Mount Logan (Canada)

Dear friends,

Back from the Mount Logan expedition, thoughts and memories are still swirling in my head, just a few days after reaching the summit.

Three things remain deeply etched in my mind: the absolute isolation, that vast, endless expanse of ice, the intense and constant cold, and the constant energy required to move from one camp to the next.

This expedition was a new and unique experience, very different from the Himalayas. After being dropped off by a small plane on the glacier, we found ourselves alone. With skis and pulkas, progress is made differently: a first ascent to the upper camp to deposit equipment and food (we started with 21 days of food) in snow caches, then a second rotation to move the entire camp — two tents, a small kitchen tent, and the toilet tent. Day after day, we advanced through this immense and wild environment.

The atmosphere was great, with a fantastic small team: Ulysse behind the camera, Pascal, and David, our Quebecois guide, who did a remarkable job. His perfect knowledge of the mountain helped us immensely, especially during periods of bad weather and fog.

As early as Camp 1 at 3300m, we experienced an insane storm, with gusts up to 150 km/h. An entire afternoon was spent holding down the tent, crossing our fingers that it wouldn't rip away. Thanks to the snow walls and David's meticulousness, who pushed us to carefully protect each camp, we had no damage!

The cold, meanwhile, was a constant companion and complicated absolutely everything. At these temperatures, everything freezes, everything breaks. One morning, I broke a ski binding due to ice. Miraculously, it continued to function enough for us to carry on. Without it, the expedition would probably have ended right there.

This adventure also reminded me how valuable advancements in equipment and embedded technologies have become in extreme environments. Heated socks and neoprene overboots likely helped prevent frostbite.

What makes the cold particularly deceptive in the Yukon is that we operate near the 60th parallel, where there's almost no night. Between 3 and 4 AM, the light barely dims before daylight returns. The sun is almost always present, but it's an icy sun that doesn't warm anything. Visually, it feels like a beautiful, bright day, but the thermometer is always close to -30 °C.

Little by little, we progressed to Camp 4 on the summit plateau after crossing Prospector Col at 5500m. Then a weather window, accompanied by a few extra degrees, finally gave us our chance. The summit was far from guaranteed, however. At 250 meters below the highest point, nothing was certain: wind, zero visibility, 2 hours spent in a makeshift shelter on a steep slope, waiting for the wind to die down a bit. But we held on and finally reached the Roof of Canada on June 2nd at 5:45 PM on that beautiful summit ridge after 9 hours of ascent.

A great ski descent, no injuries, no frostbite – simply the best – and 3 hours later we were back at Camp 4!

This immersion in the Great North will remain etched in my memory and will rank among the most challenging expeditions I've experienced in recent years.

A huge thank you to Ulysse for his help, his camaraderie, and his eye behind the camera, as well as to David for his invaluable experience, his good humor in the mornings, and his mastery of the terrain!

The attached images truly reflect the unique atmosphere of this adventure: an immense, demanding, and fascinating world.

Despite the extreme conditions, we managed to collect ice samples from three different locations on the mountain. Filtering at negative temperatures was one of the significant technical challenges of this trip. It's no coincidence the project is called Baseline – Glacier Biodiversity Challenge!

Thank you for your loyalty and support in these adventures, which continue to combine exploration, pushing personal boundaries, and citizen science. 😊

Looking forward to connecting with you very soon.

Warmly,

Best,

Sophie

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