Canmore Runner

Known locally as EEOR, there is nothing gloomy, depressing or otherwise donkey-like about the East End of Rundle. On the contrary, it’s short, steep and spectacular. At an altitude of 2,530m, EEOR looms large over Canmore, along with its fellow Canmore Quad peaks of Ha Ling, Lady Mac and Grotto. The 2.5km trail to the summit (with 899m of elevation) is steep and shaded to begin. But it soon emerges from the trees to reveal spectacular views of the Spray Valley, Ha Ling and – once you’ve scrambled to the summit – Canmore and the Bow Valley. If it’s not on your list of short, steep and spectacular runs, it should be.

On Strava, it all looks like this:

I began from the Goat Creek Day Use area, off Spray Lakes Road or Highway 742 that runs out of Canmore and into the Spray Valley. The trail head is relatively easy to find and is located a couple of hundred metres back up Spray Lakes Road towards Canmore:

The trail is well defined, steep, twisty and rooty to begin with and nicely shaded. Try not to be to put off by the possibility of finding an unexploded bomb:

Before too long, you’ll emerge from the trees to be confronted by some steep sections and fantastic views of the Spray Valley and Ha Ling:

Continue to follow the trail upwards and onwards to a beautiful alpine meadow. Once at the meadow, follow the trail up towards the rather imposing rock face ahead of you. The grass and dirt soon give way to more scree-like conditions as you approach the face. Once at the face, the trail, such as it is, travels up and and to the right and involves some hands on action:

Keep heading up and to the right and before too long you’ll find yourself at the summit with its truly breathtaking views:

From the summit, you can continue west and embark upon the technical and tricky Rundle Traverse. Alternatively, you could just get on with retracing your steps along the fast, if at times, technical descent back down. Just be sure to keep an eye out for any unexploded bombs.