WASATCH STOKE, CONDITIONS, OBSERVATIONS and ASSORTED DRIVAL 20-21

[telefreewasatch]

In July 1989 Deb and I walked into Mt. Robson Provincial Park with the intent of pioneering a ski descent of the N face of Mt. Robson. It had been an idea the year before when I was there alone, but the Berg Glacier dictates a rope and partner. I went to the Great Couloir on the SW exposure with no glaciers that year instead. The Great Couloir had not seen an ascent or descent 'til then. (Another story.) As we were walking in to Berg Lake and the shelters there, I realized that the 35mm. camera with monster telephoto needed a battery. And egoistic me figured my partner should document my awesomeness. My pack was large with alpine gear and all, and I wanted to save my energy for the N face. Deb ran all the way out, drove to town, got a battery, and ran back to discover that this was operator error and we didn't need a battery. Oops. Sorry honey...

After spending the night at Berg Lake we were walking along the shore to head up and met the two rangers on duty. Naturally they were curious about the one set of alpine gear and we chatted. Impressed they were that such a small team were going for this cherry. They'd seen several productions come to try with helicopters, arms lost in rotors, etc. You can take a boat across Berg Lake (recommended) if you have one, go way around via the Robson glacier, or bushwack along the E side of Berg Lake to reach the Berg glacier and up to the Helmet col. Bushwack it was with skis and poles in hand but still limiting progress. When we got out of the woods we made better time initially, but when we got on the glacier it started raining with increasing PI. The snow got wetter and deeper. When it got over knee deep, it was growing dark, and I was tiring, Deb took over the lead to save the prima donna's energy. Little did we know that the rangers had set up a spotting scope in the hut where everyone stored their food and cooked on account of bears. By now it was thundering and lightning and our metal was sparking. The hut erupted with folks crying "Shits hitting the fan and the woman is taking the lead!" apparently. When we were immediately under the N face and it was completely dark, we could see the face producing wet sluffs, very fast wet sluffs in flashes of lightning. I encouraged the leader that they couldn't jump the bergschrunds but crossed my fingers.

We spent that night drying my boot liners and gloves over the stove, hoping for a freeze. Hope was misspent and morning dawned quite warm, overcast, and 95% of the N face back down to blue ice. One narrow unfrozen strip of snow left. Down we went in deep wet snow and flat light. Crevasse bridges were soggy and in the bad light I fell through one. Lunging to the far side I drove my axe shaft two handed into the shitty snow. It held, though hands were 2' below the surface in the saturated pack. I tried to bridge back but made no contact. One look down into darkness energized a supreme effort to pull up and roll sideways into the saturated snow. Skis were on the pack which did not help. It worked. Looking back at Deb, she was braced and ready as one could be in that saturated snow. That's my gal. We crossed the Robson river in spate, and the rangers came over to invite us to a night in their hut. Great night making new friends and hearing outrageous bear stories.

One year later to the day, Angel was born and I hung up my spax (ski pole/ice axe) as told previously. That face has only been descended via skis on two occasions now, two on the first descent and a solo second. It is an incredibly beautiful face, and an uncontrolled fall would not necessitate death. (Some B netting above the bergschrunds would make it a black diamond?) Maybe someone reading this will post up a TR in the future of the 3rd descent?

[Boissal]

Outstanding story. Sounds like Ms Telefreewasatch could have given Robson a solid shot if she hadn't been busy supporting you!

Maybe someone reading this will post up a TR in the future of the 3rd descent?

Fuck. No.
Maybe the Kain face but the N face? Even with the B netting I'm still calling it solid double black, 800m above 50 degrees is almost as gnarly as some of the Snowbird terrain. Here's a great interview with the youth who did the 2nd descent.

Someone needs to show the pics of this monster to Jeremie Heitz, it looks oddly similar to the last line he skis in La Liste (the Obergabelhorn).

[muted]

Rumor is that it's been done many more times than just 3, by humble locals.

Great story!

[gimpy]

Tfw...... ftw!!!

[frosted flakes]

A+ story. Deb is a saint.

[mall walker]

that's gotta be one of the prettiest mountains in the world. always loved this:

eta: and this http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web16b/n...-andre-leclerc

As I began to walk toward the trailhead, I reminded myself that you only get to visit a place for the first time once.

skiing this mountain (not the n face obviously) or even just standing up there on top of it has the top item on my bucket list for years now. one of these days...

