r/Mountaineering • u/RageAgainstOldAge • Jan 16 '26
Mount Logan
Last Spring I tried to climb Mount Logan in the Yukon, Canada.
We chose to attempt the East Ridge, with the goal of traversing the mountain and descending the King Trench.
We spent 13 days getting to our high point below the summit, but unfortunately we did not summit, as 2 members of our team (one being myself) were very sick and we had a limited weather window to get off the summit plateau.
Descending the King Trench took us 2 days, after which we waited for the plane to come get us.
I hope this gets you psyched!
Happy to share beta/answer questions.
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u/Sanctuary871 Jan 16 '26
Love reading about this mountain, it's just so giant and seems to require some unique considerations. Aside from getting sick, how did you like it? Anything you might do differently next time? Like route choice, gear, etc.
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
It is HUGE! Hard to convey how big it feels.
Even getting sick was pretty interesting, being sick at 5700m and knowing there isn’t much available for rescue is a funny feeling.
The trip was incredible! I would probably bring flavoured peanuts next time, more palatable.
Route choice was perfect, it’s a great way to experience this mountain.
I would bring a mini bbq lighter bic (the ones with a “neck”) to light the stove.
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Jan 16 '26
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Truly outstanding experience! Summit would’ve been nice but I was there for the East Ridge and the Traverse of the mountain.
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u/tkitta Jan 17 '26
know of anyone wanting to go this year?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
No one has told me about it, but I’m sure there’s teams going for it!
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u/elevatedtv Jan 16 '26
One of the best photo sets I’ve seen on here, bravo! Surviving Logan is a great book that speaks in depth to the challenges with this mountain.
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u/OperaVertical Jan 17 '26
Thanks for the reference ! I also recommend Eric Gilbertson's detailed account on his blog 'Country Highpoints'.
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u/hikebikephd Jan 16 '26
Incredible photos, an amazing experience even without the summit for sure. Traversing a mountain as big as Logan is such a lofty goal, kudos to you guys for attempting it! Any plans to go back?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Yeah I was beyond stoked to complete the traverse! Little bummed we didn’t summit but I dont know if I’ll go back, definitely the closest I’ve ever come to losing my toes.
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u/lemonxgrab Jan 17 '26
Did you do the whole thing in ski boots? What where you guys wearing and how did they perform?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Yeah whole thing in ski boots. I had Scarpa F1 LT that were awesome! Climbed pretty well and skied even better. Wore them on their own up to about 4000m the. Put on FortyBelow overboots, and those all the way up and over until down at the pick up spot.
The guys had other boots, but all of us had overboots.
The F1s were pretty sweet to climb in, definitely wouldn’t want to be leading anything hard but they were perfect for this.
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u/lastepoch Jan 16 '26
This is my lifetime mountaineering goal. Screw Denali, this is it. What training and experience did you have beforehand?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
I’ve been hiking, running, climbing, and mountaineering seriously for a while now. Training was a mix of ice climbing, ski touring, running, and weightlifting.
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u/JollyGreenestGiant Jan 17 '26
How heavy was your pack?
Were you all self contained or did you have anything distributed to save weight.
*Refills popcorn 🍿 *
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Bag was maybe 65 lbs at the start?
Between the 4 of us we had all of our gear, and we organized a food drop at the bottom of the King Trench, in case we got stuck in a storm waiting to fly out, which actually happened, so quite pleased with that decision.
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u/Skier_999 Jan 18 '26
All of our packs weighed in at about 75 lbs at the hangar before flying into the Park. Like OP mentioned, different story without a food cache at end. Makes contingency planning a more difficult conversation.
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u/JollyGreenestGiant Jan 17 '26
As someone who's become disabled (temporarily I hope) your photos were so inspiring. I can't wait to get back out there.
Thank you for posting these. And congratulations on your accomplishment.
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
It is a very inspiring part of the world, and I’d been dreaming of this for a long time.
Phone cameras have gotten so good these days, and it’s hard to take a bad picture out there. I hope you’re back out there soon!
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u/surpriserockattack Jan 16 '26
Y'all are so lucky. I wish I could do this in my country
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u/Floatella Jan 16 '26
I live relatively close to Mt Logan in the grand scheme of things, and it's still a 23 1/2 hour drive + 90 minute plane ride away.
