Mt Robson: Emperor Face

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Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 24, 2016 - 04:53am PT
All Known Ascents

Jim Logan and Mugs Stump: July, 1978.

Dave Cheesmond and Tony Dick: August 1981.

Barry Blanchard, Philippe Pellet and Eric Dumerac: (Infinite Patience)
September 2002.

Steve House and Colin Haley: May 2007.

Jon Walsh and Jason Kruk: June 2010.

Jon Walsh and Josh Wharton: May 2012. 1st one day ascent of Face. (Infinite Patience)

Raphael Slawinski and Jay Mills: September 2012. (Infinite Patience)

Marc-Andre Leclerc: 1st Solo Ascent of Face, April 2016. (Infinite Patience)

Maarten Van Haeren and Jas Fauteux: Infinite Patience to the Summit Sept 5-7 2018.



Right Hand Red line: Jon Walsh and Jason Kruk
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2016 - 05:12am PT
Mount Robson’s Emperor Face
James Logan (FA)

THE real key to climbing the Emperor Face was making a firm decision to try, regardless of the obstacles that nature and our imagination might place in our path. Once we were on the climb and especially when high on the face, the climbing was in one sense easy—because it was within the realm of our capabilities and level of determination, and in another sense as difficult as any climbing we had ever done. For me, while climbing on a hard climb, like the Emperor or the first free ascent of the Diamond, my mind moves into a very special niche that is normally most difficult for me to reach. Instead of feeling that I am pursuing a craft or exercising a particular technique, it becomes possible for me, sometimes, in some very special places to transcend my ego, my learned skills, my hopes, fears and expectations, and simply climb. It is nothing more than “sleeping when tired; eating when hungry.” (Ma-Tsu, died 788) At such times I am able to climb much better than usual, and fortunately can most often muster this frame of mind on serious climbs where it is most needed. For me, the Emperor Face of Mount Robson was such a place.
When I first saw the face, I was totally awed by it. It was the biggest face I had ever seen, much larger than the Eiger and unbelievably, still unclimbed, fully 40 years after the first ascent of the Eiger.
I made several unsuccessful attempts to climb the face in 1976 and 1977 and felt determined to give it a good try in the summer of 1978. After an unsuccessful attempt on Mount Logan’s Hummingbird Ridge, Terry Stump (more commonly known as Mugs) and I decided to spend all summer if need be in the attempt. Desires were only whetted by our recent failure and the two weeks of rainy weather spent under the face. Finally a day dawned with broken clouds and the promise of clearing weather, and we moved up to a high bivouac on the lower snow slopes of the face. We had already climbed over 3000 feet of easy snow and rock, and had what we guessed was 5000 feet to go. Because the only feasible routes through the lower rock bands are in drainages that immediately start avalanching in any storm, it is essential to move quickly through this section. But it is also necessary to carry a full nailing rack for the increasingly steeper and difficult climbing above. We had 25 pitons for the upper section and eight days’ food to give us the time to deal with whatever difficulties we might find.
At first light the next day, we started third-classing diagonally up and left across several thousand feet of 45° water ice and soon reached the first rock band where we roped and moved up and back right towards the centre of the face. The climbing alternated between excellent 60° ice and thin ice running down over steps of rock, mostly vertical and 60 to 100 feet high. The climbing on these sections was the most difficult ice climbing I have ever done, and the protection was limited to an occasional poor knifeblade or tied-off screw. The first day on the face we were able to reach a good bivouac site on a snow rib almost exactly in the centre of the face. Besides being a luxurious lying-down bivouac, it was also the high point that Pat Callis and Jim Kanzler had reached in their attempt some years ago. They had reached this point, higher than anyone else, in three days and then retreated off to the side in an epic adventure. The next day every other pitch was extremely difficult. I led a number of pitches of vertical thin ice mixed with an occasional rock move, and Mugs had the opportunity to climb through an overhanging headwall on loose blocks. We were prepared to start the nailing whenever necessary, but ice runnels kept leading us up the centre of the face until we were under the final overhanging headwall, looking for a bivy site in a world of vertical rock and high-angle ice. We chopped two small seats out of a patch of 70° ice, and as we settled down for the night, it started to snow. Within minutes the first powder-snow avalanche poured down over us. It was quite frightening at first, but once I realized that they weren’t going to push me off as long as I stayed awake, it all became better, just one more in a long series of “bad bivouacs.” The next morning Mugs led up the steep ice to the final headwall, and I set off on a very slow and complex nailing pitch. A row of tied pins, a little vertical ice climbing and then back onto another tied-off knifeblade. Halfway out I lowered off and cleaned the pitch, and once again started on my slow way, cleaning off ice and snow, looking for one more placement. Nuts were useless, and I was thankful for the thousands of pitons I had pounded in the past, making this nailing almost comfortable. At the top of the pitch I ran out of ice and good rock, and set off free climbing for thirty feet of vertical, loose, snow-covered rock with no protection. As I neared the top, one of my crampons slipped off a hold and I quickly mantled onto an axe placed in mush—that caught on something and stayed in long enough to get me to a belay stance. From that point on our minds were mush, as we knew we had done the climb and we grumpily moved up the snow-covered slabs of the North Face. A tunnel in the cornice let us through onto the ridge where we spent the night. The next morning we debated whether or not to go up the ridge to the summit, but as this would have meant crossing over the mountain and spending several more days, we decided to descend the south face back to our camp, which we reached that day.
What had been vital was to climb the face, and going to the summit was no longer important, probably in part because I had already stood on that summit. What did seem important were the heights to which we had already pushed ourselves and the freedom we had found there. But this freedom is a transitory thing, and for this reason there is always a next climb, for each one is only a stepping-stone along the path.
“If he is irresistibly driven towards this goal, he must set out on his way again, take the road to the artless art. He must dare to leap into the Origin, so as to live by the Truth and in the Truth, like one whom
has become one with it. He must become a pupil again, a beginner; conquer the last and steepest stretch of the way, undergo new transformations. If he survives its perils, then is his destiny fulfilled: face
to face he beholds the unbroken Truth, the Truth beyond all truths, the formless Origin of origins, the Void which is the All; is absorbed into it and from it emerges reborn.”
—Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery
Summary of Statistics:
Area: Mount Robson, Canadian Rockies.
New Route: Emperor Face (James Logan, Terry Stump) , third week of
July, 1978.

