Logan Expedition Blog 4, The summit, elation to exhaustion

Skinning across the Plateau on summit day

Monday 23rd May - Prospector Col Shoulder Camp 4 - Plateau Camp 5

The four of us were ‘itching to go’.  I couldn’t wait to arrive on the plateau, even if we didn’t make it to the summit, to explore the plateau would be a milestone in itself.  We took 2 pulks between the four of us to ease the load, and today it was myself and David's turn to haul them up to the col.  It was hard work moving a heavy rucksack and pulk, my shoulders kept feeling out of place and tired, my neck ached and legs felt stiff.  This was overcome by the excitement of getting closer to the summit.

The summit team ready to leave for Prospector Col (L to R, David, Myself, Cathy, Matt) Photo from Cathy O'Dowd

After picking up the cache we skied a short way down to the main section of glacier on the other side before beginning a big traverse in to camp.  Crossing the plateau was awesome, it felt good to be there, finally, after all of the load carrying, weather worrying and team dynamics.  Before us lay a huge undulating expanse of glacier surrounded by skiable looking peaks (all huge, the ‘Logan effect’ working it’s magic again), and crazy seracs overhanging several thousand metres of vertical terrain to the ice fields below.

Traversing the huge Logan Plateau

In the distance we could see two campsites, near Russell Peak, one higher than the other.  This wasn't the spot most people camp in for a summit bid, so we could only presume there must be another reason.  (normally you continue on a high traverse for a few more kms)

The Logan Plateau, you camp just make out two small campsites in the distance (middle of photo and just right of middle)

No one was in the lower camp when we arrived.  After a team chat we opted to camp here and have a longer summit day but avoid hauling our loads further than we needed to.

This camp was the only camp where we didn’t build a snow wall (we were only there for two nights and the forecast was good).  It was cosy with 4 in the tent, but we had less kit and were more organised, although our ski boot shells did get brought into the tent to warm them up overnight (this made a huge difference the following day).  Finally Rich’s guided party arrived, they had got to the West Peak today and one of his client’s looked exhausted.    Their's were the tents beside ours.  We discussed plans, conditions and routes, and decided on an early start to our summit attempt tomorrow.

Sunrise at our Plateau camp

Tuesday 24th May - Summit Day

Our first ‘Alpine start’ of the trip, with alarms at 4am.  On most trips you find yourself a role within your team, and mine had become the breakfast lady.  Each morning I would be the first to get out of the tent, putting the stove on, while Cathy would then de-ice the inner tent, and Matt would slowly wake up (he did his share of stove tending in the afternoons!)  This morning it was cold, I even put my big down jacket on.  Anxious to see what the weather looked like I stuck my head out of the porch door, and for the first time saw the sunrise.  It was perfect, little wind, clear skies and stunning views.

During breakfast cooking I managed to get this shot by vaguely pointing the camera in the direction of the sunrise!

Our aim was to leave as soon as possible after waking up, however in the cold everything took longer.  We took around three hours to get ready.  Once outside we had a good warm up by skinning a gently rising traverse across to the ‘lunchtime ledge’ as we named it.  Here we negotiated a few huge crevasses and continued up and around to the RHS to the glacier below the main summit.  Route finding so far was relatively simple, and we continued straight along to pass above all of the big crevasses on the main glacier coming off the peak.  After skinning on sastrugi for a while we decided that crampons would work better, and be much more pleasant than skiing on the descent.  Caching the skis was a good idea, but in the solid snowpack we ended up tying them all to an icescrew instead.

The sastrugi skinning began

It was several hours more to get from here to the summit ridge.  As we ascended, the air got thinner, and for the first time on the trip I could really feel it.  Making progress slowly upwards was becoming challenging and a small gap began to appear between me and the other three.  This coincided with some small lenticular like clouds hovering above the west summit.  I began to wonder what my chances of summiting were.  As the gap grew, the wind increased and so did the clouds around us.  In my head I had decided that we should all keep going and if the others got to the summit before me, they should head down and I would join them on the descent.  Slightly pissed off at myself for being slow I tried harder to close the gap in vain.

Plodding up to the summit in the last rays of sunshine we had that day

On a brief group pause I asked the others what they were thinking of the weather… lets continue and if it gets worse we’ll turn around, if not, lets carry on.  Phew, at least we were all on the same page.  We weren’t going to see the view, but the winds weren’t dangerous and nor were they forecast to be, we knew it could reach 25mph today, but that is manageable.

