El Diablo at Sun Peaks Ski Resort.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Shawn Hamilton

For years, skiers and snowboarders at Sun Peaks Resort have been greeted by the mountain’s own devil.

A grouse, aptly named “El Diablo,” Spanish for the devil, is known for his less-than-angelic behaviour around the resort.

Sun Peaks resident Lois Costello said she and her husband spotted El Diablo over Christmas break and have known of the grouse for the last three years.

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“When you’re coming down the run, there’s a particular spot he likes to hang out in… and if you stop, he’ll come out,” she said.

“It’ll walk around behind you and peck at your pants, it’s being fairly aggressive,” said her husband Dave Carlson. “I’ve encountered him about four times, five times this year… he can be fairly aggressive when he’s trying to protect his territory."

“He’s quite devilish and a very pretty bird up close, he’s got red on his cheeks and he’s a pretty darn big bird too,” Costello said.

Sun Peaks ski patrol director Charles “Pip” Albrow, who has been with the ski resort since 2013, said the El Diablo has been around for years, in one form or another.

The first El Diablo grouse was originally found on Tod Mountain in one of the Green Door areas, he said.

“It’s pretty common behaviour for a grouse to get a bit territorial and try to chase away anything it deems as a threat and as far as the grouse is concerned, it always wins since we always leave," Albrow said.

Members of the ski patrol dubbed it El Diablo and every now and then, another grouse will emerge to reclaim the name. The current one is located along the Grand Return run.

In the last few years, ski patrol put up a sign warning skiers and snowboarders about the aggressive grouse, fuelling their fame on the mountain.

“It can be a little intimidating but isn’t causing any major problems,” Albrow said.

Albrow has his own experience with the aggressive bird. 

“You start off thinking that bird’s not shy, it starts walking toward you and gets up a bit of speed and jumps and flaps its wings,” he said.

Although there are other animals on the mountain that have gained names, like a bear in the summer named Cinnamon, no other animal has gained this “cult-like” status, Albrow said.

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