American Alpine Journal 1979
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2016 - 05:16am PT
"The Emperor Face," Mount Robson, Canada. (Climbing 52).


Thanks to steelmnkey
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2016 - 08:08pm PT
Mount Robson, Emperor Face: 1981

Tony Dick and I climbed a new line in the Emperor Face in August 1981. We went left of the Stumps-Logan line. There was much hard ice climbing, much rockfall and rock climbing up to 5.9, A3.

David Cheesmond, Alpine Club of Canada
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2016 - 08:11pm PT
EMPEROR FACE, Mt. Robson (FA) - Tony Dick (with Dave Cheesmond)

It seems absurd but our arrival at Mt. Robson represented a sort of failure. In the mid-summer storm of ’81 we South Africans had congregated in Alaska looking for the superb east spur of Mt. Deborah beneath 6ft. of snow. We were also looking for our unequaled supply of good and nutritious canned roast chickens and cashew nuts which were to be airdropped to us. In spite of strenuous efforts we never found the snacks until after the horrific hike out. They were waiting at the airstrip along with everyone else’s supplies. So we ate them in the van on the way down the Alaska Highway, and decided, next time we would bring some porters to carry our snacks.

Robson wasn’t really on our minds, only food, but the way it looms above that highway, you would have to be in worse shape than a Biafran not to leap out of the van and climb it. Try, at the very least.

We were so skinny we pretended not to see the Emperor Face, but went up the Wishbone Ridge instead, to try and get some strength up. Unfortunately while resting near the top of the hourglass on the descent, a serac fell off and knocked my pack down almost to the Ralph Forster hut. It was too warm to go after it as everything else was starting to fall down, so I spent the night up there in my shirtsleeves. During the night I noticed that it wasn’t too warm anymore!

