Climbing Mount Robson

Background History

Our group of seven started at 15 people, but during the last 2 years through training and testing, the weak and undetermined were weeded out. This team represented the best and it was felt, this team had the best change at summiting Mount Robson no matter what the weather. Our training ground was Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA. Although this mountain is only 6,288 feet, which makes it the second highest mountain on the eastern seaboard, this mountain has some of "the world's worst weather". This mountain has the record for the highest winds: 231 mph (1934).

Our backpacks, ranging from 85 to 115 pounds, have been ready to go for the last two days and now, we are finally ready to climb the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mount Robson at 3,954 metres / 12,972 feet. We have packed enough gear and food to last us for 10 days. A slight change to the recommendations of the Mount Robson Park Service, for they told us that the best chance we would have at summiting this mountain, would be to plan for a 1 week window starting at "The Dome" during the last 2 weeks in August, instead, we planned a 4 day window between 19 August and 22 August 1997. The extra food was for "just in case".

Our route (known as the "Kain Face" route): trailhead (2,200') to Berg Lake (23 km), Berg Lake (5,400') to Extinguisher Tower (Base Camp) (7 km), Extinguisher Tower (7,100') to The Dome (High Camp) (5 km), and The Dome (10,200') to the summit (2.5 km).

Day 1, Friday, 15 August 1997

Ottawa to Mount Robson Provincial Park day; up at 0500 hours to catch a Canadian Forces Service Flight from Ottawa to Edmonton. It's a beautiful, clear day in Ottawa. We left for Toronto at 0720 hours; from there we went to Winnipeg and then finally onto Edmonton International Airport. Arrived in Edmonton at 1215 hours in the rain. We then took a 45 minute taxi ride from the airport to the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Edmonton. Here, at the Base Transport Section, we signed for a 10 passage van and then prepared the van and ourselves for the 4 hour drive from Edmonton to Mount Robson Provincial Park, located due West along the Yellowhead Highway on the Alberta and British Columbia border. After an hour or so, the van is packed, gased-up and we are ready to depart. We left CFB Edmonton at 1530 hours for the Park. Exactly, 4 hours later, through continuous rain, we arrived at the Park's Information Centre at 1930 hours. It has finally stopped raining.

On arrival, we are informed that there are no more campsites available along the trail. We are then forced to make a slight change to our original plan, which was to start up the trail on arrival and go as far as possible before night fall. So instead, for our first night, we ended up camping near the highway at a public campground. We spent the evening preparing our packs, reviewing emergency medical procedures, reviewing how to recognize altitude sickness symptoms, etc. and at last, we turned in around 2130 hours. This change has now reduced our window of opportunity by several hours.

Day 2, Saturday, 16 August 1997

Hump to Berg Lake day; up at 0325 hours. We wanted an early start to make up for some of our lost time. The weather was great, it was 10°C and no rain when we got up. After having a hot breakfast, repacking our gear and the van, we drove to the trailhead where we parked the van. The peak of Mount Robson was still in the clouds, but what an awesome looking mountain just the same. The neighbouring peaks, about 2000 feet lower, looked like hills next to it. At 0515 hours, after registering the team, we started hiking up the trail. We were finally on our way for a trek of a lifetime. Everyone was excited.

This section of the trail up to Berg Lake was on a well groomed, gravel trail. We crossed over the Robson River a few times on bridges along the trail to Kinney Lake. Along the trail, we stopped occasionally to take some pictures. A few hours later, we arrived at the foot of Kinney Lake. We decided to continue up the trail since everyone was feeling great at this point, headed for the "Valley of a Thousand Falls". Just after rounding Kinney Lake, the team decided to take its first break, 2 minutes, before the "hump".

