Robson Skimountaineering

Some times everything seems to come at once and it gets a bit tricky to find the right balance between conditions and life. With life taking all but one day my brother Andreas and I realized the conditions were in for a ski descent. With our time frame we decided to take a late afternoon bump up to the Robson Resplendent Col. From here we climbed over the ridge and onto the dome where we were able to rest a little and enjoy the full moon before heading up the Kain face. Clouds building we took advantage of the full moon and started out before light climbing the Kain face as the sun started to crest.

Enjoying a solid freeze with no ice we were able to make quick work of the Kain and before long found ourself's floundering on the "roof" in Robson's infamous cloud cap. Working up the ridge and around big serac's we came across the summit at 8:45 a bit earlier then expected.

Waiting an hour and a half for a clearing that never came we decided to ski off the summit in less then ideal conditions.

Taking care not to lose an edge on frozen snow we weaved through the seracs and down the ridge. About half way down we came into some clearing and had a really enjoyable ski to the top of the Kain. Still frozen we waited another hour and a half for it to corn up alittle.

With a good clearing and enough heat to get an edge we decided to make a move before the lower elevations got to warm to ski. Standing 500m above the dome the very top of the Kain is about 45 degrees and then quickly rolls into a very committing 50-55 degree slope which runs out over a respectable size bergschrund.

Back on the Dome we picked up the rest of our gear talked to a guided group from Yamnuska and skied down towards the mouse trap. From here we gained the Robson Resplendent ridge and skied across it until we were above a line that brought us down beside the mouse trap.

Similar to the Kain face in size and angle there was a sense of excitement as we have never heard of it being skied. With the snow pack finally warm enough to corn up we had some great steep turns down to the bergschrund where Andreas found a jumpable section that brought us to the bottom of the mouse trap.

From here we were faced with some huge rotten snow bridges. Roping up we made our way down the maze of crevasses to the bottom of the extinguisher tower.

Taking off the boots felt amazing and we started our trek back down the berg lake trail to the truck. Meeting our good friend Ross at the pass he offered us some fresh food and was kind enough to help take some of the weight off our packs! Hiking down we were happy with the decisions made during the day and enjoyed the thick air, full moon and most of all the truck..