Dave Cheesmond and I had one more big nosh on the way past our tent, and this time we felt we could notice the Emperor Face straight above. I had to catch a plane from Calgary in four days, so we set off in an afternoon hail storm and bivvied where the wall steepens up. It was as warm as South Africa up there so the noises kept us entertained all night.

All I remember of the next day on the wall is running for odd bits of cover. The stones were coming down everywhere, but most especially down the existing route, so we ran past it. But that evening we reached the freeze line. What a pleasure! Really an excellent bivvy, more of the Alaska snacks, and the views down to Berg Lake made it more than worthwhile.

From there on we enjoyed ourselves fully; steep ice gullies and rock ribs, with the ice frozen up to hold the rock together nicely. Where the angle eased, the climbing got more serious, as there was little safety. We had one more bivvy on a tiny ledge we cut in the ice; happy as children. Next morning we soloed part of the way up to the gargoyles, but then roped in and out of these huge frozen waves, to reach the summit for lunch. Good meals were still one of our main concerns!

Then it was a stroll down to the hut were we spent the night, before an early morning rush to get to the airport in time. Even though I only spent that one week at Robson, its as large as life in my mind; right up there with my best memories of Dave.

Tony Dick


Special thanks to Tony Dick
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 25, 2016 - 04:09pm PT
Barry Blanchard, Philippe Pellet and Eric Dumerac: Infinite Patience (FA)
September 2002.

Mt Robson, Infinite Patience.

In mid-morning on October 23 Eric Dumerac (Canmore, Alberta), Philippe Pellet (Briançon, France), and I (Canmore) stepped from the warm interior of a Jet Ranger helicopter and into the early winter environs of Berg Lake, below the Emperor Face. For an hour we hiked and scrambled up onto the side of the Mist Glacier. We toiled for the next four hours overcoming the first steep band, via an M5, WI4+ system that could probably be avoided by going farther right. This was by far the hardest pitch of the route. These pitches gave access to the large couloir that is the prominent feature on the right side of the Emperor Face. Moderate snow climbing brought us to a ledge at about 8,500', where we shoveled a bivy site. The night was calm and the Northern Lights phenomenal.

Day two began with five ropelengths of class 4 up the big gully. A traverse and two ropelengths on 5.7ish mixed ground brought us into the upper ice strip. After three more ropelengths of 4th class on ice, we belayed an M4 ice chimney. Above lay another five rope¬ lengths of 5th class climbing, each containing cruxes in the M3–M5 range. The last of these pitches merged us with the Emperor Ridge-North Face option and its more substantial gully. That night on the ridge at about 10,800', we bivied in brisk winds and bitter wind chills,

Day three (October 25) started with one rope-length up the substantial, gully, then a fine ice strip up a chimney (finest pitch of the route, absolute classic), followed by a half rope-length of dry and fine rock on the ridge proper. Much 4th-classing and bypassing small and sometimes hard (5.9) cruxes brought us to an ice ledge at about 12,000', where we chose to avoid the infamous gargoyles of the Emperor Ridge by traversing an ice ledge for a kilometer. A true test of one’s front-pointing and calf-muscle endurance! We finished the route via the gully atop the Wishbone Arête in three pitches at midnight. We bivied east of the summit, in a large, bridged crevasse: It provided some protection from an awful wind-chill. The day clocked in at 20 hours.

On October 26 we descended the Schwarz Ledges route to the Forster Hut, where at 4 p.m. the good people at Yellowhead Helicopters agreed to come get us and whisk us off to the trail-head.

Overall an absolute classic route on mostly ice and snow, as good as any on the globe, that gains an impressive 7,500'. The mountain was in perfect condition, and it was a grand adventure in the company of good men.

