Mt. Logan: King’s Trench

Located in the SW corner of the Yukon Territory, near the Alaska border, is the 5959m (19,551′) high Mt. Logan.  Surrounded by the rugged peaks of the St. Elias range in the heart of the Kluane National Park, Logan is the 2nd highest peak in North America, just behind the much more famous Denali. But, unlike Denali, there are no crowds on Logan. Just the vast icefields and rugged peaks of the roof of Canada. Logan is ideal for experienced ski mountaineers that want to test their skills on an aesthetic and challenging mountain.

The Route:

The King’s Trench is the most common route on Logan and one that can be tackled as a ski mountaineering objective.

This route features generally straightforward ski touring terrain on large broken glaciers and involves winter camping at high altitude. The ascent gradually climbs 3500m over 23kms, from base camp to summit, and offers a fantastic panorama on some of the biggest glaciers in the world. Mount Logan is for advanced ski mountaineers wishing to push their skills on a challenging summit.

The King’s Trench is, at its core, a high altitude ski tour. There’s no technical climbing on the route. Starting from a basecamp at about 2800m, we gradually ascend up the Trench to the to the King Col camp at 4130m. This section is quite low angle allowing us to utilize sleds to help haul our equipment. After the King Col camp we no longer have that ability and will be carrying everything on our back.

From the King Col camp we gradually push up to our high camp on the summit plateau at 5080m. For this part of the climb we employ the classic “carry high, sleep low” method to aid in acclimatization. We don’t ascend more than 600m per day and take rest days as needed.

Typical layout of camps:

• Basecamp: 2750m
• Camp 1: 3300m
• Camp 2 (King Col): 4130m
• Camp 3: 4870m
• High Camp (Summit Plateau): 5080m

Once we reach the summit plateau we set up our high camp and prepare for an attempt on the 5959m summit. We’ll wait for the best weather window before making the attempt to maximize our chances of success. If the team has acclimatized well and the weather cooperates we’ll arrive at high camp with a week worth of provisions buying us lots of time at high camp and increasing the chances of success.

Summit vs. Safety: After we tag the summit it takes a couple of days to get back down to basecamp. Then it’s a quick flight back to civilization… so long as the weather’s good. Sometimes it takes a few days to get picked up for the return flight to Kluane Lake.

It’s important to know that standing on the summit of Mt. Logan is not guaranteed. There are numerous factors to take into account such as the weather, avalanche conditions, snow conditions, team fitness, acclimatization and so on. Our guides are ACMG / IFMGA certified to the highest standards in the world as well as avid mountaineers. So while we’ll try our best to reach the summit with as many guests as possible, safety will be priority number 1. There’s no point in getting to the top if you don’t come down again.

Waiver & Risk Management:

As you know, outdoor activities involve numerous hazards including, but not limited to, avalanches, crevasses, rockfall, slips and falls, equipment failure, poor weather, etc. And while we do our best to anticipate and mitigate these hazards we cannot completely eliminate them. So, as with anything fun, you will be required to sign our Participant Release to take part in one of our courses or trips.