Up to this point, the trail had a low gradient; now comes the hump up the Valley of a Thousand Falls. This section of the trail was beautiful, but a very high gradient. We took lots of breaks as we slowly gained 800 m so that we would not get "burnt-out". At 1215 hours, we arrived at the Hargreaves Shelter (21 km) where we ate lunch and took a 2 hour rest. It was 17°C and our feet were sore. The backpacks are starting to feel like lead, so the team decided to hike to the Robson Pass wilderness campground site (23 km) and call it a day.

Day 3, Sunday, 17 August 1997

Hump to Extinguisher Tower day; up at 0400 hours. The weather at 7°C was cool, but dry when we got up. After another hot breakfast and repack, we were on the trail by 0520 hours. The trail started off fairly flat, but we soon found ourselves hiking up and down the side of a mountain on scree along the Snowbird Pass route. If we had continued along this route, we would have been totally exhausted by the time we reached Extinguisher Tower, so we decided to "rope-up" and walk up the Robson Glacier to the Tower.

Walking up the glacier was much easier, but a lot more treacherous. We had more to worry about, for example, slipping into a crevasse, but at least we were saving our legs. Some of the holes we jumped over were quite deep, but our real concern now was avoiding any kind of injury. If anyone was to get injured, it would have changed our plans again. Luck was on our side, we safely arrived at the Tower at 1230 hours. Dave and Sophie were really "feeling the weight" now, so once again the team decided to call it a day. This was "Base Camp", where Dave stayed and was our radio-relay point. It was now very hot and sunny, at 21°C.

After lunch, we set-up camp and toured the area. We visited John Skjaerlund's cairn, which was a constant reminder of the dangers that we'll face. We also met several climbing teams coming down from The Dome. Only one team summited and they wished us luck too. Later in the afternoon, Eric, Chris, and Howie walked up the glacier to recce the route up through the Mouse Trap. After supper and a game of cards, the team was back in their bags by 1900 hours.

Day 4, Monday, 18 August 1997

Hump to The Dome day; up at 0330 hours. It was surprisingly bright when we got up and once again the weather was cooperating, it was 5°C and no rain. The mountains were highlighted from the moon and the glaciers appeared to glow from within. By the time we broke camp, roped in and started up the glacier, it was 0520 hours. Dave wished us all well. The hike along the glacier was relatively uneventful. Occasionally, one of our feet would break through a snow bridge, but we only sank to our thighs or knee caps. The crevasses got progressively bigger as we approached the Mouse Trap. We meandered our way around crevasses, over snow bridges and around seracs. We met one group of two on their way down who had reached the summit on Sunday.

Having tried both routes, through and around the Mouse Trap, they recommended the Mouse Trap route to Eric, as being the safest alternative up to The Dome, especially that early in the morning. The longer route around and above required technical rock climbing, rock protections, which we had not brought, and a good 3-4 extra hours. We decided to go through the Mouse Trap. The two largest obstacles in the Trap were near vertical walls of snow and ice. The first section was perhaps 25 feet and the second was perhaps 50 feet. After that, it was just a long slow trek to The Dome.

We reached the Dome plateau around 1130 hours. The teams that camped here last week left built up walls to protect the tents. We quickly selected suitable sites and began setting up. At this point, the sky was scattered clouds and now and then we got a glimpse of our objective. Scary. 1700 hours, supper; 1800 hours, bed again. Very tired.

Day 5, Tuesday, 19 August 1997

Summit day; up at 0235 hours. It was cold, dry and overcast; conditions were right and we decided to go. We started up the trail at 0400 hours. Another team was already on the Kain Face. The 1,000 ' face was almost vertical, at least 60°. The hardest thing we had to do while on the Kain Face was to skirt around the huge bergschrund. Halfway up the face, we passed the other team. We were all on the "Roof" by 0700 hours. Wow! What a view. As we pressed on towards the summit, the fog thickened and visibility was down to 10 feet. It was dead quiet and rather eerie. After a water and snack break, we lost the route for a while, but managed to find it again. At 1130 hours, we were on the summit and we couldn't see a thing. Damn! We were all extremely happy, but tired. "We made it!" We radioed Dave to let him know where we were, took lots of pictures and drank a little Champagne. "We've made it to the halfway point of our trek safely", and at 1215 hours, we were on our way down.