Barry Blanchard,
Canada


American Alpine Journal 2003
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2016 - 04:46pm PT
Steve House and Colin Haley: May 2007. (FA)

Mt. Robson. Emperor Face, Haley-House. When I got the call, Joe Josephson was on the other end of the line. Joe and Barry Blanchard were looking for a third to join them on an attempt on the Emperor Face, and so began what we came to call “the annual attempt and failure to climb Mt. Robson.” Over 10 days in March 1997, Barry, Joe, and I made two attempts on the face. Our first attempt, up the central gully, ended at one-third height by that favored climber’s delusion, dry snow over steep rock. (Amazing how it looks climbable if you spend enough days staring at it.) Next we tried the largest gully system on the right side of the face. A couple of thousand feet up, we could traverse 80' to the Emperor Ridge and comfortable bivouac sites. There I discovered that I had somehow dropped a crucial part of the stove, rendering it inoperable. Rather than huck myself straight off the cliff, as was my initial inclination, we spent a dry, cold night. At sunup Barry calmly led us back down the Emperor Ridge, with a dozen rappels and much down-climbing.

For the next 10 years, every spring I went north for the month of March, hoping to climb the Emperor Face. In 2000 Barry, Joe, and I climbed to the same high-point and descended the same way, thwarted by storm. Later a pair of young Slovenians climbed precisely the same terrain and declared it a new route.

Barry and I didn’t consider it done. Then, in October 2002 Barry climbed the route with Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet and named it Infinite Patience. In July 2001 I spent seven nights there in a tiny tent with Rolando Garibotti, and in March 2007 another nine days in the Hargreaves Shelter with Vince Anderson. In 1997 we’d helicoptered in and skied out. In 1998 we’d flown in and out. With Rolo and Vince I was determined to go by foot, but each time the weather window had closed by the time we had negotiated the 27km approach.

I had slept 35 nights below the face over a span of ten years. After the March ‘07 attempt I bookmarked all Internet weather forecasts for Jasper, Valemont, and McBride (Robson being roughly equidistant from these locales) and checked the forecasts religiously. I created a spreadsheet to track the forecasted and actual weather, to estimate their reliability. Finally, in late May the weather looked good, but Vince was in Alaska guiding.

Colin Haley is young and lucky and available. Good, too. So I drove to Seattle, bivied in Colin’s parent’s loft, and on May 24 we drove to Valemont, hired a helicopter, and flew to the Helmut-Robson col. The flying got us there within the forecasted three-day good weather period (we burned the first day driving and flying), and it allowed us a safe approach to the face by down-climbing the Mist Glacier to the start of the climbing. I had done the approach from Berg Lake and up through the dangerous Mist icefall four times, and my odds were not getting better.

We left the tent at 4:30 a.m. on May 25 and were climbing within an hour. Colin led the first block of seven pitches. We stretched the pitches by simul-climbing where reasonable, thus averaging 80m per pitch. At over half-height the wall gets steep, and my experience and familiarity with the terrain came into play. There is a steep corner system just left of the apex of the face. I headed for that, leading a block of seven excellent pitches with very good ice conditions. The last 30m through the headwall were exciting, steep M7 climbing that kept me on my arms.

The rock varied from solid to suspect. The climbing was excellent, with technical moves protected by small cams and pins. But the greatest surprise was finding a tight Lost Arrow piton right at the exit move. The pin had to be from the ‘78 Jim Logan and Mugs Stump ascent (AAJ 1979, pp. 122-24). A few meters higher I found two more pitons that had obviously been someone’s belay. The pitch overhung about six or seven meters in the last 30. At 10:30 p.m. we hacked out a sitting stance on an ice arête that appeared to be 300-400' of easier climbing below the Emperor Ridge cornices, covered ourselves with a lightweight tarp, and alternately dozed and drank warm water while waiting for sunup.

Illustrious oranges and dazzling reds made me feel like I was climbing out of a 70s Technicolor daydream as I led the final two moderate thin ice and mixed pitches. At the ridge we belayed down a hundred feet and started simul-climbing across the top of the south face before unroping. We aimed for the Wishbone Arête and soloed up it for a few hundred feet. The ice was spooky rime, so we brought out the rope. I went ahead, winding over, around, and through the incredibly wild formations.