Cathy and David making steady progress towards the summit

Further on we cached our rucksacks and continued with our clothes and an ice axe each.  These helped but upwards progress was still difficult.  Every ten double paces I would stop for a breather, never gasping, but out of breath.  I knew breathing in the cold air too deeply would hamper me later (my lungs hate cold air!)

Cathy, Matt and David on the summit of Mount Logan

Eventually we began to undulate along the ridge, every now and then catching glimpses of the famous mountaineering routes below us through the sparkling spindrift.  Finally at 13:30 we reached the summit, tired and relieved.  After sending an in reach message to our website and eating some food (the first I had really eaten since breakfast - another mistake) we began the long way home to camp.  This was, quite simply exhausting physically and mentally.

Matt tucking into the jelly babies on the summit (they had refrozen together!)

Crampon-ing back down the first section was easy enough, we found the ski cache, past the Australian team on their way up (having attempted the peak twice yesterday!), and had some more food.  Just clipping into my dynafit bindings with my overboots on took an age as I was cold and hadn’t cut the holes big enough in them.

Each section of the descent felt harder than the last.  Nothing prepares you to ski frozen sastrugi, in the fog, on a glacier, hungry, tired, with a rucksack on, in the middle of nowhere following a GPS track!

Dancing back down the summit ridge!

Eventually we skied as far down as we could, and we ended up a bit lower than we meant too.  The last section of skinning took around 1.5hrs to travel 2km and 200m upwards.  Normally this would be easy, but we were all pretty tired.  Initially I could skin for 20 double paces and take a breather, but this turned into 10 double paces.  Even upon seeing the tents in the distance I couldn't go faster.  Heavy legs, and having eaten almost no food during the day, I was running on empty.  With relief we all made it to camp and begun eating and sleeping.

Wednesday 25th May - Plateau Camp 5 - King Col Camp 2

Still tired but buzzing from yesterday's achievement we knew we still had a lot of work to do.  With the weather due to change we knew we had to at least get back over the col, and ideally through the icefall.  After packing up camp we made steady progress along the plateau.  The pull up over the col did not take too long, but it was difficult to go faster than 200 vertical metres an hour.  Pulling the sledges was hard work and I was enormously grateful to the others for their hauling today.  

Following the snowshoe track back over Prospector Col

Once over the Col we skied down via our previous two camps to dig out our caches and continued to the top of the icefall.  Along the way there was some great powder snow to be skied, but over a certain steepness my sledge begun to misbehave and control me rather than the other way around.  Progress through the icefall was hard work, it was rather like doing some insane gym workout after spending a week in the mountains.  My entire muscle core was worked to the limit Skiing between the huge slots and seracs with a big pack on and a heavy sledge (normally hanging below you and trying to pull you down the mountain). What had been an incredible steep ski a few days ago turned into a nightmare.  

Descending the icefall

The pulk controlled me and pulled me down the mountain like a sick ski technique exercise as you tried to turn around it.  It seemed to want me to ski diagonally right into the crevasse and I wanted to turn left and ski to camp.  Then things begun to fall out of it which left me there doing lunges with my rucksack on, desperately trying to pick them up and keep the pulk where it was.  Eventually I managed to turn back left and headed into camp.  

Atmospheric views from King Col Camp

Here we made the decision to continue down the mountain tomorrow.

Serac collapse on King Peak

Thursday 26th May - King Col Camp 2 - Basecamp

The decision to ski down today turned out to be a wise choice as the snowshoe / ski track down had turned into an fast icy descent with powder either side.  This meant we could go fast across the flat and have fun skiing too.

Following the smoothish snowshoe track down the mountain

Polling back to basecamp

However the best part about this day were my team who decided to rebuild my pulk for me so that it didn't run over my skis on every turn.  Initially I was a little bit sceptical as to whether this would solve my pulk skiing problem I soon gained much more control over it and began to enjoy the skiing.  This was amazing, the thigh burning descent was quite fun.

Looking back up Mount Logan towards the changing weather

Basecamp was busy with more teams, mostly on snowshoes.  It was sunny and we leisurely set up camp and cooked real food from our cache.  Fried eggs and cheese on muffins. It seemed as though the weather that was due to hit Logan was stuck between us and Kluane, so we would have to spend the night here. 

