⚠️ Hiking and scrambling are inherently dangerous activities. Please read my Disclaimer. ⚠️
After enjoying the views from the summit of ‘Table Top’ and building a small cairn (which we discovered could be seen from the summit of Whistler Mountain), we then continued along The Whistler Loop towards our next destination: another unofficial summit that we named, ‘Eagle Peak’ (right of centre).
‘Eagle Peak’ was destination number 2 for the day. It is the slightly higher peak along the connecting ridge between ‘Table Top’ and Whistler Mountain. At 2281m it is also slightly higher than ‘Table Top’ as well as the nearby official summit of Whistler Mountain (2201m). Some people only count summits that are officially named, but I’ve always been of the opinion that there are many destinations which don’t have names, but are worthy achievements nonetheless. Besides, when they happen to be higher than a neighbouring official summit, that must count for something.
After leaving ‘Table Top’, there was a 200m elevation loss and gain along the connecting ridge. Here, Jeff downclimbs a short, but steep cliff band.
Looking towards the first high point along the ridge as we continue to lose elevation. To save time and because it appeared that this peak was slightly lower than ‘Eagle Peak’ (though they are probably with a few metres of each other), we used some handy goat trails to bypass the summit and continue on to ‘Eagle Peak’. In hindsight, I wish we would have ascended this too, but in the moment of the situation, we wanted to conserve energy as we weren’t sure how long our total route would be.
Looking past the first high point to ‘Eagle Peak’. Good goat trails make for easy hiking. We named it ‘Eagle Peak’ because earlier in the day we saw an extremely large golden eagle soaring above this location. The entire area is a known migration route for golden eagles, particularly the south end of the Livingstone Range.
Looking back and to the west as Jeff traverses below the first high point. Our fourth destination of the day, the old Whistler Fire Lookout, is on the left.
Heading to the summit of ‘Eagle Peak’. West Castle, one of two peaks on Lys Ridge is in the centre.
Looking west from the summit of ‘Eagle Peak’. In the foreground is our 3rd destination of the day, Whistler Mountain. According to some topo maps, the official summit of Whistler Mountain is the peak in the foreground. According to other, including my gps, the official summit is the second peak. Since we had to cross over both peaks along our route, it didn’t matter to us. We did find the remains of a registry canister on the second peak so I’m going to say that this was the official summit.
Looking back along the ridge to the north. You can see a very visble goat track which traverses the entire ridge. ‘Table Top’ is hidden behind the unamed high point in the middle.
My gps reading on the summit of ‘Eagle Peak’. It was a 2.2 km hike from the summit of ‘Table Top’ to the summit of ‘Eagle Peak’ and 7.03 km from our vehicle.
Looking east from the summit towards Mount Gladstone (left), “Larry Mountain” (centre), and “Frankie Peak” (right). Prairie Bluff Mountain is barely visible on the far left.
Jeff stands on the unofficial summit of ‘Eagle Peak’. It looked like someone had made a small cairn at one time, so we didn’t feel the need to make another.
Looking west from the summit down the valley. This is also a good overview of the entire Whistler Loop. After spending a brief time on the summit of ‘Eagle Peak’, we then headed to our next destination: Whistler Mountain (Click).
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