Climbing back down from the summit was much slower than going up and scarier. Occasionally, the fog lifted and we could see that a misplaced foot-hold would result in a long fall. The climb down the face was an hour longer than going up. At 1845, the team was safely back at our high camp on The Dome. It was one long day and we were all bagged by this time. Once again, we radioed Dave to let him know that we were all okay. Since we were all too tired to eat a good supper, we went to bed around 2000 hours.

Day 6, Wednesday, 20 August 1997

Rest day; up at 0530 hours and not a cloud in the sky. The weather was again really great, it was 5°C and cloudless when we got up. Spent the day drying gear, airing sleeping bags, eating and playing cards. Even in the clouds, we all got sunburns to one extent or another from yesterday’s long exposure. The plan for tomorrow is to move our camp to the snow dome on Mount Resplendent, if weather permits and attempt another summit up Mount Resplendent. It should take us 4-5 hours to get there. From there, those most interested can attempt the summit of Mount Resplendent (3,426 m / 11,134 ft) to complement the expedition, since we achieved our objective earlier than expected.

By noon, it was 26°C in the direct sun and it got very hot while sitting on the snow covered dome playing cards. Fearful of getting severely burnt, everyone moved into their tents until the sun went down behind Robson. Howie spent the day making a sun guard for his nose. One sunburn was enough for him. The rest of us spent the time reading or thinking about tomorrow's possible summit. Finally, with all our gear dried, repacked and nothing more to do, we all went to bed around 1900 hours in anticipation for another early rise to move our camp to the snow dome on Mount Resplendent.

Day 7, Thursday, 21 August 1997

Retreat back to Extinguisher Tower day; up at 0400 hours. The weather looked terrible, it was 11°C and the clouds looked ready to pour down on us when we got up. As we were stuffing the last few things into our packs, it started to rain and the clouds surrounded us. We waited for about 20 minutes and the clouds broke. It was 0530 hours and we decided to leave for Extinguisher Tower, as no attempt would be possible today on Mount Resplendent. After we were underway, it began raining again, but much harder; this time, the clouds stayed above us. Both Eric and Chris were concerned about the rain and relatively warm temperature. A few snow bridges collapsed on our way through the Mouse Trap, but we kept going. It seemed like the whole mountain was coming down. As we made our way through the Mouse Trap, we could hear sounds like thunder as seracs fell. We had to get out of the Mouse Trap as quick as possible to the safety of the glacier.

When we got to the glacier, there were many more exposed crevasses. Eric in the lead must have put his leg through 4-5 snow bridges. At 0840 hours, we finally reached the base camp and found Dave still sleeping. We were soaked from the pouring rain. A vote was required to determine whether we stayed or descended to the Berg Lake shelters. We ended up pitching the tents and warmed up with some hot drinks. By 1200 hours, the rain was weak and intermittent. A few hours later, the sun was out a little and we were trying to dry our gear again, but we did not have much luck. By 2030 hours, we were back in our sleeping bags. The plan for tomorrow was to dry our stuff as much as possible in the morning, then break camp around lunch time and hike as far as possible down the trail.

Day 8, Friday, 22 August 1997

Hike to Kinney Lake day; up at 0600 hours. Broken clouds and dry weather was all we needed to dry our gear. While our gear was drying, again we were playing cards. A deck of cards is one of the most important items to carry when outdoors or you'll go crazy with boredom. After lunch, around 1300 hours, we were repacked, roped-up and on the glacier heading down towards Berg Lake. There was no one heading up at this time. We arrived back at the Hargreaves Shelter within a few hours. We stopped for a rest and to sign the Climber's Log. It was now very hot and sunny. Life was good and everyone was feeling great.