[Lone Star]

jfc tfw ya nut! thank you for sharing. did you ever do any on snow trips in the Winds??

[oldskibum]

What an adventurous marriage, TFW. Your wife IS a saint, and your kids saved your life. You KNOW you're lucky.

[Vt-Freeheel]

[Skidog]

Another great story from tfw.

Please keep em coming. Bet there are thousands.

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[nest]

Another great story from tfw.

Please keep em coming. Bet there are thousands.

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I feel Iike there should be a dedicated thread.

[powdork]

And egoistic me figured my partner should document my awesomeness. My pack was large with alpine gear and all, and I wanted to save my energy for the N face. Deb ran all the way out, drove to town, got a battery, and ran back to discover that this was operator error and we didn't need a battery. Oops. Sorry honey...

You're a better man than I. That battery would have been needed or just plain gone for sure when she got back

[dfinn]

Pretty quiet out there this morning. 4-6 with mostly soft spongy turns and the occasional surprise. Viz was terrible, socked in just as we started skiing.

[jtran10]

Pretty quiet out there this morning. 4-6 with mostly soft spongy turns and the occasional surprise. Viz was terrible, socked in just as we started skiing.

4-6 you say. wind loaded? Thought about heading out but the 1 reported inch made me say meh.

[dfinn]

Pretty fun 1". I hear that a lot.

[D-Roc]

Balls Deep Both Inches...

[happytimefunbox]

Windbuff with "1 inch" on top skied way fun at the burd today. That is all

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[rudy]

Had a great trip last week to your slice of heaven which was good in more ways than one. Not only did we finally get some soft snow under our skis but realized that too many people create problems beyond I-10 (and once we left CO it finally snowed back home). It took us an hour to go 15 miles on Friday after being stuck in the lodge from 2:30-5:30 after they shut the mtn down early (no complaints, I get it) and then another hour 45 to park the car on Sat am. The draw back is that both of my kids decided UT is way better as it has way more shit to jump off of. Few shots from a great trip.

Making the most out of our tram lap


Scoping the hit on the ride up


Example of shit to jump off of coming down


Great meeting you tgapp (although briefly) and appreciate the deal.

Condolences to all those impacted by the deaths last weekend. It was gut wrenching to find out the situation as the birds kept cycling back to Solitude on Saturday. Very sad

[muted]

I'm wondering if we are going to see some long-time scrubby approaches and annoyingly weedy run-outs cleared to the ground from huge avies next week with the predicted heavy snowfall coming.

[tgapp]

Had a great trip last week to your slice of heaven which was good in more ways than one. Not only did we finally get some soft snow under our skis but realized that too many people create problems beyond I-10 (and once we left CO it finally snowed back home). It took us an hour to go 15 miles on Friday after being stuck in the lodge from 2:30-5:30 after they shut the mtn down early (no complaints, I get it) and then another hour 45 to park the car on Sat am. The draw back is that both of my kids decided UT is way better as it has way more shit to jump off of. Few shots from a great trip.

Making the most out of our tram lap


Scoping the hit on the ride up


Example of shit to jump off of coming down


Great meeting you tgapp (although briefly) and appreciate the deal.

Condolences to all those impacted by the deaths last weekend. It was gut wrenching to find out the situation as the birds kept cycling back to Solitude on Saturday. Very sad

^^ great shots rudy!! love the stoke.

that beer lasted all of 5 minutes after i got home, cheers dude!!

[mall walker]

I'm wondering if we are going to see some long-time scrubby approaches and annoyingly weedy run-outs cleared to the ground from huge avies next week with the predicted heavy snowfall coming.

fingers crossed! argenta, west porter, north’s below the memorials...

[tgapp]

fingers crossed! argenta, west porter, north’s below the memorials...

add scottie's to that list

[mc_roon]

fingers crossed! argenta, west porter, north’s below the memorials...

that would be a great silver lining to this snowpack as long as no one is underneath them when they go

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Lynne, ya done gave up an identity. Is that allowed? Won't one get banned?
Just kidding, I think it's weird that we don't have to or want to use our real names around here...
Look forward to seeing you sometime and keep up the good fight even if it seems like an uphill battle these days.
Jimmy

I used to use my real name but Z-bo changed it for me


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[dfinn]

Thank you Mr Wind! You’re doing a hell of a job with that 1”.