As we started climbing down a rime lump, the wind whipped and seemed to tear a momentary hole in the clouds. We had just climbed over the summit. We headed down the Kain Route, which Colin had descended before. Our camp-to-camp time was approximately 36 hours.

After we got home Dougald MacDonald put me in touch with Jim Logan. Jim concluded our phone conversation by saying “I like the idea that somebody else has been there now. It’s like Mugs and I knew what it was like up there. Now you guys know what it is like. It’s kind of cool. Nobody else knows. I was getting to the point where I was wanting somebody to do that face. When you did, it made me really happy. I really liked it.”

“Jim,” I replied, “We liked it too.”

Steve House, AAC

American Alpine Journal 2008


Thanks to Colin Haley
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2016 - 07:48pm PT
Looking down the Emperor Face.
Photo: Colin Haley


Thanks to Colin Haley
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2016 - 09:57pm PT
The following pics are from a failed attempt on the Emperor Face by Doug Shepherd and Jess Roskelley


Special thanks to Doug Shepherd
Johnny K.

climber
Jun 27, 2016 - 05:26am PT

http://marcleclerc.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-visit-with-emperor-mt-robson-infinite.html
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 27, 2016 - 03:13pm PT
Thanks Johnny. This boy is truly gifted!
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 27, 2016 - 08:55pm PT
Jon Walsh and Jason Kruk: June 2010. (FA)

On Friday June 18, after deejaying the Test of Metal block party in Squamish, I hopped in my truck and drove ten hours through the night to meet JR in the Robson parking lot. Earlier in the year I’d pulled a tendon pulley in my middle finger, and so ice tools were the first things I could reasonably grab. And so if alpine climbing was the only thing in condition for me, there was one guy I knew I needed to contact: Jon Walsh, a.k.a. Jonny Red (JR). He is my total hero. He has climbed the kinds of routes around the globe that people dream of climbing, and usually in an uncompromising, bold style—single push, fast, and free. His response was immediate and positive. At the top of his hit list was a face I had dreamt about since I was a kid: the storied Emperor Face of Mt. Robson. We didn’t have to talk tactics for very long to realize we were on the same page. If we climbed fast with small packs, we would only need a couple of good days of weather. JR was adamant Rockies could be climbed in a weekend. “I’ve realized I can climb continuously for 48 hours before I need to sleep,” he said. We hiked in quickly and established a camp below the face. It was the third time that spring we’d done the long hike (25km one way) in hopes of climbing the face, and the summer solstice seemed a ridiculous time to try to climb a “winter” route. But with a plump snow pack and a mild spring, conditions looked good. Early morning on June 20, we started climbing, and, despite the continuous, cerebral (read: scary) terrain, it was a pure pleasure to climb such entertaining and sustained mixed ground for so long. We climbed quickly, swinging leads the entire way up the face, the climbing never any easier than M5 or M6 and, often, stretching pitches up to 100m with simul-climbing. With a straight face I can call the hardest pitch I led M7. We hit the top of the face at midnight as lightning struck to the north, clouds enveloped around us, and light snow started to fall. At the time the decision to go down the Emperor Ridge, and not continue to the summit, seemed pretty easy. Now I can’t help but wonder “what if?” It always seemed a little silly to argue over the very definitions we climbers make up ourselves. Summit or not, it definitely felt like a new route. In correspondence with a long time Rockies climber, another hero of mine, his point was clear: “We're not arguing black or white here, rather, different shades of ugly.”

Jason Kruk, Canada


Thanks to Jason Kruk
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 28, 2016 - 07:44pm PT
Jon Walsh and Josh Wharton: May 2012. 1st one day ascent of Face. (Infinite Patience)

A few weeks ago now, on May 12th, I finally had the opportunity to tie in with Josh Wharton. I first met Josh in Patagonia in 2005, and over three consecutive seasons, watched him and his mates raise the bar, time after time. I observed, got inspired and tried to copy, and a string of my own successes ensued. More recently, he’s been making regular trips to my main stomping grounds - the Canadian Rockies, and getting amongst the big mixed routes they’re renowned for. We were totally psyched on the same types of adventures and frequently exchanged conditions updates and beta. We often talked about climbing together, but our schedules had never quite meshed until now.