Chilling out at Logan Basecamp

Friday 27th May -  Basecamp - Kluane

We awoke to the sound of a plane approaching and landing at camp.  By 3pm our team were leaving camp in the plane.  This was the usual mix of excitement to head home but sadness to leave such a wild place and simple life.

Our last views of Logan on the flight out

Saturday 28th May - Kluane - Whitehorse

Ryan, another mountaineer we met on the mountain, very kindly offered us his house to stay in, and after spending some time in Whitehorse we all managed to reschedule our flights home.

Sunday 29th May - Whitehorse - London
Just a few plane journeys so below are two photos that sum up my personal experience on the ski down.

Desperately trying to stay upright controlling the pulk Photo by David Williams

This photo sums up my personal journey as part of the team, lots of gear and hardwork but very happy to be there Photo by David Williams

Tips learnt:

• Keep you ski boot shells in the inner tent, it’s a hassle to clean them and make the space but they stay much warmer.
• Use chemical heaters in your gloves and boots when it’s cold.  They really do work, mine lasted the entire summit day.
• Eat on summit day, even if you are in mittens and don't really feel like it.
• Lastly, go with a good team, and huge thanks go to my fellow teammates who really made it the incredible trip it was (in fact as I finish this post I can't help but grin a bit as I go through the photos again!)

Logan Expedition Blog 3, Decision making and team dynamics, Football Field Camp 3 - Team split at Camp 4

King Peak and the view from the Football Field Camp

Monday 16th May - Rest day at the Football Field Camp 3

The forecast for the next few days was neither good nor bad, some snow, some sun and some wind.  Long due a rest day we had agreed that today we would rest having had some longer days in the sun carrying loads.  This meant a lie in and leisurely breakfast.

Some snow arrived at 13:30, and shortly afterwards at 15:00 we meet the team of 4 Quebecois who had summitted yesterday after a 13hr day from camp at 5150m the other side Prospector Col.  They looked knackered, however we managed to have a chat about their route choice and at least it seemed to tie in with the one the guided group behind us were going to take.

The cheese selection we found in a cache left by another party that had to fly out early 

More eating, drinking and resting commenced, and we made plans for the next few days, the summit in our minds.  Every two days we would be texted a detailed weather forecast from Lisa, our incredible weather forecaster.  This would then enable us to get a good idea of the next three days and a rough idea of what could lie in stall.  It seemed as though the high pressure had left us and more unstable weather would be arriving.

Tuesday 17th May - Football Field Camp 3- just below Prospector Col and back

Originally the forecast was not that great, so we had planned to have another day in camp.  Around midday the sun popped out for a bit and we thought it would be worth our while skinning up towards the col to stretch the legs and have a look.  Four out of six of us went up, and interestingly, us four would turn out to become the summit team later on.  Upon arrival at the Football field, coinciding with the changes in the weather, I think our team started to have differing ideas about what weather we should be moving in, what weather was good, acceptable, bad and awful.  It was challenging, as these next few days would be very mixed, and neither safe nor unsafe to move in, but we would all agree that they weren’t ideal.

Cathy and David concentrating hard on the navigation when we 'lost' the skin track

Starting up the first ramp left from camp, we switched back right, past a more crevassed area and along the never ending 2nd flattening.  By now the fog had arrived and we were navigating by GPS and compass bearings.  I took my turn being out front and while at times you couldn’t even make out the shape of the terrain in front of you, it was quite nice to be out in the type of weather we expected to encounter.  After all, we had all packed endless warm clothing, and all we had experienced so far was baking sun and a bit of snow!  (While I don’t wish storms upon anyone, one of the challenges to overcome on the mountain was surviving the notoriously bad weather!)

After 2.25hrs we made it to the ‘Yukon boys’ campsite at 5300m below the col.  It was quite cold and windy, so a hasty retreat was made back to camp.  Initially seeking out the old skin track, and later following our GPS track.  I tried out the GPS tracback function on my Garmin watch and was amazed at how accurate it was.

Plans were made to begin a move to a higher camp on this side of the col, upon returning to camp.

Cathy and David happy to have found the best Map and compass:GPS ratio!

Wednesday 18th May - Football Field Camp 3 - Prospector Col Shoulder Camp 4 and back

We awoke to another day of mixed weather, and opted to carry to a higher camp, destination currently unknown, and then return to move camp the next day.  Many decisions were made about how much food and fuel to carry up, and in the end we took most of it, just leaving behind some of the extra food we had found in another teams cache that had had to abandon their trip.  I think this was 10days food and fuel in total.

