Expeditions

Conquering Logan’s fury

Photo: James Coleridge

James Coleridge unfurls The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s flag at the summit of the Yukon’s Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak, after a perilous journey to the top this spring. Coleridge, of White Rock, B.C., and his climbing partner Len Vanderstar survived hurricaneforce winds and vicious temperatures plunging to -92°F or -60°C with the wind chill. “It was dig or die,” recalls Coleridge. After reaching the top camp, the climbers dug an ice cave in the glacier and spent 4½ days trying to keep from freezing.

“We were so close to a tragedy,” says Coleridge. On June 3, the winds died down and they completed their ascent.

This was Coleridge’s fourth successful climb in his attempt to reach the highest point in every Canadian province and territory (see “The inside story,” Sept/ Oct 2007). His Summits of Canada Expedition (www.summitsofcanada.ca), is funded in part by the RCGS. Next spring, he intends to scale Barbeau Peak, to mark Nunavut’s 10th anniversary.

— Shawna Wagman

More about the Summits of Canada expeditions:
Summits of Canada Expedition 2009 - British Columbia’s Fairweather Mountain
Summits of Canada Expedition 2006 - Climb every mountain

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The Summits of Canada – an expedition to climb the highest peaks in all provinces and territories. “Welcome to an historic expedition to tell Canadians and the world about Canada. The legacy of this quest is not the footprints we will leave on the mountains, but the impact on people’s lives. Together we can make a difference, one step at a time.”

— James Coleridge, Expedition Leader,
Summits of Canada

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