As the weekend of May 12th and 13th approached, the cosmos seemed to fall into alignment. Not only did I have an ideal partner for a big alpine outing, but four days of sunshine were forecasted, with perfect temperatures, and excellent snow conditions all at the same time. I suggested we go to Robson, and we agreed on a hiring a helicopter to save us the half-day approach to its north side. This would hopefully allow us to be quick enough to climb the Emperor Face and have me back to work for 7 a.m. Monday morning, not to mention keeping our legs fresh for the excursion ahead.

So on Friday afternoon, I ducked out of work two hours early, drove directly from my job in Calgary to Canmore (all my food and gear was prepacked), met up with Josh, and we were on the road by 3. Four hours / 400 kilometers later, we repacked in the Mt. Robson provincial park parking lot, agreeing to bring only enough food for a big day, mostly in the form of gels and bars (Vega of course in my case) and waited for Yellowhead Helicopters to show up and whisk us away to the other side. By 9 p.m., we were at Mist Lake, gawking at the Emperor face, which towered 2000 meters above us! Conditions were generally looking a bit snowy, so the route Infinite Patience seemed to be the most logical option. I had looked down it a couple of years ago while descending the Emperor Ridge, after climbing another line just to its left. Incoming weather had forced my partner Jason Kruk and I to descend the ridge instead of continuing to the summit after topping out above the face. What I had seen was a perfect strip of silver ice dropping for a long ways, and I knew at that moment that I would be back to climb it someday. Since Barry Blanchard, Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet had opened the route in October of 2002, it had remained unrepeated.

We made a small fire from the dry shrubbery around the lake to hang out by for a bit, and after a few hours of “sort-of” sleeping under a light tarp without sleeping bags, the alarm went off at 3. A quick bit of coffee and we were off, cramponing right from the lake on a well-frozen snowpack. A couple hours later, it got light at the first steep rock band, which is the hardest climbing on the route. I liked the look of a corner 20 meters right were the FA party had climbed, although soon I was battling up 80-degree snow, steep rock and run-out M6 for two pitches, wishing I had taken the original line. “We’ve climbed the crux” Josh said, “I guess we can go home now”. A lot of simul-climbing ensued across a snowfield, followed by some delightfully fun / moderate ice climbing, that weaved around huge snow mushrooms, to connect different couloirs and gullies. One of the more memorable moments for me was a fun overhang past frightfully detached, belay-threatening snow mushroom, that required persevering a relentless spindrift wave. I hesitated for a moment to ponder the 13cm ice-screw / ice-tool belay that Josh was hanging from 20 feet below, and the absence of any gear between us. Waiting for the spindrift to stop seemed futile so a quick wipe of gloves, and a couple of lock-offs later had me into the upper ice runnel. This continued for about six magical rope-lengths, and we began pitching it out.

Conditions were absolutely perfect. Where there was snow, there was just enough for secure bucket steps that had mercy on our calf muscles, yet not enough to cause us any concern for avalanches. Temperatures were very comfortable, and just warm / cold enough for optimal snow stability. The ice was generally soft and our ice tools bit securely into it with light one-stick swings ninety percent of the time. In other words, we were making quick and efficient work of the face, and having a good time doing it. The one drawback of the soft ice was that it didn’t protect very easily with ice screws, but between that and the lack of too much rock gear, there wasn’t much to slow us down.

