Cave Mountain
Trip Report
Unless you paid close attention on your hike into the Assiniboine area via Assiniboine Pass, you will likely never know first hand where Cave Mountain gets its name from. Obviously there are caves somewhere on this hunk of rock, but it's so gently angled from the west that it seems doubtful they are of any substantial quality. Since we knew the name of the mountain before we headed up Assiniboine Pass on our trek into the park, we were actually looking for caves on it's much steeper south and eastern aspects. We spotted more than one deep cave and I wonder how far in they go? Would be interesting to explore but since I'm very claustrophobic you won't catch me attempting that any time soon.
Cave Mountain could just as easily be called 'Bump Mountain' or 'Slog Mountain' or 'Easy Mountain' but 'Cave' has a nicer ring to it - I admit! We didn't encounter any problems at all with the ascent, just the snow made it a bit more work than usual. There are some massive cairns near the top and interestingly enough the biggest cairn is not on the high point. Either that ascent party had more of a whiteout than we did or they just didn't care. Probably the latter.
I'm sure the views are stunning off this mountain but we didn't get very many. The most we managed was a dramatic glimpse of the sheer cliffs on the north side and a few pictures illustrating them.
We descended a drainage system on the west side and rejoined the Og Pass trail after a very mild bushwhack before heading back to the warmth of our cabin. Unless you're a consummate peak-bagger, there are few reasons to ascend Cave Mountain other than to claim that you did it. Of course with nice weather it may be a different story, but then if you've got nice weather why aren't you on something a wee bit grander?
Jon heads down from Og Mountain to Og Pass. Cave Mountain looms in front of him.
Rod and Jon head for the weakness we spotted on the Northwest end of Cave Mountain.
It's a wee bit of a plod!
And you're never quite there! Easy though and with clear weather the views would be amazing.
Jon heads up the final slope on Cave Mountain.
Rod follows. Og Mountain is buried in cloud to the right.
Jon at the main cairn on Cave Mountain.
Jon reaches the small cairn at the highest point on Cave Mountain.
Rod makes his way over from the large cairn to the highest point.
There's quite a drop off on the north side of Cave! Rod and Jon pose with Jon's amazing cairn building skills. I wonder if it's melted by now?
Vern on Cave Mountain.
The boys pose on our last summit of the trip.
Heading back down towards the Assiniboine flats and Og Pass trail.
Looking back up at where we came from.
Back to a warm cabin! 
Rod nears a junction in the trail. Og Mountain behind him.
Heading back through the gap.
The cave is called "dry" or