Logan Expedition Blog 1, London - Logan Base Camp

Flying above the Logan Base Camp

Tuesday 3rd May 2016 - London Heathrow - Toronto

Final last minute packing and shopping this morning before the 6pm flight.  I decided to take my humungous Dana Design 100litre rucksack instead of my 70litre Osprey, so a complete repack was needed!

Luggage weighting at Heathrow airport

Have I got enough kit?

Using the free scales at Heathrow my bags turned out to be:

Ski Bag: 32kg

Rucksack: 23kg

Daybag: 10kg

2nd Hand Luggage: 5kg

In Toronto we had to check back through security and slept in the check in area until 4am.

Time for a quick nap in Toronto airport

Wednesday 4th May - Toronto - Vancouver - Whitehorse

Welcome to the Yukon

More flying time today, and each one on a smaller plane before finally arriving at Whitehorse, the Yukon Capital.  The arrivals hall, complete with Stuffed deer and other animals certainly made you feel like you were in the Yukon!  Squeezing our bags in the hire car was a mission, but we all made it to the Days Inn (there is also a free hotel transfer service) in a couple of car loads.

Thursday 5th May - Whitehorse - Kluane B+B

Attempting to fit all our kit in the hire car.

In addition to some kit organising we had ample time this morning to do some more food and gear shopping.  The huge gear shop, CMS, had a great supply of outdoor clothing and equipment, but no ski stuff.  And the supermarket was gigantic, stocking endless energy bars, vegan bars, trail mixes, dried fruit, all sorts of cheeses and every thing you would want.  There was also a good deli and bakery in town.  

2pm transfer with Up North Adventures took us along the Alaskan Highway to Klaune B+B.  It’s around a 2 1/2 hour drive, with great Canadian views (as opposed to just fir trees!)

Just before checking in we stopped at the airstrip to meet the pilot and team, this is important to get yourself ‘in the queue’ to fly in as there were other climbers and researchers waiting to get into the surrounding mountains.  You are flown in on a first come first served basis.

The views from Kluane were ‘huge’, incredible cloud vistas filled the sky above the lake and across the smaller mountain tops, which hid the larger mountains and ice fields beyond.  Not a hint of the glaciated peaks were seen, and you wouldn’t believe they were there unless someone told you.  This is part of the reason that not many Canadians know that Logan is their tallest mountain.

My evening was filled with packing the lunch and breakfast contents into individual daily lunch and breakfast sandwich bags.  Luckily we were the only people staying in the B+B and so had all of the main living space to ourselves to pack for the mountain.

Big skies in Kluane

Friday 6th May - Kluane B+B organising / waiting to fly day

Our entire day was quite easily filled with packing gear, checking equipment, putting up tents, waterproofing skins, attaching leashes and general faff.  During the afternoon we stretched our legs and went to visit Tom, the pilot, to discuss flying in.  Having been told to be ready to fly at 6:30 the following morning, it was ‘action stations’ to get ready this evening.

Practising putting up the tent by Kluane Lake

Saturday 7th May - Waiting to fly at Kluane

We woke to alarms clocks at 5:15am, to beautiful daylight outside and the odd cloud in the distance.  It was stunning.  Scrambled eggs, bacon and cream cheese bagels for breakfast - still trying to eat as much food as possible.  6:30am came and went, the weather towards the mountains didn't look good, and Lisa, our weather forecaster had told us there would only be a brief opening of better weather after lunch.

Phone panorama of the enormous views from Kluane

Soon, news came to us that we wouldn't be flying yet, and a 'test' flight would go out later on, so we should wait to hear more later on.  More eating and waiting commenced.  The weather didn't clear all day, but tomorrow looked hopeful.

Spring arrived a month early in the Yukon

Sunday 8th May - Kluane - Logan Basecamp, King's Trench

Another early wake up call with more incredible cooked food for breakfast, however this time we were collected at 6:30 to make the 5minute drive to the airstrip.  It was a stunning day, alpenglow lit up the hills and barely a cloud graced the sky.  Perfect.

By 7:30am, the 1st two, Phil and David, had taken off for basecamp.  While waiting for our turns we weighed the kit, the plane has a 750lb load limit, including people, per flight.  Coffee was consumed, and we could even get a live tracking update on where the plane was via their website.

At 9:30am, Chris and I were onboard and beginning the most incredibly scenic flight into the mountains.  Following the glacier's up from Kluane Lake, we were greeted by some of the biggest peaks in Canada, and the largest non polar ice field in the world.  The scale was unfathomable.  Many dreams of huge arduous traversing expeditions were conjured up in my head, as not many people had explored the terrain we were flying over, and many peaks and routes were unclimbed still.  60km long 5km wide glaciers spread out below us and we finally got a view of Logan too.  You couldn't have asked for a clearer view.

Just some of the incredible views we had flying into Logan basecamp

Flying into the landing we could see one tent set up in basecamp and the team of 2 Austrians heading up the glacier.  No sooner had we landed it was all hands to deck to unload the plane and move into camp.  Puffing and panting, you could tell we had arrived at 2700m!  It was quite an effort to move our equipment the 100m from the 'landing strip' to the tent.  Tent platform making commenced, complete with wall for wind protection.  Just as we moved in the last team members arrived.

Our first view of Mount Logan, the platter is straight ahead, with the main peak 2nd from left in the background.

What a relief it was to finally all be on the mountain, after months of planning and preparation we were all there, ready and nervous to begin.

You can just see the tent at basecamp (bottom left), and the 2 Austrians bottom centre, making their way to camp 1.

Digging snow is a strange addiction!  After tent walls were complete we got to work on a toilet, with walls, that soon (or rather hours later) turned into a rather pleasant igloo.  In the meantime, some of the group headed up the glacier for a quick recce of the crevasses on that section of the glacier.  As you turn the corner towards Camp 1, there is a section of the glacier that is quite heavy crevassed and normally requires due care.

Being at Base Camp also means proper food and cooking.  Tonight was pasta with real mince sauce, parmesan, tea, biscuits and soup.

Skinning up the glacier under cloudier skies, Camp 1 is just around the corner to the RHS

As we cooked we discussed whether or not we should have done a cache today.  Having spent a long time faffing and digging snow, we could have easily gone earlier.  To be honest, I hadn't even considered this in the plan, but it made perfect sense.  To be successful we needed to make the most of every bit of good or acceptable weather.  After dinner we packed up and carried our first cache as close as possible to camp 1.  An hour and a bit in, the pulk constantly hauling me back down the hill, we had covered 2.5-3km and 280m uphill, and the weather begun to change.  Light snow and fog arrived, so we cached there and skied back to arrive in camp for 9pm.  It was still very bright outside.

Returning to basecamp from our first ski of the expedition

With relief I finally got to test my new skis out (this was my first outing with them), and they worked beautifully.