The hike down was a lot easier and more enjoyable than going up. We weren't in any kind of a rush to get anywhere now, but we still made good time, even with the several photo stops along the way. The "Valley of a Thousand Falls" was so beautiful. We talked to all kinds of people from around the world during the hike down, and most could not believe that we were on the summit a few days earlier. It seemed like a dream even for us.

We finally arrived at the Whitehorn Wilderness Campground at Kinney Lake around 1900 hours. Our food supply was now just about exhausted, but our backpacks were lighter. We had enough food left for a meagre breakfast only. We ate a lot more food than we planned. Everyone was looking forward to getting back to civilization. We were sick of dried food, granola bars, etc.

Day 9, Saturday, 23 August 1997

Back to Edmonton day; up at 0730 hours. The weather was rather warm with scattered clouds when we got up at Kinney Lake. Two hours later, after eating a meagre breakfast, breaking camp and relaxing for a while, we were again on the trail hiking back to the trailhead during our last leg/day in the Park. The hike down was rather easy going, for we were in no rush to get anyway fast. We were tired, sore, and lacking nutrition. We arrived back at the trailhead/parking lot 2 hours later all safe and sore. "We did it!", and were glad it was done. After loading the van and a little personal clean-up, we went to the one and only "expensive" local restaurant and bought enough food to last the 4 hour trip back to Edmonton. While at the restaurant, some bought and wrote postcards to send to loved ones and others phoned loved ones to let them know that we were all okay.

The trip back to Edmonton was uneventful and most of us slept the whole way back. We arrived back at the Base 4 hours later. We got our quarter assignments for the night, unloaded the van, and got all cleaned up for a night out on the town. At 1800 hours, we were sitting in a chinese restaurant at the "all-you-can-eat" buffet. After, two hours of eating, and we ate a lot, we went back to Base Mess for a nightcap. We were all in our nice, warm, clean, comfortable beds by 2200 hours. Ahh, life is really good again.

Day 10, Sunday, 24 August 1997

Sightseeing day; up at 0900 hours. It was really nice to be able to sleep-in a little and not have to think about where you have to be today, because we didn't have to be anywhere. The weather was really great, it was 18°C and clear skies when we got up. After breakfast, we went back to the quarters, relaxed and played cards until noon. After lunch, we went to the world's largest mall, the West Edmonton Mall, where we spent the rest of the day looking around and buying sovenirs. Six hours in the West Edmonton Mall is not enough time to see it all, but after that much time in a mall, we had had enough, so we went back to the Base for supper. After supper, went to the games room and played pool until closing time around 2200 hours.

At this point in time, everyone was starting to feel better and we were looking forward to getting back home. We still can't believe we made it up and down Mount Robson via the Kain Face. Looking back, we realized just how scary it really was up there. While climbing the Kain Face, we met and passed two other guys climbing up the face. This climb was their fourth attempt at summiting. They thanked us for allowing them to join our group up to the summit because their lack of training and poor planning would have once again denied them the summit. Our team spent a year training and planning for this summit, despite a few setbacks, we succeeded with the help of some fairly good weather.

Day 11, Monday, 25 August 1997

Edmonton to Ottawa day; up at 0700 hours to catch a Canadian Forces Service Flight from Edmonton back to Ottawa. It's a beautiful, clear day in Edmonton. In the morning, we cleaned the van, returned it to the Base Transport Section, and took a taxi to the Edmonton International Airport. We left Edmonton at 1130 hours.

The flight back was uneventful and we were already talking about our next Adventure Training trek to who-knows-where. After a few stops along the way, we finally arrived back in Ottawa at 2100 hours. "Home Sweet Home." Another checkmark to add to the list of accomplishments.

The Mount Robson Climbing Team - Rope Team A

Eric Thibault, age 23, was the overall team leader and also, leader of Rope Team "A". He is a Canadian Forces Signals Officer. His main duties within the team were to train the team members as a whole and to plan this expedition.

