Hi all,
I guided an ascent of Mount Robson (Yuh-hai-has-kun) via the Kain face August 12-14, 2021. We had clear skies, light winds and very warm temperatures with hardly any overnight freeze. Some radiation freeze was experienced making early morning travelling conditions much safer and more enjoyable. We managed to fly in/out to the Dome landing site with Yellowhead helicopter out of Valemount despite their busy schedule with various forest fires.
We climbed the Kain face at night both on the way up and down. This seemed to be the logical thing to do considering the heath and intense solar radiations. The Kain face was 90% ice with a complex burgshrund passable on the far climbers right. Good ice screw placements and v-thread anchors could be found (with some digging) except for the last 60m where snow anchors were possible. From there we pretty much climbed the entire Southeast ridge to the summit and back. Conditions were quite variable along this stretch with nearly 60% dry ice with adequate protection. There were a few problematic crevasses (read wide open!) requiring minor detours on the South face along the way. Snow sections along this stretch were a mixture of isothermal snow and firm neve. The final summit ridge was easily negotiable with firmer snow travel.
Firn lines on various local glaciers are around 2500m. That said, exposed areas traditionally holding less summer snow at higher elevations were completely dry. Most burgshrunds in the region are wide open and difficult to cross. Crevasses are also problematic with thinning bridges yielding increasingly less options for crossing. There was definitely a natural loose snow (wet) avalanche cycle up to size 1.5 with daytime warming at high elevations solar aspects. Also lots of active seracs particularly during peak heat.
All in all a great climb despite the heath and dry mountain conditions. Careful route selection and calculated timing helped. Okay, maybe a bit of luck with the weather helped too!
Cheers,
David Lussier
ACMG Mountain Guide
summitmountainguides.com
