June 4, 2012
IMG Guide Mark Allen and team made it down to the ‘landing strip’ on Mt. Logan last Friday and were flown off about an hour later by our good friend and Alaska bush pilot, Paul Claus.
All are safely back in the United States of America after battling the harsh conditions and brutally cold weather that Mt. Logan threw at them. No summit, but a phenomenal effort by all!
Tye Chapman
May 31, 2012
A typical camp on Mt. Logan
Mark called in with an update on the Logan team. After a rest day to recover from their previous efforts on the upper mountain, they started the descent from Camp 4 at 10am on Thursday May 29, heading down to Camp 3 and their cache of supplies there. Conditions were not great, it was pretty much white-out with 5 foot visibility [note reference to ping pong ball in title] and 20mph winds. Definitely navigating by compass and gps! The group made it to Camp 3 at 4110m and due to a shift in the winds, had to rebuild their camp walls before setting up camp.Mark says the guides provided tent door service to the group for dinner that night. Everyone worked hard! Currently it is windy, snowing and poor visibility.
The group will sit tight until conditions improve, then will continue their descent to the pickup site. The good news is they are now out of the worst of the weather; they have plenty of food and fuel and the team is all healthy. They’ll continue to wait for the good weather and will be in position to capitalize on it when it comes.
George Dunn
UPDATE May 31 @2:30pm: Mark called in this afternoon to report improving conditions allowing them to continue downhill. Their goal is C1 if the weather holds.
P.S. Happy Birthday to Sven’s father!
May 29, 2012
Lead guide Mark Allen called in at 1:30 p.m. PDT with a report on the team’s progress today. Unfortunately, it looks like the team will start their descent tomorrow without tagging the summit. The team established a high camp over Prospector’s Col on the summit plateau two days ago. They were one day and 7 kilometers short of the summit. However, a report of approaching severe weather was the deciding factor for them to descend back down a camp back to Camp 4 at 16,000 feet. The weather moved in a day early, and they spent the day of May 28 navigating down the mountain in high winds, cold temps and white out conditions. All made it safe and sound back to Camp 4. It doesn’t look like a second push for the summit is possible for the team. The team is taking a day of rest today to rehydrate and stock up on food. They will start their descent tomorrow. They’ll drop down to Camp 3 to pick up a cache of food, and will continue to descend to the landing site on the glacier by Thursday evening. Weather is expected to continue to be poor for the next two days, but Mark says it isn’t as bad now they are below the worst of the winds. With a bit of luck with the weather , the team could be picked up as early as Friday morning for the flight off the mountain.
Spirits remain high, the team did the best they possibly could, there just wasn’t a decent weather window for them to summit in. Mark reports that to date, they have had three good weather days during the trip which landed on the mountain on May 15. Tough luck, but my congratulations to the team for a solid effort.
George Dunn
May 27, 2012
Good news from Mt. Bona! IMG Guide Sheldon Kerr reports 100% on top of Mt. Bona yesterday. Today, some of the folks are off climbing Mt. Churchill – a neighboring peak. They’ll head on down to Base Camp today and will hopefully be off the mountain in just a couple days – weather permitting of course!
Relatively near by is IMG Guide Mark Allen, who reports some pretty cold conditions on Mt. Logan. They were not able to get their cache in up on Prospector’s Col yesterday, but that’s not the end of the world. The plan now is to move up to the col today, to take advantage of the forecasted weather window coming their way.
All continues to go well up north!
Tye Chapman
May 25, 2012
Mt. Bona
IMG Guide Sheldon Kerr called in yesterday from Mt. Bona to report that all is well. They were in camp at 14,oooft. anticipating a rest day today given a marginal forecast. No report today so we’re assuming they’re hanging tight at camp waiting things out.
A few hundred miles away on Mt Logan, IMG Guide Mark Allen reports that the team had a beautiful day resting and solidifying their wind-walls around their tents. A big day yesterday from King Col to C4 (16,000ft.) and an evening of digging earned them their rest day today.
They’ll head up to Prospector’s Col tomorrow and drop some gear before returning to C4. They’ve enjoyed good weather thus far and are just a few days away from getting a shot at the summit once that cache is dropped at Prospect Col.
Tye Chapman
May 22, 2012
Mt. Logan
Mark Allen, Mt. Logan Expedition Leader called in with a status report today.
The team is healthy and doing well. They just finished a heavy schedule of work the last two days. And are now enjoying a well deserved rest.
On Sunday, May 20 the team carried to Camp 3 (13,400’) and spent one more night at Camp 2 (10,800’). Yesterday they moved to Camp 3 at King’s Col. The weather went from very warm to windy and cold at the Col and made for some extreme clothing adjustments during the day, but Mark says it is a beautiful camp with incredible views.
To this point the team is on a relatively slow schedule compared to others on the mountain, but the group feels good about this and it is good for their general acclimatization.
Tomorrow the team will make a carry to Camp 4 (15,500+) and drop back down to Camp 3 for another night at the Col.
George Dunn
May 19, 2012
King Peak
Mark called in late this afternoon to report that all continues to go well on Logan. They’re at C2 now “right in the middle of King’s Trench” with great views of their objective (Logan) and King Peak. Tomorrow they’ll carry to C3 and double back to sleep at C2. Climb high, sleep low works as well in Alaska as it does in the Himalayas.
If the weather holds they’ll move into C3 on Monday.
No scheduled check in for a couple days so as always: “no news is good news”.
Tye Chapman
May 17, 2012
King Peak near Mt. Logan
Mark Allen called in today to report that all is well on Mt. Logan. They enjoyed the night at C1 and are en route to C2. It’s a big day even after dropping a cache about halfway. They’ll pull into camp tonight around 10pm, not a big deal in the great white north this time of year.
Tomorrow they’ll sleep in and have a big breakfast before heading down to retrieve their cache. An ‘active rest day’ we’ll call it.
All is well. Next scheduled call time is Saturday. Remember no news is good news in the mountains.
Tye Chapman
May 16, 2012
Mt. Logan
IMG Guide Mark Allen called in this afternoon to report that all is well on the US/Canada Border! The team flew in and were dropped off safely on the flanks of Mt. Logan, Canada’s tallest peak. It was a ‘bluebird’ day with views from the St. Elias to the Pacific Ocean.
Once ‘awe factor’ has worn off they plan to carry to Camp 1 (C1) this evening in one push. Then, they’ll head on up to C2 tomorrow, dropping a cache about half-way which they’ll double back and pick-up on their rest-day (Day 3).
That’s about it for now.
Tye Chapman
May 15, 2012
Mt. Logan
IMG Guide Mark Allen posted his last text message from the transportation van on its way to the airstrip in Chitina at 1:30 PDT on Monday. Chitina is about a 5 hour drive from Anchorage.
The team is all set and ready to go, gear all packed and loaded. The weather is doubtful, so the team may spend the night in tents at the Chitina airstrip waiting for improvement. If possible, they will fly to the Ultima Thule lodge, a 45 minute flight from Chitina. It is another hour’s flight from the lodge to the Mt. Logan landing site.
The good news is the small town of Chitina has both beer and pizza, so the team will likely do OK tonight.
We’ll keep updating as the team is able to fly in to the mountain.
George Dunn