Standish Hump (Sunshine Meadows)

Elevation: 2383 m
Elevation Gain: 215 m
Standish Hump is a high point located along the Continental Divide overlooking the Sunshine Meadows. Originally named Standish Ridge in 1966, the more apt description of “Hump” was officially applied to Standish in 1986. Sunshine Village continues to refer to the peak as “Mount Standish” for marketing purposes. Standish was named for Austin Standish who was part of a group that skied through the Sunshine Meadows in 1933. This group included the locally famous Brewster family. Following their trip, the group leased a CPR cabin in the Sunshine Meadows and hosted the first paying ski customers at what would eventually become Sunshine Village.
My Ascents:
July 27 2022
Trailhead: Sunshine Village Parking
GPS Track: Standish Hump

After 3 days and nights of hiking and camping in quiet Kootenay National Park, our July 2022 Marble Canyon escape drew to a close. Seeking to continue our mountain adventures, however, we decided to visit the spectacular Sunshine Meadows on our drive home. Once upon a time (when Austin Standish first visited them), these meadows were remote and pristine. Eventually, a road allowed for bus access. Later, lifts and gondolas littered the landscape. Until recently, these were, at least, silent during the summer months. More recently, however, Sunshine Village successfully petitioned Parks Canada to allow them to operate year-round leading to a never-ending parade of tourists and Banff National Park’s outlawing of off-trail travel on some ground they have no jurisdiction over. The whole thing is a bit of a debacle in my opinion, however, the convenience of Sunshine’s gondola for accessing beautiful alpine environs ended up winning out over my personal objections to their summer operation. I’ve hiked and skied the access road to Sunshine several times but, with 2 young children and a very pregnant wife, taking the gondola simply made sense this time (even at the hefty price of $149 for a family of four).

Hoping to escape the crowds, we decided to aim for Howard Douglas Lake (whose 5 km distance from the gondola station deters 99.9% of those who visit the meadows). As we shall see, this never came to pass and we ended up faring no better than most of the resort’s typical gondola/chair lift riders. 😔

LEFT: A giant plastic bear marked the beginning of our day in Sunshine’s unsightly parking lot (which at least provided ample room to park our modest camping trailer). The bear delighted our kids. Sadly, this is the closest thing to a wildlife sighting that you’ll get these days at Sunshine… 🐻
RIGHT: 6-year-old Mera and 4-year-old Penny enjoyed being whisked up into the alpine thanks to Sunshine’s now-constantly operating gondola. Truth be told, I liked the ride up too as the hike up the dirt access road is no great thrill! 😝

What’s better than a gondola? Why a chairlift, of course! 😄 We’d previously visited the Sunshine Meadows with our kids, however, at that time, they were too young to safely ride the Standish Chairlift. This time, they were beyond excited to “fly” over the mountain landscape so we humored them (even though the chair deposits one atop Standish Hump which wasn’t really on the way to Howard Douglas Lake).

LEFT: Atop the chairlift/Hump, Penny and Mera pose proudly on opposite sides of the Alberta/BC boundary.
RIGHT: So I guess this counts as a summit? Some are harder earned than others! 🤣🤷

I can gripe and moan about commercialism in our National Parks all day and night but none of that changes the panorama from the top of the Standish Hump which is undeniably stunning. On the one hand, it’s nice to enjoy such views in solitude as the reward for a substantive physical effort. On the other, it’s nice that visitors and people of all abilities can enjoy vistas like this (provided they can afford the price tag). Regardless of your opinion in the matter, I’d suggest clicking the image above to see this beautiful mountain-scape in superior resolution. 🤩

The expansive Sunshine Meadows stretch out to the southeast. Note the small hiking trail through them? That’s the path we’ll be aiming for which leads to Howard Douglas Lake, then onto Citadel Pass and the core of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. Above the meadows, a host of peaks rise up, including (from left to right): diminutive Sunshine Landing, “Little Fatigue,” Fatigue Mountain, Nasswald Peak and Golden Mountain.

LEFT: Citadel Peak looks close but feels far if you’ve ever scrambled up it from Sunshine!
RIGHT: “The Matterhorn of the Rockies” – Mount Assiniboine, perfectly framed by Quartz Hill and Ridge. Below them all, Rock Isle Lake lends a splash of color to the vibrant mountain-scape.

LEFT: Having, apparently, worked up an appetite riding ski lifts 🤨, we were compelled to stop for lunch on the viewing platform atop Standish Hump.
RIGHT: Kootenay Giants preside majestically over the recently scorched Verdant Valley below more proximate Grizzly Lake. Selkirk Mountain (left), Catlin Peak (center) and Split Peak (right) are all recognizable. The impossibly sharp-looking outlier on the center right is unofficially named “Needle Peak” (not Spar Mountain as the Sunshine Resort’s signs erroneously suggest).

