Stelfox, Mount

✕

The fall of 2024 shifted the trajectory of my life dramatically. I discovered while bagging my first summit Red Peak
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I frittered away time at home for a few weeks thereafter, increasingly fed up with my lack of strength or ability to get outdoors, and finally decided it was about time to get back into the alpine. Words flew thick and fast, and when the dust finally settled, I hopped in my car along with the same brother who accompanied me on Coliseum and a coworker from the summer's internship, leaving at a not-so-bright-and-early 5:30 AM to day-trip from Edmonton to the HWY 11 area.

We reached the trailhead at 1000hrs, quickly retrieving what little gear we had and hitting the trail. I had insisted on helmets for the group, but otherwise had very little idea what I was doing - nor did anyone else! Thankfully I had recently discovered Vern DeWit's Explor8ion blog, and had his route description Stelfox, Mount
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Starting out at the waste management center.

Starting out at the waste management center. ✕

Growing up as acreage kids gave us decent stamina, regular alpine travellers or not, and we breezed past the waste management zone and set out down the ATV trail / cutline. It was impressively wide, but with a but too many larger rocks for easy ATV travel. I suspect a fatbike, if allowed, could be of some use on a trail like this.

The trail is wide but a bit rough for ATV use. Fatbiking may be possible here. The trail is wide but a bit rough for ATV use. Fatbiking may be possible here. ✕

Further in, the cutline improves dramatically and just keeps going, seemingly forever. Further in, the cutline improves dramatically and just keeps going, seemingly forever. ✕

We struggled to stay on-trail as it wove in and out of the trees alongside the creek; I believe in retrospect nearly two years later that this was simply our inexperienced eyes leading us astray, rather than the trail being particularly difficult to follow. Fortunately the creekbed was likewise fairly easy to travel, though we certainly didn't move as fast as we'd have liked!

In less than two hours' time we spotted flagging tape marking the exit from the trail (I overshot - credit to my brother for spotting it!) and headed west, passing by a makeshift campsite that I suspect Vern used, before crossing the creek and heading up the Whitegoat Pass.

We occasionally lost the trail, not that it mattered much. The creekbed is quite passable on its own. We occasionally lost the trail, not that it mattered much. The creekbed is quite passable on its own. ✕

A makeshift campsite on the route to Whitegoat Pass. A makeshift campsite on the route to Whitegoat Pass. ✕

The trail to the pass starts out as a blocky creekbed. The trail to the pass starts out as a blocky creekbed. ✕

The trail up the pass was faint at times and obvious at others, with stiff brush getting in the way far more often than was desirable. As has become my tradition in the Rockies, I was wearing shorts and took the brunt of this on my legs, while my companions fared much better in pants!

Testing the capabilities of my $300 phone's camera. It worked in ideal situations, but I'm extremely glad to have since upgraded to a Pixel 8 Pro. Testing the capabilities of my $300 phone's camera. It worked in ideal situations, but I'm extremely glad to have since upgraded to a Pixel 8 Pro. ✕

Dense bush reaches over the trail and gives me a good scratching. Dense bush reaches over the trail and gives me a good scratching. ✕

We hemmed and hawed when the GPX track headed up a scree slope with visible cliffs at the top, before I stopped to review my map and realized it was a shortcut around denser forest. Rather than toy around with routefinding, given our lack of experience we opted to follow Vern's easy-rated track.

The track led perfectly over some easy slabs and into the ascent gully, which we proceeded to toil up for the next 2 1/2 hours. Acreage kids or not, we were used to flat land and this was definitely not it.

Starting up the ascent gully. The summit has to be just around the corner... Right? Starting up the ascent gully. The summit has to be just around the corner... Right? ✕

Still toiling up the gully much later. Still toiling up the gully much later. ✕

After convincing ourselves that the summit had to be right around the corner again, and again, and again, we finally popped out above the ridgeline a full five hours after leaving the parking lot, with jaw-dropping views across Abraham Lake, towards the Icefields, and deeper into the Whitegoat Wilderness alike.

Panoramic views over Abraham Lake and deeper into DTC, including a few summits that have yet to be ascended as far as my research shows...

Panoramic views over Abraham Lake and deeper into DTC, including a few summits that have yet to be ascended as far as my research shows... ✕

This was by far the best summit view I'd seen to date, so rather than head back down quickly we opted to have lunch. I decided I'd try my hand at taking photos to stitch later, and...

Well...

Pardon the comically obvious stitching errors. A younger me didn't quite compute how to properly capture for a panorama.

Pardon the comically obvious stitching errors. A younger me didn't quite compute how to properly capture for a panorama. ✕

Yeah. It turns out you have to stand in one spot if you want to make a panorama. Who would have thought?

After taking in the views of what would quickly become my least-explored and yet most heavily studied area of the Rockies (don't worry - I'm fixing that first bit come summer 2026), we began our descent - slowly and painstakingly, given the copious amount of rubble we had to descend, sans trekking poles, and equipped with bog-standard "hikers" that provide exactly zero traction on limestone.

Rather than return across the blockier terrain, we had energy left to be curious and decided to follow our descent gully all the way to ground level. This turned out to be completely fine, and rewarded us with a small water source to boot - in September no less.

Looking back up our alternate descent route. Looking back up our alternate descent route. ✕

The sun hangs low in the sky as we exit. The sun hangs low in the sky as we exit. ✕

Returning along the pass through more miserably scratchy bush. Returning along the pass through more miserably scratchy bush. ✕

We made it back to the car - this time, managing to stay on the trail almost the entire time - by 8PM. I reconciled myself to the fact that I'd be driving over 400km past midnight to get home, and we hopped on the road with grins still plastered onto our faces from the day's journey.

Even with that late night in mind, we stopped on the shoulder of HWY 11 once we'd passed Nordegg, got out of the car, and gazed out at the Milky Way through the cloudless sky. I'm just barely old enough to remember a time before LED street and vehicle lighting, when you could drive just a few minutes away from the city and look up at uncountable stars in the Milky Way. Now it usually takes an hour or more's travel away from any major town or city to escape the light pollution :(

Thanks to a generous dosage of caffeine from the Tim's in Rocky, I survived the drive home comfortably, and - if memory serves - arrived at around 1 AM. If you think this punishing drive was a deterrent from spending more time in the alpine, you'd best think again! I was out just two days later attempting Abraham Mountain in a similar day trip.