Here is a picture of me standing on the summit of Mount Logan, highest point of Canada at 5959m, June 1, 2009:
During one short rest-day in Whitehorse I was able to upload some more photos of our expedition using Picasa (Google). Check here for 31 pictures of the climb.
Tomorrow I will hop on the bus to Anchorage to meet up with the Denali Expedition! While I would have liked to spend a few more rest-days in the warm summer weather down here, one thing is for sure: Never in my entire life have I been better acclimatized to altitude than right now: We spent the last 12 nights above 4000m, 7 nights of which near or above 5000m. This will help me on Denali…
After 15 days on the mountain our entire team reached the summit of Mount Logan on June 1, 2009.
The weather turned really nice again after a few windy days up high. A high pressure system had moved in giving us clear skies and almost unlimited visibility on the top. For example, we looked down some 4000m to the huge Seward Glacier on the South, and some 6000m to the Pacific Ocean beyond the St. Elias mountain to the South-West.
Here is a view from Prospector’s Col (5500m) to the West. The prominent mountain behind me is King Peak (5173m) which dominates the lower parts of the King’s Trench route and towers well over King Col (4150m) where we had our Camp II.
BIG Thanks to our mountain guide Rich Prohaska and assistant guide Martin Fichtl! It was hard work for us, but these two guys put in even more hard work, found a safe route for us, dished up excellent food under all conditions and kept a calm, always positive spirit. What a pleasure to have such competent guides – it made all the difference; we could not have done it without them. When other teams turned around in the face of altitude sickness or technical / weather challenges, we just used to say: “We are not worried, because we have Rich!”
See also the official Canada West Mountain School Logan page with Blog updates over the last 2 weeks (thanks to sat phone updates from Rich along the way).
I will upload more pictures and update the Logan peak page as soon as I recover a bit from the last 2 weeks – down here in Whitehorse some 4000m lower the air is so oxygen-rich and the sights and smells of spring are overwhelming after 17 days on the glacier, the last 12 nights above 4000m and the last 7 nights between 4850m and 5250m…
Today we will leave Whitehorse heading towards the airstrip at Kluane Lake and then trying to fly in to our base camp. Yesterday we spent time shopping, food and gear checking and distribution, as well as socializing with the expedition team members (2 guides + 3 clients). Now we are ready to go.
I have updated the Logan page with some details, photos, thoughts about our expedition and other Logan related links. This is also the page where I will detail the expedition.
A detailed weather forecast for the Kluane Lake area can be obtained here. The current forecast is medium for tomorrow, but then 5 days of pretty good weather, so chances are good that we will at least get to fly in without major weather delays at the airstrip.
Chances are that I will be offline for up to 3 weeks – the only updates will come from my SPOT tracker. You should hear some news the latest by Jun-1. The Canada West Mountain School should have the most details about our trip, as we will be in satellite phone communication with them throughout the expedition.
In 2 hours I will be leaving for the airport and the adventure will finally begin! I will be flying to Whitehorse, Canada, and joining the Mt. Logan expedition from May-9 to Jun-1.
There was a lot of gear to pack into the bike box, backpack and duffel bag.
t-3 days: Later this week (May-7) I will hop on an airplane to Whitehorse, Canada and the adventure will finally begin!
I spent the last couple of days with final preparations, ordering the brochures and business cards (for some increased publicity to increase charitable donations), and final health insurance adjustments.
By now my road-rash from the crash 2 weeks ago during a training ride near Lake Okeechobee has healed nicely, and otherwise I can say I’m departing in excellent physical condition due to frequent training rides and gym visits over the last several weeks.
Tomorrow I will start packing and sending out the brochures. The first two months I will probably be out of touch for several weeks while up on the mountains, but thereafter you should see regular updates to my Blog. You can also follow my location via my SPOT tracker page (see Link section) or follow me on Twitter (tlausser). I will also use loopt on my iPhone to provide location updates in addition to the SPOT. I will hike and ride far away, but I won’t hide…
Any feedback and/or donations are always appreciated.
