“Sofa East” and Sofa Mountain III
June 20, 2020
Mountain heights: 2400 m, 2515 m
Total elevation gain: approximately 1100 m
Roundtrip time:
8:50
Scrambling with Mark.
Sometimes, blinded by my obsession to seek out
colourful rock, I miss some of the other scenic aspects of the mountain
environment. For example, the lush greens of late spring in Waterton.
Fortunately, for Mark and me, not only did we experience of lush greens, but
also a healthy dose of amazing rock, while attempting this experimental route
up the north face of Sofa Mountain.
The route was Mark’s idea, having spotted a
conspicuous red argillite gully up the face of Sofa on Google Earth – yes, he
is not immune to the lure of red argillite either! The trip started with the
pleasant hike to the base of Sofa. The “pleasant” turned into “sublime” as we
approached the base. Sofa Mountain has never made it onto my list of “Most
Colourful Mountains” (Pincher Ridge, Prairie Bluff, Mount Henkel, Yarrow Ridge,
The Muffin and The Croissant, Allen Mountain, Victoria Peak and Ridge, to name but
a handful), but that changed near the base. The green slopes of grass and vegetation
rising upslope and then disappearing into the various hues of beige, brown, and
red rock was more than enough to alter my opinion of the misjudged mountain.
After gaining some elevation, we then started a
long traverse across the north face of the objective, aiming for the red
argillite gully. We didn’t make it there. A small drainage caught our eye and
by the time we had finished checking it out we were well upslope and above the
gully. Fortunately, the drainage had provided not only a good dose of red
argillite, but also numerous other scenic treasures.
Approaching the seemingly “steep enough to
require a rope” section, we were pleasantly surprised to find an easy scramble
route through the difficulties. It appeared a long but straightforward ascent
along the ridge to the summit was “in the bag” – or was it?
To our utter surprise, we reached to the ridge
to find a pinnacle of near vertical rock barring the way. The rope and gear we
had with us (and our limited climbing skills!) were no match for this pinnacle. Circumventing
the pinnacle appeared to require a significant elevation loss with the
possibility of being stopped by an equally formidable wall lower down.
We decided to give that route a go but not
before making a quick side trip to the high point to the east. That quick trip
was not so quick – foreshortened with a couple of false summits, more elevation
gain than we thought and some exposed, tricky terrain to negotiate. Nevertheless,
it brought us to the highest point on the east end of Sofa Mountain and felt
like a significant summit in itself – “Sofa East”, we’ll call it.
Turning our attention back to the true summit
of Sofa, we embarked on a long, side-sloping traverse to get around the obstacle.
The route was easier than expected and in fact we probably could have regained
the ridge right after the pinnacle. Deteriorating weather rendered the
remainder of the route to the summit somewhat anti-climactic when compared to
what preceded it, but at this point it was nice to be on easy, familiar
terrain.
After a long summit stay, we took the “normal”
route down, encountering a surprisingly large number of people on descent. Again,
the not so stellar weather detracted from the excellent rock scenery along this
route, but we were both tired and happy to be granted an easy way off the
mountain.
A superb day of exploration on a mountain I
will not misjudge again!
The objective, as seen from the parking area
"Sofa East" - we ended up ascending a gully at the right and then traversing over and up to the low point in the centre
Off we go
The far east end of the peak appeared to offer easier access to the summit if the route straight up didn't work
Beautiful spring greens and a terrific view of Sofa
Getting closer. The "normal" scramble route goes up the obvious diagonal from right to left.
Nice foreshadowing of things to come in terms of colourful
Looking down at the waterfall
Slick ascent up a big snow patch over the stream that bisects the valley
\
Another beautiful viewpoint
The other scramble route to the summit at the left
The long traverse across the lower slopes begins. We were aiming for the gully that is barely visible at the far left.
Amazing rock lines the face we are traversing below
Mark approaches the gully that we thankfully got suckered into
The trickle of water coming down doesn't look that impressive from afar
Steep, little slog to get to the water
The waterfall looks much better up-close
Continuing up alongside the watercourse
Traversing over to the other side of the gully
It's red argillite time!!
Heading up the colourful rock with the also colourful prairies in the background
More fantastic water scenery
The clouds started to build at this point, but only enhanced the scenery (initially, that is!)
Love the red argillite and the green vegetation - it's always Christmas in Waterton!
Mark leads the way towards a weakness in the steep rock band that lines the upper north face
Thinking about how these thin layers of rock were formed still blows my mind!
Typical terrain on the upper part of the north face
Mark scrambles up good rock
I took a more questionable line up loose rock
But it had cool views!
Continuing up
Looking down to the red argillite gully we intended to ascend
Hoping there is a weakness through the rock ahead
There it is, to the left
Mark takes the final few victorious steps to the ridge and an easy stroll to the summit
(or does he??)
Click HERE to see a video of those steps
The summit of Sofa....
....and the insurmountable obstacle that separates us from the summit
Going the other way to check out Sofa East
Kept looking back at the pinnacle to see if there was a weakness (and because it's just a beautiful chuck of rock!)
Traversing the surprisingly long and not so easy ridge
The summit of Sofa East is still far off
Not there yet, but a nice high point
Some tricky terrain to negotiate. It's exposed on both sides.
Lichen covered rock and, once, again, our intended ascent gully
Mark at the summit of Sofa East, and the view to the west
The other guy at the summit and the view to the south and southwest
Lots of colourful rock at the end of Sofa East
Descending through a jumble of big, sharp boulders
Skirting around the rock band that guards the summit
More weaving between the blocky rock
Back on the ridge, looking down to Sofa East
Easy terrain from here to the summit (left)
Sofa East again
Sofa East (far right) is now quite distant
The left side of the mountain is very impressive
Much flatter on the right side
The view to the west includes the super interesting ridge that goes to the summit of Vimy Ridge
Summit
Most of the summit view features mountains in Glacier National Park, Montana
Miche Wabun Peak
Chief Mountain
Mark enjoys the view, even with the cloud cover
The other guy seems happy too
Heading back along the ridge
Another look at the deep valley that separates Sofa East from the true summit
And another with some snow
Looking along the north face, with Sofa East at the end
View to the north from the top of the normal ascent route
Staying near the ridge for the best views
Last look at the colourful north face we used as an ascent route
Fun descent on blocky terrain
Almost down
Water refill at the stream
Home time
A mob of other scramblers follow behind us
Last look at the objective
The End
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