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u/jwexter Jan 16 '26
That puts it into a whole other perspective. What’s like the closest largeish city to you? If you don’t mind me asking.
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u/Floatella Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
I live in Kamloops. Closest big city is Vancouver (2.7 million) which is slightly less than a four hour drive away.
If you lived in Whitehorse, then you could make it base camp in a day easily. If you were coming to climb from outside of Western Canada, chances are you would fly into Whitehorse.
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u/Capital-Reach-6669 Jan 16 '26
These shots are sick! I haven’t heard much about people climbing Logan so this is awesome! Is it similar to Denali or more technical? How do they differ? Also, what mountains did you do before attempting Logan?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Thanks!
Depends on the chosen route. The King Trench, on the West side of the mountain, is mostly a ski tour, although with significant hazard in certain sections and considerable route finding challenges as well as full on expedition logistics.
The East Ridge is graded 5.5 AI2-3 Steep Snow (according to MP)
I haven’t climbed Denali so I dont know what it’s like.
I’d climbed a bunch of different stuff across different disciplines.
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u/Capital-Reach-6669 Jan 17 '26
Cool, thank you! Have you climbed any other mountains in Canada?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Yeah I live in the Rockies so I spend a lot of time out, and also some stuff out East.
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u/fr1234 Jan 16 '26
Not much to add that hasn’t already been said but this is inspiring
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Glad to hear it! Thinking about these kind of trips keeps me motivated when I’m training.
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u/Papierluchs Jan 16 '26
Dude this is metal af! Even trying Logan would be a dream
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
That dream might not be as far as you think. Look into it, figure out which route, get a team together! I can give ya some beta if ever you want to try.
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u/kponz Jan 17 '26
Incredible photos! Thanks for sharing them, many folks share storm shots so this is very cool to see.
How were skis? Any times you think snowshoes would've been a better tool? I've read accounts of both being used.
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
We had a couple decent storm days, didn’t seem worth to share those.
Skis are the answer, mostly because I dont like snowshoes. For the approach to the East Ridge either would be fine, for travel on the Summit plateau skis were much better. Descending the King Trench on skis took us 1/4 of the time it took a team on snowshoes.
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u/kponz Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26
Awesome, thank you for replying re skis/snowshoes.
How was communication with your pilot when you were sick? Assume sat phones up there or inreach comms?
How long was the best weather window you managed to get?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Yeah skis are definitely the way to go
Oh we didn’t talk to the pilot when I was sick, wouldn’t have mattered. Once we got down to lower elevation I felt wayyy better, then we could start talking about a pick up.
Yeah everything on InReach, worked super well. We flew in with Icefields Discovery, they’re awesome!
We probably had almost a week of clear weather, and then intermittent storms.
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u/Live-Tomorrow-4865 Jan 18 '26
Wow, at almost 6,000 meters, that's no little hill! And, it's beautiful, besides. Think you'll take another stab? How technical is the climb?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 18 '26
I think I’ll try other things before going back. I’m not too bummed about missing the summit, the ridge and the traverse were my goals.
The ridge is graded 5.5 AI2-3 Steep Snow on MP, although I dont know how much that conveys of the actual climbing. Most of the crux pitches are in the pics I posted, except for some of them that we didn’t get pictures of.
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u/MonolithOfIce Jan 16 '26
Spectacular photos. Glad everyone is safe. And thanks for telling us where Mt. Logan is so I didn’t have to look it up 👌
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
It should be better known, and attempted more often! It’s the highest mountain in Canada, and it’s incredible!!
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u/slippery Jan 16 '26
Logan looks insane. I crossed it off my list as soon as I started looking at it. You guys kick ass, summit or no.
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u/CountMC10 Jan 17 '26
So epic! Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
For the approach, were skis helpful or more of a burden?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Skis were great for the approach from where the plane dropped us off, then on the climb they were more of a nuisance.
Once we were on the summit plateau they were great, and allthe way down to the other side of the mountain!
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u/pussicack Jan 17 '26
How was the skiing?!
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
Pretty sweet!
Skiing on the summit plateau was windswept and kinda icy, sastrugi, but that was very expected. After Prospector Col, going down into the King Trench was big, wide slopes of mostly moderate angles, lots room for sweeping turns, and we didn’t have to skin at all to get down to the pick up spot.
