Sofa Mountain Reconnaissance III

    

November 9, 2025
 
Elevation gain:  approximately 600 m
Ascent time:     3:30
Descent time:   2:10
 
Solo scramble.
 
Mark and I had explored some of the terrain around the southeast side of Sofa Mountain many years ago but found the approach to be quite challenging. We had also ascended Sofa from the east, finding a less challenging but very interesting approach. With this November day dawning overcast and summit fever not a fever at all, combining the best elements of both routes seemed like a good plan. If all went smoothly there even existed the possibility of ascending a minor outlier on Sofa’s southeast side.
 
In short, all went smoothly, but the outlier was considerably out of reach for the day and would much better be approached from the summit of Sofa Mountain.
 
I took a slightly different route than our 2022 one, but ended up ascending that same drainage, about halfway across the east face. This only increased my motivation to return on a perfectly clear day and just explore this area. The drainage is lined with all manner of colourful Southern Alberta rock. To add the that, the next drainage over is a red argillite delight! A return trip was in the making long before I reached my turnaround point.
 
After crossing all the aforementioned terrain, I eventually arrived at a stunning group of pinnacles and other rocky curiosities. Travel slowed down quite a bit here because of the need to explore and the more challenging terrain underfoot. An attempt to get to the outlier was quickly abandoned. I did continue on, hoping to get a good look at the route I would not be trying. That look confirmed this would not be the desired route to the outlier. More or less, I retraced my steps for the return trip, though staying lower on the slopes made travel a little faster.
 
The overall route failed, but I will be back to check out more of that fascinating east face and the outlier will be attempted from another direction, hopefully in the summer of 2026.

Beautiful Sunrise, but looks like the cloudy forecast will come to fruition



First good view of Sofa Mountain's east side



Zoomed-in shot of the destination - the pinnacles at the lower left



Zoomed-out - the destination is still a fair distance away (again at the far left)



Passing by the waterfall, with the first route I took up Sofa with Jodi many years  ago, in the background



Same as above



The ridge above looks intriguing



As does this water/ice feature we visited on a previous trip



I didn't intend to ascend the drainage, but just like last time, resistance was futile!



Nice rock in the drainage



The view to the north opens up a little, but that's pretty much it



Close-up of the ice I'm going to check out



The rock on the left side is impressive but needs clear skies above



Icy terrain ahead



The frozen waterfalls



One of them



The other is really just a seepage



The snow on those slopes will be gone by the time I return



Following the obvious gully up



Minor detour to check out the frozen waterfall and a section of extraordinary rock



This rock



And this



Ditto



Double ditto



Back to the gully, which is very scenic too



At the top, looking back



Another round of cool rock







Resuming travel across the face, but looking up to the route Mark and I took



Now looking across the terribly boring-looking route



But of course there is nothing boring in Waterton!











Following this gully up would lead right to the route up to the ridge



Looking down the gully



The Lower Waterton Lake and the northeast end of Waterton in the distance



Mount Blakiston (left) and Anderson Peak (right)



Looking up the next gully



Close-up of the ridge above



One of the pinnacles is finally within striking distance



Now at the pinnacle section



The steep walls above



Approaching the pinnacles



There they are



The coolest of the lot



The terrain around the pinnacles is also very interesting



The coolest from the other side



And from a slightly different angle



Leaving the pinnacles



But there's still lots of interesting terrain







Close-up of Chief Mountain











Now trying to see if that outlier of Sofa is a possibility



There's the outlier, but it's quite far away and would require significant effort to reach, with a big elevation loss en route



Sarcee Mountain in Glacier National Park



A bizarre patch of dark dirt/rock



This shows the route to the outlier more clearly



Sofa East above, but no scramble route to get there



Heading back, but via a slightly different route



Sofa East again



Oops! Perhaps the alternate route was a bad idea. Thankfully this severe section of deadfall was short-lived.



Onto easier terrain



Bellevue Hill right behind the lake



The ridge in front can be accessed from the end of the Sofa Mountain Trail



Looking back at the pinnacles



Close-up of one



My ascent route went across the face, about a third of the way up



Recrossing all those scenic gullies, but much lower down



A few random rock down low











Fine, cushiony dirt to traverse



My footprints in the dirt



Back to the waterfall



Parting look at Sofa Mountain and the day's route

The End

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