Mount Robson Kain Face Alpine IV Climb

Lat/Lon: 53.11°N, 119.15°W
Route
The registration to climb Mount Robson is voluntary. The registration box was at the
Berg Lake trailhead back in 1998. If you use it, make sure you sign out as well.
From the Robson Provincial Park Visitor Center drive 2 km north to the Berg Lake
trailhead. There was no fee for overnight parking here in 2003.   There are six official
campsites en route to the start of your climb, unless of course you are using a
helicopter, in which case you really are not in need of this beta. It takes 4 km to reach
Kinney Lake (campsite), a rather uneventful section except for Knowlton Falls. The
trail continues across a gravel bar, where you have several water crossing options
depending on the flow, up to Valley of a Thousand Falls including White Falls
(campsite-nice!) and Emperor Falls (campsite). Now the route gets quite scenic as
the Mist Glacier starts to come into view. Continue through some gravel flats to the
southwest shores of Berg Lake (campsite).   Travel along the west shore of Berg
Lake to Campsite 5 which has a day shelter to store food and other items you do
not need to take on the climb. This is an ideal first camp spot with spectacular
views of the Berg Glacier breaking off into Berg Lake, thus the name.

Continue on to Campsite 6 where you leave the trail and make way for the tongue of
the Robson Glacier. Bypass a small tarn on the left hand side as you travel
southeast up the moraine. We hopped on this exposed glacier (meaning the
crevasses are quite exposed during the late summer months) fairly early, quickly
fixed our crampons and went unroped up the Robson Glacier until progress was
slowed by crevasses. We then moved back onto the east moraine to a bivy site on a
small rock cropping below a massive rock tower called Extinguisher. Extinguisher
Tower has a lot of rock fall and reminds you all night of where you are. We used this
as our 2nd camp.

Get an early start as you attack the deeper snow further up the Robson Glacier en
route to some nasty seracs called the Mousetrap Icefall, in the Robson Cirque.
Although the Mousetrap Icefall is not recommended in at least one guidebook, I
found this section to be the most interesting and difficult climbing of the whole
trip, and pondered what those who helicopter to the Dome were really
accomplishing in terms of climbing.   It is also the most direct route but requires
solid ice climbing skills to move horizontally through these leaning ice obstacles.
Avalanches were plentiful through this upper area and we noticed many of our old
tracks wiped out on our return down the southeast ridge. Proceed to the Dome below
the Kain Face and make camp. Wind and cold can be brutal at this bivy site (and it
was for us). Get an early start and ice climb your way above the bergschrund and up
the northeast face comprised of over 1000’ of vertical ice. Then follow the southeast
ridge, containing a few technical spots, to the summit. On the descent back to the top
of the Kain face, we had one fall. You must be confident in self arrest as this slope
does drop almost to the valley floor on the southeast side.

On descent from the Dome the next day, we took the southeast ridge down to the
Resplendent col for some variation in the route. We set up several rappels along the
ridge. It took us over 20 hours to make it back to the parking lot from the Dome. Most
of the photos I have added to this site are from a 2003 snowshoe up to Robson
Glacier. Better route photos will be forthcoming from more recent trips, I am sure.

Essential Gear
Alpine, Ice and Camping Gear for an Alpine IV Climb including Pickets and Screws
and One Alpine Ax and a Tool or 2