Colin Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Trip: Mt. Robson - Emperor Face, House-Haley (FA) Date: 5/25/2007 Trip Report: Excited by a good forecast, Steve House drove north from Bend on Wednesday afternoon for his 7th attempt on Robson's Emperor Face. Fortunately all of the more talented climbers he approached could not go, so we met up in Seattle and hit the road up to Robson on Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon we flew with Yellowhead Helicopters to the Helmet-Robson col, and left the col at 4:30am on Friday to approach the Emperor Face by descending the ramped ice-fall above the Mist Glacier. We climbed the face in two long lead blocks, both seven pitches long. My block had longer pitches (about 80m on average) and moderate climbing, then Steve's block had normal-length pitches (about 55m on average) and much more difficult climbing. Our route roughly followed the gully system immediately left of the Stump-Logan, but on the last pitch we suddenly encountered 3 fixed pitons. Presumably Stump and Logan finished a little bit to the left of the arete that is shown in most photos. Our route shared at least the last pitch with theirs, and perhaps the last two pitches. I reached Steve's belay at the top of the headwall at 11:30pm, and we spent the short night sitting on a small ledge chopped from the ice. In the morning Steve led two easy mixed pitches up to the crest of the Emperor Ridge, which we then crossed onto the upper SW Face. We traversed across the South Face, me now feeling very sick for some reason (I think a bug that I have had ever since Patagonia), and joined the Wishbone Arete in deteriorating weather. The upper Wishbone Arete included some funky gargoyle climbing, and we topped out in a whiteout at 1:00pm. We descended the Kain Route and then Steve hiked up to retrieve our camp at the Helmet-Robson col while I sat and contemplated vomiting. Our camp-to-camp time was approximately 36 hours. On Sunday we descended the Robson Glacier (sometimes stressfully off route due to the whiteout), and then hiked down to Kinney Lake, leaving the last 7km of walking for Monday morning. I probably won't have time to post pictures until July, unfortunately. Quote
kevbone Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Trip: Mt. Robson - Emperor Face, House-Haley (FA) Date: 5/25/2007 Trip Report: Steve House Name dropper. Good job. Quote
John Frieh Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 That face is so big... awesome work guys! way to crush! rating estimate? rack? Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Outstanding!! As someone uninformed on the history of this face, I did some googling and found this nice write up: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/article_blanchard-robson.htm# Sounds like they absolutely crushed previous times on the face! Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Where's the jaw dropping emoticon. Nice send d00d :tup: Quote
MCash Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Awesome job! http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/mtrobsonfa07/ Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Steve House is aid. :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: Quote
dbb Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 wait, I thought Colin was aid. I think that means their route is a sport climb then. the longest sport climb in the world!! Quote
Alpinfox Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 This weekend I got ropegunned up Givler's crack. Then it got a little chilly and windy, so I went home. Steve and Colin and I should climb together sometime. Quote
LeeLau Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 damn - http://www.bivouac.com/img/photo/4631_nface.jpg - that's the Emperor Face in the shade Quote
pup_on_the_mountain Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Hell yeah!!! Fuck'n Awesome :tup: . Quote
ZimZam Posted May 30, 2007 Posted May 30, 2007 Where's the jaw dropping emoticon. Nice send d00d :tup: i wanna a do-over on life. Nice Colin. U Quote
TeleRoss Posted May 30, 2007 Posted May 30, 2007 I want a Colin Haley bobble head doll! Way to keep kickin ass Colin! Climb high up there in the AK Hey, when are you going to have pics of the gnarr? Quote
SmilingWhiteKnuckles Posted May 30, 2007 Posted May 30, 2007 Awesome stuff, Colin! Can't wait for pics. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.