To the west, the Monarch presents an imposing east-facing wall of rock. Beyond and to its left, Mount Shanks’ snowy summit is just visible.

Nearby Twin Cairns is a lovely backcountry destination during the winter months when Banff National Park allows visitors to leave the confines of the Sunshine Meadows trail system.

After enjoying Standish Hump’s uncharacteristically accessible summit views and a snack, we started down its backside surrounded by grand vistas, colorful wildflowers and mosquitoes 🦟. BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF BLOODTHIRSTY, BUZZING BASTARDS. The scene above may look serene but, sadly, it was anything but. Worse still, our Deet supply seemed full but proved to be empty leaving us completely unprotected from the swarming horde of blood-suckers. 😭

LEFT: As we descended, I attempted to distract myself by photographing the meadows’ myriad of wildflowers. Pasque flowers proved prolific and their muppet-like appearance continues to amuse my inner child to this day.
RIGHT: My children will keenly point out that paintbrushes are edible. Sadly, the mosquitoes were so bad that even they didn’t stop to forage.

LEFT: Carpets of avens…
RIGHT: … Broken up only by the occasional buttercup.

Postcard-worthy views of Rock Isle Lake’s vibrant waters on a scorching HOT afternoon ☀️🥵. Sadly, these have been deemed off-limits for swimming as the hordes of chairlift-riders (including us) would no doubt turn this beautiful scene into a busy beach. Still, as the thermometer edged above 30 degrees C and the sun beat down upon us mercilessly, it seemed cruel to present us with an alpine tarn and no option to dive in!

LEFT: Parks Canada’s “Stay on Trail” signs must have been designed to appeal innately to 4-year-olds. Penny was obsessed with them (and they were everywhere)!
RIGHT: Penny, Mera and “Goaty” 🐐 enjoying the view of roped-off Rock Isle Lake.

The panorama of Rock Isle Lake (with the rope artfully cropped out 🙃). Click to see larger.

LEFT: Continuing beyond Rock Isle Lake, we soon reached the junction with the Howard Douglas Lake trail. Sadly, by this point the likelihood of reaching the 4.4-km-distant lake seemed low. It was unbearably hot 🥵, the mosquitoes were relentless 🦟 and our children were taking turns being absolutely (and perhaps understandably) miserable 😩.
RIGHT: In spite of the above, Mera sets off across scenic meadows towards Howard Douglas Lake.

Fast-forward 5 minutes: Nope. Not doing it. Heading back! I’d generally hike through anything but, with an unhappy wife, 2 unhappy kids and no prospect of escaping from the godawful mosquitoes, the time/effort required to reach Howard Douglas Lake simply weren’t worth it.

LEFT: Rather than simply hiking back down to the gondola, we decided to retrace our steps so that the kids could enjoy another chairlift ride (this time down from Standish Hump). One of the benefits of this decision was that we got to enjoy scenic Rock Isle Lake one more time. 😍
RIGHT: The trail system in the immediate vicinity of Sunshine Village was obviously designed with idiots in mind. Note the simple 3-way intersections with multiple redundant signs (each said the same thing). Better still, about 100 m uphill, there’s another intersection with 3 equally redundant signs. Even I managed to navigate here without getting lost! 🙃

Penny reascends the wildflower-littered backside of Standish Hump. Hiking about 100 vertical meters back up Standish, at least, made me feel slightly better about claiming it as a summit. 😂

Nearing the hump’s apex, the million dollar view towards Rock Isle Lake, Laryx Lake and Grizzly Lake eased the pain associated with turning around earlier than I’d hoped. Better still, beyond the lakes, some cool peaks were visible! From left to right: the Towers (distant), Quartz Hill, Mount Assiniboine, Quartz Ridge, Simpson Ridge, Indian Peak, Octopus Mountain, Mount Harkin, Mount Daer, Lachine Mountain, Mount Selkirk, Catlin Peak, Needle Peak and Split Mountain (distant).

Eagle Mountain (left) and Mount Howard Douglas (right) tower above Brianne and Mera as they make their way back to the hump’s high point.

With the chairlift in sight, the end to a scenic but miserable day was at hand.

LEFT and RIGHT: Cheating… 🙃

Brianne, Penny and Mera enjoy their scenic “flight” down. In the morning, $149 for lift passes seemed pretty steep but I think we’d have paid double that to escape the mosquitoes by the end of our modest hike! 😬

Even a day that didn’t go as planned can be salvaged with ice cream 🍦 (and beer 🍻) at the Three Bears Brewery in Banff! Having all cooled off with our treat of choice, it was time to return home and liberally apply After Bite. Good riddance (until next time) Sunshine Meadows! 🙃