Climbing Adventures

Mt. Robson, Mt. Athabasca & Edith Cavell, August 2003

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Robson...The hike in...

Our third attempt at Mt. Robson, 12,792' in the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Hence, it is first to get all the weather from the moist Pacific airmasses. Nonetheless, for the second time, we arrived in the parking lot to find clear skys and a great view of the peak as we prepared to start the long hike in.  A local climber stopped by to motivate us by saying we just missed two straight weeks of clear weather! Oh well. We were determined to try anyway. The hike begins by crossing the raging Robson river. While it may be only 30 or so yards wide, it is decidedly frigid water moving at an incredibly fast pace. The trail initially follows an old road for 4 kilometers to Kinney Lake. This part of the hike is generally a very mild uphill with plenty of flat sections to admire the abundant flora and raging river.
Our first view of Kinney Lake. The reflections in Kinney Lake this Friday, Aug 8th, were quite spectacular. Mike scored one of the best pictures of the trip with this image of Kinney Lake.
The amount of moss and lush vegitation is quite amazing! Devil's Club and lush berries (for the bears to enjoy--rather than us climbers)! Numerous bridges spanned otherwise unpassable sections of the river. On our 2nd Robson attempt several years ago it was these bridges that had been washed out by torrential rains.
Perhaps the mosting interesting bridge we had to cross. The hike in follows what is termed "The Valley of a Thousand Falls." Here we see several waterfalls, one of which must be running through a recent landslide as the creek coming in in the center of the picture is really, really muddy. Dan taking a break at White Falls. It is a long uphill grind at this point.
A view of Emperor Falls with Mt. Robson rising above the falls. Mt. Robson, our trail, the Emperor Face on Mt. Robson and the Mist Glacier. Berg Lake, a popular camping stop, was as far as we got the first day. Perhaps 13 to 15 miles of hiking with several thousand feet of altitude gain had us whipped. To make matters worse, a Marmot or other creature ate holes in my pack and Mike's and finished off about 4 pounds of M&M's that we worked so hard to carry in!
In 1911 the Robson Glacier was at this point. Now it's perhaps a mile or more distant in the center of the picture! Finally we get onto the lower Robson Glacier. At this point the glacier is bare ice, where we can step over any small crevasses; no rope is necessary on this section. Our first view of Extinguisher Tower (pyramid-shaped peak at left side of picture) and the Kain Face on Robson (snow at upper right of picture).
Mike has trouble with his crampon falling off as we exit the lower Robson Glacier and begin our short hike up to the Extinguisher Tower campsite. After we get off of the lower Robson Glacer, we have to slog up to a camping stop below what is called Extinguisher Tower. Our campsite below Extinguisher Tower with Mt. Robson in the background.
A view down the lower Robson glacier from our camp at Extinguisher Tower. Mike and Dan ready to head up the upper Robson Glacier (off photo to the right) with another group of climbers from Seattle's tent in the background. We're roped up at this point where we start to encounter larger crevasses.
Now the crevasses get really large! We're heading up to the ridge to camp. Travel from Ext. Twr to the ridge was approximately 4 hours. Setting up the tent on the Robson-Resplendent col (ridge). The weather giving us the first taste of what the next few days would be like.
Next...weather and the long hike out...Back to the trailhead

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