After about 11 hours and 1700 meters of elevation gain, we were off the face and onto the Emperor Ridge. The wind was screaming up the 3000-meter SW face which made using our Jetboil to melt snow into drinking water an impossible task. An 800-meter sideways traverse was ahead, as well as another 500 meters of elevation to gain to reach the 3954 summit – the highest in the Canadian Rockies. The plan was to go over the summit and down the South Face route to the car. If we were lucky, we might even get to the Ralph Forster hut, which is halfway down and have a luxurious bivi. So we trudged on getting thirstier by the step. Going sideways for that far is tedious and monotonous but fortunately the snow was good and a few interesting moves around some snow, ice and rock features presented themselves from time to time. We simul-climbing all the way to the summit, switching off the trail breaking whenever the leader needed a break.

As we got closer to the top, the “gargoyles” which are the massive rime formations that tend to wildly overhang the ridges near the summit on all sides, got bigger and bigger. We climbed a dead-end gully right into the heart of them, but a straightforward way through didn’t present itself. Instead, more sideways climbing over steep Patagonian-like rime features and down their other sides repeated itself several times before we finally found passage to the top. The wind was nuking! Snow crystals stung our faces and after a quick hi-five and a couple of photos, we began the long descent. It was 8:45 and it had taken us 17 hours from the lake, making it the first one-day ascent of Mt. Robson via the Emperor Face.

The descent wasn’t easy and we were surprised at the amount of down climbing we had to do. The terrain was steep all the way to the valley, and very little of it was free of objective dangers. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time exposed to potential serac fall! Shortly after midnight we stopped in a sheltered spot for a short brew, as we were beyond dehydrated at this point. A little while later, we had made it to the yellow bands, but were lost in the dark and losing hope of finding the hut. It was now 2:30 and we needed daylight to find our way through the cliffs below. We laid out the packs and rope, and crawled under the tarp for a quick power nap. By 5 a.m., it was getting light and we were tired of shivering. The rest of the descent remained tedious, but went smoothly and by noon we were back in the parking lot, with 10 000 feet of descending behind us, and stoked to have had such a fine first adventure together. Although it wasn’t nearly the most technically difficult route either of us had done, it made up in pure physical burl factor, and was of extremely high quality. We would highly recommend it and I think it deserves to become a classic. Easily one of the best I’ve done in the Rockies!

Summery: the first one-day ascent of Mt. Robson via the Emperor face and the route Infinite Patience (2200m M5-6 WI4) JW / JW, May 12th and 13th 2012

32 hours from Berg Lake to the parking lot; 50 hours Canmore –Canmore return.

Jon Walsh


Special thanks to Jon Walsh
Todd Eastman

climber
Bellingham, WA
Jun 28, 2016 - 10:19pm PT
What's up with heli drops?
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jun 28, 2016 - 10:25pm PT
Awesome job, Avery. The rock on the Emperor looks better than I thought it would.
I suppose it is better the colder it is.
Todd Eastman

climber
Bellingham, WA
Jun 28, 2016 - 10:32pm PT
Reilly, did you ever sniff out The Emp?
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Jun 29, 2016 - 10:47am PT
After 49 years of rockclimbing and High Sierra climbing, the big apline faces remain profoundly mysterious to me. This makes me love reading about them, since I doubt I'll ever again be in shape to attempt one. Thanks for this thread and all its posts.

John
AP

Trad climber
Calgary
Jun 29, 2016 - 12:28pm PT
Sean Dougherty's book on Selected Alpine Climbs mentions that "several well intentioned souls have hiked in to the Emperor face looked up and then walked out again"
The hardest alpine climb I have done is the Greenwood-Locke route on Mt Temple which was enough adventure (5.10 in full shank boots plus a minimum of protection in places). I never thought of the Emperor face, would have liked to have a go at Mt Alberta, but never did.
Dry tooling with modern tools makes things easier but little of modern protection gear makes much difference on these faces. Pitons still rule.
Avery

climber
New Zealand
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 29, 2016 - 08:28pm PT
Raphael Slawinski and Jay Mills: September 2012. (Infinite Patience)
To read Raphael's entertaining account of the climb go to: http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.ca/2012/10/infinite-patience.html


Special Thanks to Raphael Slawinski
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jun 29, 2016 - 08:35pm PT
No, Todd, had my sights set on the second ascent of N Twin but my partner had the
bad grace to buy the farm.
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