where you go.

Mt Standish - this part of the resort offers some nice lines ranging from straight up and down headwalls that have you dropping into moguls, deceiving blue trails that end up being bump runs in steeper sections, mellow bowl runs that allow you to mix up various terrain and open tree runs. While there are easier runs down most trails off Standish Express are fun and some are challenging.

Lookout - This is a pretty cool section with wide open areas to ski. While it offers something for everyone. There are plenty of runs to drop into and there are bumps galore. From the top, skiers right provides lots of tree and steep terrain. This is also the area you hike from to get to Derilluim Dive (did not do that). To skiers left are also plenty of steepish trails but nothing too bothersome.

Goats Eye - Probably the coolest part of Sunshine in terms of its offering. There are a few blue runs to accommodate the general population which are long and leg burners. The black and double black trails are mostly ungroomed natural bump runs that offer a variety of steep and very challenging yet fun runs.

We we arrived on Thursday morning Sunshine received about 4 inches of fresh cover and it skied really well. We actually started at Lookout because my son wanted to hit the terrain park before it got soft. With Piste Noir and Angel Flight being go to runs on that side Piste Noir steep drop in - no bumps where Angle Flight was a really nice bump run.

A little later we went to WaWa Lift to ski part of Standish - we skied some fast paced runs lapping that chair a few times before skiing down Paris Traverse and dropping into Paris Basin then down Waterfall. Funny moment - a family got miss lead by the dad and at the top of Waterfall he was asking me where the green trails are. Unfortunately there were none in that area and I did not stick around to see how they made out. Once down Waterfall we took the Standish Express a few times and skied some of the short drops like Sidewall Big bumpers and little bumpers to name a few. Day two took us on other trails over there. Strawberry HSQ was a mistake and did it to say we did it. It does not offer much in terms of challenge.

We eventually headed over to Goats Eye and progressively worked our way from skiers right to left and mixing that with trails on the second section below. The snow at this time of day 1:30ish was getting soft and the spring bumps took their toll. The very next morning we decided to head back but the runs had refroze rock solid when had us skiing Lookout for a bit when we would return in the after noon to you guessed it ... soft bumps. My son and I decided to continue where we left off and skied Cleavage, Ewe First and Mother-in-law. After those run my legs were beat and packed it in.

This at this point in my life is my favorite resort offering lots of skiing and challenge was well. We mixed up that terrain each day to give a legs a break and hit every part of the mountains (not every trail) There is a smaller area between Goats Eye and Lookout that was kind of fun . It was like a medium sized NE ski area nestled between the two and we skied that too.

Out of Lake Louise, Kicking Horse and Sunshine - Sunshine won. Hopefully when I return to that area Kicking Horse will have more snow and my opinion will change.

Mount Standish from Goats Eye
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Derillium Dive from Goats Eye
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Lookout from Mount Standish
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Goats Eye From Mount Standish - Hard to see all the bumps
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Lookout from the base
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Not Sure

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Goats eye is awsome , Have'nt been there in a long time "85" . Mr Scurfield ( Scurfield Point ) was killed the day before we were supposed to do a Heli trip. My buddies and I looked at each other and went anyway. the last run of the day traversing near the bottom I started a small slab was scary with what happened the day before in my mind.
Lots of places to get in trouble there, was halfway down lookers right near the Mountstandish lift and spotted a set of tracks between two trees, as I got closer saw they were not tracks and found myself airborne headed tword the lift. 20' cliff drop but hit a snowdrift. Sooo much powder! was a fun crash but could have been worse.
Went back with more speed and crashed again.
When you're in your twenties mortality takes a back seat to adrenalin, .....for me anyway
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Nice! Stuff on the right side of Goats Eye (Wildside area) is best IMO

That area like Derillium Dive required that you attend an avy cousre the morning you plan on going there and then they require beacons, avy pack etc. As much as I would like to think that is for me - I an good with the stuff to skiers left on Goats Eye. Enough entertainment there!

Goats eye is awsome , Have'nt been there in a long time "85" . Mr Scurfield ( Scurfield Point ) was killed the day before we were supposed to do a Heli trip. My buddies and I looked at each other and went anyway. the last run of the day traversing near the bottom I started a small slab was scary with what happened the day before in my mind.
Lots of places to get in trouble there, was halfway down lookers right near the Mountstandish lift and spotted a set of tracks between two trees, as I got closer saw they were not tracks and found myself airborne headed tword the lift. 20' cliff drop but hit a snowdrift. Sooo much powder! was a fun crash but could have been worse.
Went back with more speed and crashed again.
When you're in your twenties mortality takes a back seat to adrenalin, .....for me anyway

Mount Standish is deceiving on the trail map. When you are actually skiing it there are all kinds of cool drops there!
 
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