"Excited by a good forecast, Steve House drove north from Bend on Wednesday, May 23, for his sixth attempt on the Emperor (northwest) Face of Mt. Robson (12,989'), the Canadian Rockies's tallest peak. Fortunately all of the more talented climbers he approached could not go, so I met him in Seattle on Wednesday evening, and we drove up to Valemount, British Columbia, the next morning.

That afternoon we flew by helicopter into the Helmet-Robson col at the base of Fuhrer Ridge (IV 5.4, 2500m, Carlson-Hainsworth-Fuhrer, 1938) to avoid the twenty-seven kilometer trek. Steve had made the approach a number of times before and didn't want to chance the traverse under The Mist Icefall, a dangerously active serac, again. We left the col (10,200') at 4:30 a.m. on May 25 and descended the Mist Glacier to 8,000 feet, where our line on the Emperor Face began.

We found excellent, firm ice conditions on our route...."

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