Mount Robertson
September 16 2024
Positioned between the Robertson, French, and Haig Glacier, Mount Robertson's vertical strata make for wild towering views above the area and an intimidating ascent. While it may not look like it rises all that high from the Haig Glacier, the view of Robertson from the north is much different showing off it's sharp and jagged peaks. Mount Robertson is one of the peaks in Alan Kane's Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies book and while he considers it a scramble I personally would not.
The route climbs technical and exposed terrain with numerous 5th class sections which eventually leads to a tremendously exposed ledge system and to cap everything off finishes on one of the most airy ridges I've ever been on. The amount of technical terrain and objective hazard you have to take on going for this route is too much to be considered a scramble in my opinion and anyone that ends up going for it is likely already well versed in 5th class and borderline climbing objectives.
When William Hammond mentioned wanting to go for Mount Robertson on our ascent of
Mount Murchison
I was all for it as it had been on my to do eventually list for a while, and considering partners for what I would consider the hardest peak in Alan Kane's book are hard to come by I didn't want to miss an opportunity on this peak! Fellow biathlete and friend Lance Sekora was also interested in visiting the Haig Glacier for the first time but wasn't as experienced scrambling so we decided to go for Mount Jellicoe and scope out conditions on Robertson before William and I headed for that while Lance checked out the skier huts.
Our conditions assessment didn't end up doing much for us as even after seeing some snow on the SE slopes of Robertson we decided to go for it with the notion that we'd turn back if we felt uncomfortable which isn't a great plan when you've got a high risk tolerance. For the most part the south slopes were dry so where we had issues on the lower ridge we bypassed on the south face but this made an already difficult objective even harder placing this outing well into the realm of climbing.
Things got worse as the ridge turned north and we traversed across exposed terrain to Doug's cairn which marks the start of the ledge traverse section. We were greeted with a completely snow covered ledge and I was not keen on sending that but after scoping out the ridge proper and being turned back by even more intimidating terrain we had to make a call. At this point I guess summit fever took over cause I decided to lead across and with insecure hand holds and firm kick steps William and I continued up.
links:
STRAVA
|
GAIA
elapsed time: 14hrs
DIFFICULTY: mountaineering - glacier travel, 5th class, high consequence terrain
It's possible the kick steps into snow made the most exposed ledge section easier than if it were dry but that being said a slip would kill so the chance of this section being slippery sure as hell didn't make it feel any easier. After finally reaching a high point on the mountain we were looking at the last challenge of the day, the knife-edge summit ridge and it was serious. I ended up lay backing off one side with good foot holds for the worst sections while William opted for au chevel and after one last gripping section we were standing at the summit.
Similar to on
Mount French
I wasn't really in the mood for too many summit celebrations since we still had to do the arguably more difficult part of our trip, get down all the technical terrain, but the views on top of Robertson while it and the nearby peaks had snow on them were exceptional and it was hard not to be pretty stoked. Having seen what the views looked like from the further north summit I decided since we were up there anyway I'd traverse to it and after a couple hands on sections the towers of Mount Robertson showed themselves!
We took our time on the descent and got down in one piece but getting back across the ledge was stressful and I would not recommend it in these conditions especially with the lack of climbing / mountaineering gear that we had. More Robertson is one hell of a peak and to consider any route to the top as a scramble is crazy in my opinion but to each their own! Despite being a gripping ascent it was awesome getting up and down this peak in the adverse conditions William and I had, I wont forget it!
Other related trip reports:
|| Wetterspitze | Cima del Tempo |
Chancellor Peak |
The Armchair Traverse |
Mount French |
Mount Vaux
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