Mt. Logan, Yukon – May 2011
Canadian High Points Project
Rich McAdams
A climb of Mt Logan, the high point of Canada (19,545’), is now being organized for late-May 2011. The trip is open to HAMS graduates and those with equivalent experience.
Logan is a challenging peak, similar to climbing Denali, but without the crowds and without an established path to the summit. The reward, however, is that Logan is universally recognized as a truly meaningful climb and an undisputed world-class mountain.
Logan typically requires three weeks from start to finish. Although this includes a few extra days potentially tent-bound waiting out bad weather, we may opt to set aside a few more days as part of our planning process.
Although it has its technical merits, Logan is usually considered more of an endurance climb than a technical ascent. Multiple weeks of sledding and backpacking all our stuff, the same-old same-old diet, as well as waiting out the inevitable storms tends to make endurance and perseverance the more pressing challenge.
Weather permitting, each day would see us either ferrying a load up the mountain or moving camp. With that said, it is anticipated that our practice and conditioning climbs would be 95% endurance focused and 5% technical (e.g. crevasse rescue, rope team travel, etc). Of course on Logan there will be many days at altitude so, yes, our Colorado-based outings will also try and keep us altitude conditioned.
The trip will be limited to six climbers to keep the logistics manageable. However, if there is sufficient demand a wait-list can be developed. Being on the wait-list would give folks the opportunity to also participate in our practice and conditioning climbs this winter.
For budgetary purposes, this trip is expected to cost approximately $2500 per person.
If you have questions, or would like to review the application package, please e-mail (Rich.McAdams@hp.com) referencing “Mt Fairweather” in the subject line. To assess your suitability, or to get answers to many of the anticipated questions, please refer to Jack Bennett’s book, Not Won In A Day, as I will use his book as our official point of reference.
