South Face of Canada’s Mount Robson is Skied for First Time
Two of the world's best backcountry skiers have opened a new line on one of North America's most famous mountains
Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger and Guillaume “Gee” Pierrel have made the first ski descent of the south face of Mount Robson (Yuh-hai-has-kun) in B.C. The famous mountain is the tallest in the Canadian Rockies at 3,954 metres.
In October 2024, Lustenberger and Pierrel skied a new line down Mount Cook (Aoraki) in New Zealand – read about it here. And in May 2024, Lustenberger, Chantel Astorga and Jim Morrison made the first ski descent of Trango Tower in the Himalaya – read about it here. Lusti is one of the world’s most accomplished big mountain skiers with first descents on peaks around the world, including several steep faces in western Canada and on Baffin Island, such as Polar Moon Couloir with Brette Harrington – watch the film here.
This is not the first headline-making descent of Robson, as the first ski descent of the north face was in 1995 by Ptor Spricenieks and Troy Jungen. In the book 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America, Sprincenieks said, “Yuh-hai-has-kun is the original Shuswap name for Mount Robson, meaning ‘Mountain of the Spiral Road.’ As the King of the Rockies, it always seemed more fitting and respectful for it to be called by its traditional name rather than after some colonialist fur trapper who never climbed it.” The second descent of the north face was by Dylan Cunningham, solo, in 2017 – read about it here.
Robson is home to several famous alpine routes, such as those found on the Emperor Face, the Kain Face and even the South Face itself. First climbed in 1924, the south face follows ledges and short walls below a big serac above the Ralph Forster hut for 1,400 metres.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