Eric has been hiking and climbing for the past five years and was one of the founders of this climbing team. He has taken numerous mountaineering courses throughout Canada and the USA. Although, this summit was not his highest, it certainly was his most challenging climbing experience. His backpack weighed the most in the group, at 115 pounds, that is a lot of weight to carry up 8,000'.

Eric's tent partner was Chris. He was the lead person on Rope Team "A".

Sophie Martel, age 23, was the only female in the group. She is a Canadian Forces Communications Officer. Her main duty within the team was to help carry the necessary equipment up to The Dome. Although, the climbing team was made-up of all men except for Sophie, it was determined that she was a better climber than any of the other candidates during the selection period. Sophie is married to Pat.

Sophie has been hiking and climbing with the team for the past two years. Although, she was the "just" a girl, she easily carried her 85 pound backpack up to The Dome. She was one strong girl. This summit was Sophie's highest and was her most challenging climbing experience.

Sophie's tent partner was Pat. She was the middle person on Rope Team "A".

Patrique Falardeau, age 24, was the pack-mule in the group. He is a Canadian Forces Communications Officer. His main duty within the team was also to help carry the necessary equipment up to The Dome. He is married to Sophie.

Pat has been hiking and climbing with the team for only the past year. His backpack was the second heaviest in the group, at 105 pounds, Pat easily managed to hump up to The Dome with lots of energy to spare. This summit was Pat's highest and was his most challenging climbing experience.

Pat's tent partner was Sophie. He was the anchor person on Rope Team "A".

The Mount Robson Climbing Team - Rope Team B

Chris McGuffin, age 24, was not only the tallest in the group, but he was also the deputy team leader and leader of Rope Team "B". He is a Canadian Forces Signals Officer. His main duty within the team was to help train the team members as a whole.

Chris has been hiking and climbing for the past five years and was also one of the founders of this climbing team. He too has taken numerous mountaineering courses throughout Canada and the USA. Although, this summit was not his highest, it certainly was his most challenging climbing experience. His backpack was the third heaviest in the group, at 100 pounds, that too is a lot of weight to carry up 8,000'.

Chris's tent partner was Eric. He was the lead person on Rope Team "B".

Howie Gabert, age 25, was the second tallest in the group. He is a Canadian Forces Communications Officer. His main duty within the team was to help carry the necessary equipment up to The Dome.

Howie has been hiking and climbing for the past ten years while living in Alberta. He has been hiking and climbing with the team for only the passed year. This summit was Howie's highest and was his most challenging climbing experience.

Howie's tent partner was Brian. He was the middle person on Rope Team "B".

Brian MacLean, age 41, was the oldest in the group. He is a Canadian Forces Communications Officer. His main duties within the team were to teach the team members all about radio communications, set-up the radio communications network during the expedition, and to assist Eric with the planning of this expedition.

Brian has been hiking and climbing with the team for the past two years. Although not the strongest person in the group, he did mange to carry the team's minimum 85 pound backpack up to The Dome and what a hump that was too. This summit was Brian's highest and was his most challenging climbing experience.

Brian's tent partner was Howie. He was the anchor person on Rope Team "B".

The Mount Robson Climbing Team - Base Camp Warden

Dave Connors, age 37, was the second oldest in the group. He is a Canadian Forces Administrations Officer. His main duties within the team were to set-up the base camp at Extinguisher Tower and to maintain a constant radio communications link between the climbing team, himself, and the Park rangers should an emergency evacuation be necessary. Although, the climbing team had radios, their location while climbing, put them in a dead zone for a radio link with the Park rangers; therefore, Dave's base camp location was to be the radio relay point.

Dave has been hiking with the team for the past two years. Although, he does not actually climb mountains of this calibre, he has hiked with the team on several occasions and was the only individual willing to come along on this expedition and remain at base camp, performing the necessary radio monitoring.

Dave did not have a tent partner, but while he was at Extinguisher Tower, he did meet a lot of people who were passing through headed up to The Dome.