'We had the imagination': B.C. skier leads pair in first-ever ski descent of Mount Robson's south face

It was about 10 years ago that Christina "Lusti" Lustenberger began imaging the impossible: Could she ski down the signature south face of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies?

For those unaware, the south face appears as an imposing death star of snow and rock, looming over all who drive the Yellowhead Highway in British Columbia.

Dissecting the vertical monolith is a thin, unbroken ribbon of white — snow, in other words — that Lustenberger thought just might be a route down from the top. Not for mere mortals, mind you. But for someone with her skiing pedigree, nerves of steel and local savvy.

WATCH | B.C. skier talks about the experience: 

B.C. extreme athlete becomes 1st of 2 to ski south face of Mount Robson

2 days ago

Duration 2:29

A British Columbia woman is one of two extreme athletes who became the first to ski the south face of Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies.

"Growing up in Canada, in the Columbia Valley, Mount Robson has such a deep history of climbing and skiing," she told CBC. "It really is the King of the Rockies, and as a professional skier and someone who spent a lifetime in the mountains, you're drawn to such wild and extreme terrain."

And so it was last week that after a decade of incubating the idea, Lustenberger and French alpinist Guillaume Pierrel climbed to the summit of Mount Robson. Then on Sunday, they skied down, becoming the first to conquer the south face.

"Even when you reach the summit, you're only halfway there. The ski descent took three and a half hours, and there were multiple rappels, transitioning from ski to climb," she said. "The mountain just puts so much pressure on you.

Pierrel said the pair's success was all because of his partner.

"She's already a big source of inspiration for me, and that's why I'm here," he said. "We're going to put our name in the history of the Canadian Rockies. So, yeah, it's such an honour."

Hiking to the summit took the better part of two days, plus an overnight bivouac on a snowy ledge. Weather was also a challenge because Mount Robson is so tall it can create its own weather patterns.

That led to a false start from a point 200 metres below the true top of the mountain. A blessing in disguise, that first attempt was abandoned when visibility suddenly dropped to almost zero. 

"It was then that we decided we would do a second attempt from a different approach," said Lustenberger. "To leave that upper 200 metres was just not satisfactory. And so we felt like it was important enough for us to try again and complete the vision."

A former Canadian Olympic ski racer, Lustenberger has made a name for herself in the world of extreme ski descents, bagging a long list of firsts from New Zealand to Baffin Island. 

Last month, she appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in support of the film Trango, a documentary of her first descent from the Pakistani peak of the same name.

While others have skied down Mount Robson in the past, Pierrel and Lustenberger are receiving credit for their route, known in the sport as "opening a new line." 

"Finding space as an explorer and a steep skier, you start to look at mountains differently. You try to imagine your own way through them. The south face had been left. No one had looked at it to climb and ski. And we did," she said.

"We had the imagination." 

Radio West16:50Olympian Christina Lusti and her ski partner are the first people to climb and ski down the south face of Mount Robson

Olympian Christina Lusti and her ski partner are the first people in the world to climb and ski down the south face of Mount Robson.