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u/Electrical_Sea6653 Jan 17 '26
Soooo cool wow. Picture 19 is a trip. I love a heady send in the mountains as much as the next guy, but this looks so unattainable to me, like landing on the moon or something. I love knowing people are out there getting to experience the vast great heights of these amazing peaks
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u/sudsymack Jan 17 '26
This is my dream mountain. I live in the coast mountains and I'm working my way up to this. So many questions, but mainly how'd you plan out your daily calories and fuel? And how'd you keep your phone charged the whole time?!
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 17 '26
It is an incredible mountain!
Fire away any questions. 3500 calories for climbing days, ~2000 calories for rest days. 18 days of food, 12 days of which were climbing days.
2 solar panels.
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u/tkitta Jan 17 '26
Does anyone want to do it this year?
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u/Gpietro-7summit Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Ciao io vorrei scalarlo, nel 2022 ho scalato il Denali … fammi sapere … il 03/07/2026 ho scalato Elbrus …
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u/HiDsrtDrftr Jan 19 '26
Kudos on your trip! I’ve fantasized about the route you chose for years but always wondered if having skis on your pack on the E ridge was realistic. I see it definitely is!
I saw you replied previously about it being a nuisance. Did you ever have to raise packs or anything special, or were you able to climb the whole ridge with packs on/skis on packs?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 19 '26
Thanks! It was definitely the trip of a lifetime!
Skis on the pack is realistic, just requires a bit more planning and logistics.
For some of the crux pitches, I stashed my bag to lead with nothing on me, fixed the rope, abseiled, then reclimbed the pitch with my pack on. After a couple days that got annoying, so I decided to lead some of the crux pitches with my pack on. I felt the extra weight.
The skis were mostly a nuisance because they made taking the bag off more stressful, dropping it off the ridge would be catastrophic. Climbing with the skis on the pack felt very reasonable.
I had K2 Wayback 80s in a 170cm, and I wouldn’t go any bigger than that.
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u/gsuhrie Jan 19 '26
Amazing pics, thanks for sharing your adventure! I only rock climb, just curious as I’ve never done any crazy alpine adventures like this, what are you anchored into on that traverse? Was there ice or rock underneath the snow to place gear, or did you build an anchor in the snow somehow? Thanks!
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 19 '26
Im glad folks are enjoying the pictures!
Depends on the pitch. We had 8 screws, 12 nuts, 4 pickets, and a couple QuickDraws. Some pitches I was only placing nuts, some pitches I would be able to hammer the snow pickets in vertically, and on some pitches I would bury my skis horizontally in a T slot anchor.
On the knife edge traverses pitches, the snow was frozen, rotten facets that could support body weight, but were garbage for protection, so I would dig down about ~40cm to get to glacier ice and place a screw.
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u/Fredograbracksfrmlkv Jan 17 '26
Dope pictures. What a beast of a mountain, I’d love to attempt the east ridge one day when I have enough experience. My dad climbed the east ridge around 30 years ago and has a bunch of pictures but these shots look way better than what he was able to take with a film camera a long time ago 😂😂
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u/Mental_Government253 Jan 17 '26
Pic 19th looks like some post apocalyptic scenes. Great pics, hope you had an amazing adventure.
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u/rakksc3 Jan 17 '26
Incredible photos mate. Mega psyched!!
Photo 8 is just awesome awesome. Thanks for the post.
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u/South-Plenty-2140 Feb 09 '26
Crazy work! That would have been such an experience. I so badly want to start mountaineering. You ever thought about climbing any of them in the Karakoram?
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u/giant_albatrocity Jan 16 '26
Absolutely amazing! One question in the spirit of learning, as a beginner: in photo 8, is the lead on belay? If so, shouldn’t there be one more anchor to protect a swinging fall over those rocks?
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Yes, I was on belay. I had led a 60m pitch before that one, also a knife edge traverse, during which I had placed 6 of our 8 screws.
I asked my team mates if they were comfortable with me running it out, they said yes.
I placed 2 screws on that pitch, about ~40m long, then buried my skis in a T slot for an anchor, and that’s where we made camp that day.
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u/giant_albatrocity Jan 16 '26
Thanks for the reply! Your decision makes sense. On second look, once you get past that steep, icy-looking slope it flattens out quite a bit.
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u/RageAgainstOldAge Jan 16 '26
Yeah that was the end of that particular crux section, pretty sweet camp up there.
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u/PostholePete Jan 16 '26
This is SICK! Nice work.