Fortress Mountain, East Face, Fryatt Group, 1988. On August 24, 1988, Jon Turk and I climbed a 15-pitch rock route on the tower which comprises the east face of Fortress Mountain. We approached by hiking from Sunwapta Falls up the Athabasca River, which we crossed on the footbridge just above the confluence with the Chaba River. We continued up the Chaba to the base of the face. We began on the right side of the face and continued upward for several pitches to an obvious chimney, which provided three pitches of fast, third-class climbing. Above, the route continued directly up and to the right of a large roof system. We ended our climb at the top of the tower at a large plateau the size of several football fields. The summit is far to the west beyond the plateau. The lower two-thirds is on excellent quartzite and provides fine rock climbing. The upper third is on densely fractured interbedded quartzite and argillite, which is loose and delicate in places. (IV, 5.9.)

Gray Thompson