Mount Logan


Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America, after Denali. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada. Mount Logan is located within Kluane National Park Reserve in southwestern Yukon, less than north of the Yukon–Alaska border. Mount Logan is the source of the Hubbard and Logan glaciers. Logan is believed to have the largest base circumference of any non-volcanic mountain on Earth, including a massif with eleven peaks over.
Due to active tectonic uplifting, Mount Logan is still rising in height. Before 1992, the exact elevation of Mount Logan was unknown and measurements ranged from. In May 1992, a GSC expedition climbed Mount Logan and fixed the current height of using GPS.
Temperatures are extremely low on and near Mount Logan. On the plateau, air temperature hovers around in the winter and reaches near freezing in summer with the median temperature for the year around. Minimal snow melt leads to a significant ice cap, reaching almost in certain spots.

Peaks of the massif

The Mount Logan massif is considered to contain all the surrounding peaks with less than of prominence, as listed below:
PeakHeightProminenceCoordinates
Main above Mentasta Pass
Philippe Peak
Logan East Peak
Houston's Peak
Prospector Peak
AINA Peak
Russell Peak
Tudor Peak
Saxon Peak
Queen Peak
Capet Peak
Catenary Peak
Teddy Peak

Ascent attempts

First ascent

In 1922, a geologist approached the Alpine Club of Canada with the suggestion that the club send a team to the mountain to reach the summit for the first time. An international team of Canadian, British and American climbers was assembled and initially they had planned their attempt in 1924 but funding and preparation delays postponed the trip until 1925. The international team of climbers began their journey in early May, crossing the mainland from the Pacific coast by train. They then walked the remaining to within of the Logan Glacier where they established base camp. In the early evening of June 23, 1925, Albert H. MacCarthy, H.F. Lambart, Allen Carpé, W.W. Foster, Norman H. Read and Andy Taylor stood on top for the first time. It had taken them 65 days to approach the mountain from the nearest town, McCarthy, summit and return, with all climbers intact.

Subsequent notable ascents and attempts

Proposed renaming

Following the death of former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau in 2000, then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, a close friend of Trudeau, proposed renaming the mountain Mount Trudeau.
However opposition from Yukoners, mountaineers, geologists, Trudeau's political critics, and many other Canadians forced the plan to be dropped. A mountain in British Columbia's Premier Range was named Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau instead.