Sofa Mountain II

Sofa Mountain II, Vimy Ridge attempt

August 15, 2010

Mountain height:                 2515 m
Total elevation gain:           approx. 1250 m
Ascent time to Sofa:            2:35
Failed traverse time: 1:45
Descent time from Sofa:    2:00

Solo scramble.

Other commitments prevented me from starting this trip at a reasonable time and so I left the car at a very late 2:30 pm. The obvious objective of the trip was to check out a potential high-level traverse from Sofa Mountain to Vimy Ridge. As such I took the quickest route possible to the summit of Sofa, via the same route Bob Spirko had used as a descent route on his trip earlier in the summer. The route was an excellent one, with interesting rock and opportunities to engage in some enjoyable hands-on scrambling, or bypassing the tougher sections altogether.

Unfortunately, the ascent took longer than expected and by the time I left the summit of Sofa, the remainder of the trip had already been downgraded to a recon mission. I was only able to complete a small section of the traverse, but what I did complete was interesting and quite scenic. When the ridge narrowed and my pace slowed down because of that, it was time to turn around. Beyond the narrow ridge there appeared to be some even more challenging terrain, that I would have liked plenty of time to tackle.

The descent of Sofa was perhaps the most scenic part of the day, as the clouds dissipated and the Sun lit up the colourful rock of Sofa’s east side.

Certainly not the adventurous day I was looking forward to, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

The east side of Sofa