Sofa Mountain

Sofa (King) Mountain – May 20, 2006

Mountain height:       2,515 m (8,249 ft)
Elevation gain:           900 m
Ascent time:              3:50
Descent time:            3:15

Scrambling with Jodi.

More about the name change later….I am in fact referring to Sofa Mountain in Waterton.

If you don’t mind 3 plus hours of tedious hiking to enjoy the 20 minutes of great scrambling the mountain has to offer, this is a worthwhile day out. In actual fact, Sofa Mountain does offer a great deal more and both Jodi and I enjoyed the interesting trip.

“Interesting” would be a very polite way to describe the first hour of the day – “Hellish” would be more accurate. Using a route suggested by Dave Stephens, we parked at the viewpoint along the Chief Mountain Parkway. Had I actually read Dave’s description, we might have avoided an hour of miserable bushwhacking and climbing over deadfall. Having neglected to read the part about following a trail from the viewpoint, however, I just led Jodi right into the thick bush, thinking I could easily navigate us through it and to the start of the northeast ridge. We were up and down and left and right and all over the place for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, we did hit a clearing that granted us a clear view of the ridge and after more tedious bushwhacking, we traversed into a gully on the right side of the ridge. A slog alongside a drainage followed and then the fun started.

Scrambling up the northeast ridge was fantastic. The terrain was steep in places, however, the rock was surprisingly solid and very enjoyable to ascend. This section was also much longer than we thought it would be and after scrambling up one rock band, another would appear. Of course, it would have be great if that kind the terrain had led us all the way to the summit, however, all too quickly it ended and we topped out at the north summit.

The 2 km hike from the north summit to the true summit was just that – a hike, and a very easy one at that. Thankfully, terrific, though cloudy, views kept us entertained, as did that many “Sofa King” jokes that came spewing out: “The scrambling was Sofa King good”, “At the summit, enjoy a Sofa King great view”, “That bushwhacking was Sofa King tedious!” (CJ 92 listeners will get this). By the time we arrived at the summit, we had decided to officially add “King” to the name of the peak and so from now on, one is royally privileged to ascend regal “Sofa King Mountain”, in all his majesty! Long live Sofa King Mountain!

The summit view was pretty decent considering the increasing cloud to the west. Mount Cleveland and Chief Mountain were very prominent and striking. Of particularly interest was the long ridge connecting Sofa King Mountain to Vimy Ridge and Peak. With more time, less snow, and better weather conditions we may have made the attempt, however, it was clear that some very nasty weather was pouring in from the west and we didn’t want to be the first persons killed by lightning on Sofa King Mountain.

Initially, we returned the way we came, downclimbing the enjoyable northeast ridge. Once down, we opted to head a little south and then follow a drainage out, avoiding most of the dreaded bushwhacking further north. This was a great descent line. Two beautiful waterfalls provided a scenic diversion and good animal trails eased the drudgery. Though still quite long, it was a welcome alternative to our most unaesthetic ascent approach. We soon found the highway and walked about 1.5 km back to the car.

As usual, Jodi was wonderful company, keeping me appeased by laughing at my lame jokes, that we determined was classic “dry”, British humor (well.... maybe not classic, but at least "dry"). Overall, a “Sofa King” great day.