Day 4. The weather was lousy all day. About 3 inches of snow fell, confining us to the tent. There was a 2-hour lull where we set out our wet gear to dry.

We did a lot of speculating about a possible summit day. Based on what we had experienced yesterday, it was possible it could take 20-24 hours for a summit bid. The “perfect day” might never come again, a day like Day 2. Commercial airline pilots who fly the Vancouver – Edmonton route commonly report that it can be completely clear for the entire distance, with the exception of Mt. Robson which can be wreathed in clouds. The mountain seems to create its own weather, and several weeks can pass with no clear skies around the summit.

We talked about going for the summit at any time the weather seemed fairly reasonable, even doing a bivi en route – and to keep going until we were done, even if it took 2 or 3 days.

Day 5. It snowed all night long. Finally, around 9:00 am, it stopped long enough to stand outside and eat. Alas, it didn’t last, and we were soon driven back inside. The snow resumed and fell steadily until around 4:00 pm. Our gear was getting wetter. The little radio we had with us gave us a weather report saying rain today and tomorrow. Not good. We just lie in our sleeping bags, talking a lot. Cold supper in the tent. Later, it was calm and very cloudy. Eight inches of new snow fell today. This weather is becoming a real drag. We take turns cleaning the snow off the tent so it doesn’t collapse.

Another make-work project is bolstering our snow-block wall. It helps keep the prevailing wind from buffeting us as badly, and cuts down on the amount of snow that would drift around the tent.

Day 6. Our alarm woke us at 2:00 am. It was calm and cold, with a full moon and skies that were mostly clear. It looked pretty good. Brian felt that he wanted to see a full day of sun and warmth to consolidate the upper part of the face. Although Scott and I were tempted to go for it, we agreed with Brian’s reasoning. Actually, we talked about it for three hours, and finally fell back to sleep at 5:00 am for another three hours. At 8:00 am, we awoke to a complete white-out. The winds picked up to gale force – there was no leaving the tent.

In the afternoon, to pass the time, we played a board game called Peak Experience, where climbers attempt to reach the summit of K2. Bad omen – all three of us were killed! By 2:30 pm, conditions were really grim. Snow had drifted to a depth of three feet around the tent. We’d be okay as long as the tent held – it was a Meridian “Black Ice”. The main door zipper has been showing signs of weakness – we really hope it holds. It’d be a game-changer if it doesn’t. By 3:00 pm, there was no let-up in the winds. It was hard to not be pretty pessimistic about our situation. Finally, by evening it had quieted down. We could get two FM stations from Edmonton, and plenty of weather reports. All they ever promise for the Jasper area is rain, wind and clouds. There’s never any let-up in sight. My back was really starting to ache, as I am slowly melting into the snow beneath the tent. I’m in the middle position, sandwiched in between Scott and Brian.

Day 7. During a brief lull in the otherwise-crappy weather, we emptied the tent, lifted it up and filled in the three body-shaped depressions we had melted into the snow beneath. Ah, relief.

I don’t remember much else about this day. During these days of really poor weather, when it never seems to stop precipitating, it’s all we can do to grab a few bits of food from the supply tent. We certainly aren’t about to cook anything – it’s just way too much hassle. Much of the time, we talk about all the what-ifs, feeling each other out about all of our possibilities. If only the weather weren’t so crummy all the time!

Day 8. Well, today looked as good as anything we’ve seen since our day of acclimatization.

So, we geared up once again, as we did on Day 3. During the short walk over to the face, clouds started to roll in.

Over to the face. Lots of new snow, deep and very slushy. We only went half a rope length before calling it quits. It was just too hard to protect – deadmen and ice tools just pulled right out with a tug.

Not a good situation. It was very disappointing, but, knowing we’d made the best decision, we turned back. Also, it socked in completely as soon as we left the face. Crazy!

Day 9. Realizing now that conditions on the face aren’t likely to improve in the next few days, we decided to formally abandon our attempt. Our thoughts then turned to safely getting down from our perch. Taking a tour around the Dome, we looked down into the icefall which drops from the Robson cirque to the basin at 8,500′. What this next picture does not show is all of the tortured ground that had to be navigated in order to get down to the flat glacier.

Out on the basin, we spotted a tent. It looked like a straightforward path down through the icefall to it, at least as much of the route as we could see. Here is the upper part of the icefall.

We decided to wand it in case of a white-out, and we did. It was very dramatically broken-up, and, as it looked good, we stopped part-way through it. The next picture shows the lower part of the icefall. Also, it shows the Robson-Resplendent col, the saddle in the upper-right portion of the picture, which will be important later. Satisfied with our work, we climbed back up to camp.

One thing we couldn’t be accused of was not having brought enough food on this trip. We created a cache of about 50 pounds, buried it deep in the snow and marked the location, with a message to any future climbers. We even buried some white gas as fuel for their stoves. Future climbers should be able to find it if any part of the wands (labelled “food”) could still be seen.

That evening, we saw two climbers approaching our camp. They turned out to be Richard and Dave, both from Wales. They were camped below, and it was their tent we had seen. Fresh from an attempt on Mt. Fairweather, they felt pretty confident about nailing Robson. Turns out they hadn’t come up through the icefall, but, rather, around via the Razorback. They were travelling lightly. We had a hot brew ready for them. Their plan was to go for the face in the wee hours, so they bivied in the open by our tent. Nice guys. They seemed in really good shape. We all stayed up late talking.

Day 10. Richard and Dave woke up really early – we heard them rustling about, and wished them good luck. They left, and we went back to sleep – climbing with them was not part of our plans for the day. The good weather from last evening had badly deteriorated, and they were hidden in mist on the face. They stopped at our previous high point from Day 3, waited half an hour for it to improve, and when it didn’t they returned to our camp. We talked a bit, and they left, heading down through the icefall to their tent.

We broke camp, and at around 9:00 am we started down. It felt strange to be finally leaving the Dome, but it was definitely time to go. After a few minutes, much to our surprise, we saw Richard and Dave coming back up our tracks from the icefall. They had descended to a spot just below our lowest wanded point, only to find a huge hole in their path, complete with seracs towering over it. They said it was impassable. Knowing their glacier experience, we took them at their word. Nevertheless, their news came as a real shock. Now what were we going to do? It was imperative we get down the mountain, and now.

To be continued………………………………………

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