There are 3 mountains to ski/ride at Sunshine Village: Goats Eye, Lookout & Standish. With over 107 runs and 12 lifts, you will find something for everyone.

Run Descriptions & Origins

ANGEL TRAVERSE:
Created by trail crew, winter of 1979, for an escape route from the faces for beginner and intermediates.

ASSINIBOINE:
An old hiking and riding trail to Mt. Assiniboine, closest run and/or lift to Mt. Assiniboine.

BARNERS BOWL:
Named after Mr. and Mrs. Barner who have skied here every year since 1942.

BIG ANGEL AND LITTLE ANGEL:
The faces must have reminded someone of an angel, the shape perhaps, thus the name.

BIRD CAGE:
Contrary to popular belief, this run was named after the old Brewster residence in Banff and not because the old ladies-staff-quarters used to be at the bottom of the run...it never was.

BOUNDARY BOWL:
There’s a large wing like shape from British Columbia that comes sweeping into Sunshine and Boundary Bowl is in it.

BREWSTER ROCK:
Jim Brewster used to take ski touring parties up on the divide. At lunchtime, he usually sat on top of the rock to eat. It was originally called “Sandwich Rock”.

BUNKER’S RUN, BOWL, TRAVERSE, BIG AND LITTLE BUNKER:
Named for Bunker Berg, an instructor here for 7 years in the 1960’s. He used to ski the bowl on Standish before the lift was built.

BUSHWACKER:
Rather densely vegetated, one must beware or one will end up picking branches from one’s teeth.

BYE BYE BOWL:
If you go too far, it’s “bye bye” as you ski down into the Howard Douglas drainage.

CAYUSE:
Sunshine Village was a base camp for packers going to places such as Marvel Lake and Mt. Assiniboine. Cayuse was the only polite name ever used when referring to the hardy mountain ponies.

CHERUB:
One of Buck’s names; another kind or term for angel. Cherubs are mischievous angels like Cupid who plays tricks to make people fall in love.

DELL VALLEY:
Named for Adele Brewster, Jim Brewster’s wife. Jim was one of the founders and presidents of the Brewster Transport Company. He also was one of the founders of Sunshine Village as a commercial operation and guided ski parties in the area in the early 30’s. He promised his wife to name the run after her, if she skied it without falling...and she did!

DONKEY’S TAIL:
It’s a narrow, twisting little run between trees and rocks, looking back at ski tracks it must have reminded someone of a donkey’s tail or perhaps, the trees and rocks were a pain in the...!

FORGET-ME-NOT:
John Gow’s grandfather was a guide in this area and sent a love letter to his new wife. The letter was found in
an old trunk by the next generation, who exposed the pressed forget-me-not. They are common flowers at Sunshine.

GREAT WHITE WAY:
Named after Cliff and Beverly White who owned Sunshine in its earlier days. After selling they remained sunshine Employees for a long time.

HAYES HILL:
It is named after the Hayes family. Frank Hayes managed Sunshine from 1946-1948, and his 2 sons worked here.

HEADWALL:
Very steep, if you blew it, you’d probably go headfirst!

HILL 205:
A 205 helicopter didn’t quite make it to the top and crashed there during lift construction.

HWY 01:
Al Willis, the first “pro” patroller named it. Reason unknown.

JACKRABBIT:
Jack Rabbit Johansen at 105 years of age, was probably agile enough to make it down this run, although many
of us younger ones weren’t. There are also many rabbits found here in the summer. Jack Rabbit pioneered
cross-country skiing in Canada, and built the first ski lift in Canada for cross-country skiers to use to improve
their downhill technique.

JERRY’S RUN:
Named for Jerry Johnson, an old ski instructor who owned the ski school for 16 years, 1960-1976. The run was
originally called the Great Divide.

LARCH GLADE:
Now an open area, it used to be covered with Larch trees.

LARYX RUN:
Laryx is the Latin version for Larch.

LEANING LARCH:
There used to be a larch tree in the middle of the run, which was at least 600 years old; it was almost dead and eventually got cut down. But there is still a larch that is leaning onto the run.

MISS GRATZ:
Muriel Gratz was a well loved Math teacher and High School principal in Banff, who took many pupils into the
mountains in her spare time.

MOLSTAR:
Racecourse sponsored by Molson’s to give amateurs a feel for racing and excitement of competition.

PACKER’S TRAIL:
This is the route that the pack horses, guides and surveyors took on en route to Assiniboine.

PANDEMONIUM:
This is where the line-ups from Angel and Strawberry meet when they are really long, usually in springtime. John Gow looked out the window one day and it was total chaos, thus the name.

PARIS BASIN AND TRAVERSE:
Named after Cyril and Herb Paris, members of an old Banff family, both amongst the first touring people in the
area.

PERVERSE TRAVERSE:
Created to prevent skiers from traversing high across Blue run and Piste Noire, cutting up the good runs.

PEYTO PASS:
Named after Bill Peyto, one of the first guides in the area. Peyto Pass is actually right on the great divide.

PICADILLY CIRCUS:
A major intersection, which always caused problems, just like the major intersection in London, England.

PILGRIMS TRAIL:
Pilgrims is the old name for “Gorbies”. A much more polite word, which packers and guides used for their clients and tourists.

PISTE NOIRE:
The original trail crew was almost all French Canadian and was nicknamed “the French Connection”. Piste Noire was one of their favorite runs.

PRUNE PICKERS PASS:
Prune Picker was a term used by Bruno Engler to describe any skier that is slower than you are and is always in your way! It’s slightly less polite that “ Pilgrim” and about the same as “Gorbie”. Bruno used to hold an annual race at the icefields called “The Prune Pickers Race”. Skiers of National Team caliber and novices would participate.

RED 90:
An airline route for a Vancouver flight. Red 90 is the signal number.

ROCK ISLE FLATS (ROAD):
Leads out to Rock Isle Lade where the water for the village comes from.

SCHOOLMARM:
School marm is what they used to call the schoolmistresses and that run is called so because it is steep and if you didn’t know how to ski it you’d learn quickly.

SHORT AND SWEET:
It may be short but the skiing is very sweet.

SHOWBOAT:
All the hot dogs, air puppies and ski bunnies like to show off for people on the chair there.

SPRING HILL:
In the summer, that run has all kinds of natural springs and little streams running down it.

THE SHOULDER:
The shoulder of the Divide as it comes down into the meadows...cliffs on one side and steep slopes on the other.

TIN CAN ALLEY:
All the horse packers used to dump their tin cans and garbage at the bottom of the run. The dump was finally cleaned up in the summer of 1978.

VIKING RIDGE:
Named after a Samoyed dog who’s owner, Helena, used to be an operator on Divide. Viking use to come to work with her all the time. While the crew went to work, he would run up Angel and continue up the Divide under the lift line all the way. He became somewhat of a permanent fixture, a dog of many tales.

VIRGIN:
A narrow gully located on Standish Mountain.