The carry didn't take long, and we soon found a suitable campsite on the side of the glacier where we should be quite protected from the wind forecast.  Upon arrival we began digging out our tent platforms so that tomorrow’s day would be shorter.

The huge tent platform for Camp 4 Photo by David Williams

Thursday 19th May - Football Field Camp 3 - Prospector Col Shoulder Camp 4

The entire camp was packed up, with a cache made of our extra food, fuel and rubbish, before we headed up to our higher camp.  It was another short day, but we thought the extra height gained would help us acclimatise during the mediocre weather forecast, as well as being that bit closer to the summit.  This was a huge weigh up, the benefits of moving higher were: a chance to acclimatise more, being closer to the col and summit, and filling our days with something proactive.  The negatives were, not everyone would keep their appetite and sleep well, the weather wasn’t ideal, and would this counteract our gains?

Is Camp 4 the best campsite on Mount Logan?

Friday 20th May - Stormy day at Prospector Col Shoulder Camp 4

Much of the day was spent digging our tents out and discussing the weather, what was acceptable weather to move over the Col in, whether we would all go to the summit, and what our plan should be.  This debate raged on for most of the day, and only increased with every new bit of weather information we received!  Our tent platform and walls, while great at keeping the wind out, weren’t so good at keeping the snow out and would fill up every 30mins or so, at times with over a foot of snow around them.  Still, it kept us busy.

Digging the tents out Photo by David Williams

In hindsight I don’t think we had fully discussed what would be acceptable weather to attempt the summit in, and what the team would be happy with, as well as what we would do regarding splitting the team.  These conversations are hard to perceive in advance of them actually happening.  The forecast had said that if we wanted to try for the summit we should move over the col this weekend and attempt it early next week, returning before a big storm was due to arrive on Thursday.

Saturday 21st May - Rest day at Prospector Col Shoulder Camp 4

More indecision.  The weather was mixed once again, and we couldn’t decide whether to move or not, or whether we should move.  By this stage one of our team members had had enough of sitting in the tent, bearing the cold, altitude and hauling loads, and didn’t want to move unless we had 3 days of good weather (sun, no wind or clouds).  Other’s of us were unsure what to make of it, and some just wanted to go before our chance was up.  Could we make a decision everyone would be happy with?

Prospector Col lay ahead of us like some dark gate to be crossed onto the hell of the plateau with no escape!  It was a psychological barrier.  Nearly all rescues happen on the plateau, and once there, the only practical way off the mountain is back over the col, complete with around 300m of ascent.  It is high, exposed to all the weather, and nowhere to be caught out.  But this doesn't mean you should be scared of it.  With preparation, the right equipment, some luck, and a reasonable forecast, to summit you need to cross it.

Cathy skiing back down to Camp 4 (middle right, just below King Peak)

Sunday 22nd May - Camp 4 - Prospector Col - Camp 4

Alarms at 8am, the sun hit us later here, and we set off at 10:30, some of us carrying 5 days of food and some equipment to cache at the col, despite the fact that we still hadn’t decided upon a summit attempt or who would go to the summit.  After just over an hour of skinning in perfect visibility we arrived with great views through the col.  Once there we did a quick recce over the other side for a few hundred metres, but not too far as it was incredibly icy.

Looking over Prospector Col

The weather was perfect and I couldn’t help thinking that we should be moving over the col to camp on the other side for a summit attempt.  But we still couldn’t make a decision on this.  It seemed easier just to ascend the col as a team and have a final good day together.  This made for difficult team dynamics, who would go up, who would go down, why, and when?  At least, lets put it to one side for now and enjoy the views and company.  We cached in the old snow wall at the col and headed back down for more discussions.  Then the guided party, and the Kiwi/Australian party committed to the move over the col, and we watched them skin past that afternoon.  Oh.

David enjoying the ski back down from Prospector Col

Finally this evening we agreed on a plan.  Two of the team decided to head down and the rest of us would continue up for a summit bid.  We would split tomorrow.  Relieved to have a plan again, the rest of the trip could take some shape and continue moving forwards.  (A lack of forwards momentum can be awful when on expedition, leading to uncertainties, boredom, tiredness and reluctance to continue)  Gear and other logistics were discussed and the plan was to summit on Tuesday or Wednesday to be as far down the mountain by Thursday evening for the Armageddon storm to hit us with 1.5m of snow and gale force winds.