Hey Folks,

This is a photo of Mt. Logan and the University Range, with Mt. St. Elias in the background. Though Mt. Logan sits in the Kluane National Park and Reserve in southwestern Yukon Territory, Canada, this aerial photo was taken from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Mt. Logan stands close to 20 000′ high, nearly as high as Denali, or Mt. McKinley, in Alaska, and with it’s awesome bulk, it’s every bit as grand. Mt. Logan is reputed to be one of the the largest mountains in the world in terms of sheer volume – the circumference of the base of Mt. Logan is greater than even Mt. Everest. What’s even more amazing is that until 1992, nobody knew for certain just how high this mountain is. Using GPS technology, a climbing expedition by the Geologic Survey of Canada determined the mountain to be 5,959 metres (19,551 ft). The mountain is actually named after the founder of the GSC, a Canadian geologist named Sir William Edmond Logan. Mt. Logan was first summited in 1925 by A. H. MacCarthy.

Because of the difficulty in getting close to Mt. Logan, it’s a relatively little photographed mountain. However, there are several plces in Wrangell St. Elias National Park that afford the dliligent photographer great views of this massif. I wanted to get some aerial images of this part of the park, and set out one evening to do so. This shot, an aerial photo, was taken on the same flight as the previous posted image of a vertical rock wall on the St. Elias range. As we flew south, towards Mt. Logan and Mt. St. Elias, they both loomed over everything, but never really seemed to get any closer. It really throws you off, flying over country like this – the only points of reference your eye has for any sense of scale are all these massive mountains and peaks and valleys, hence my sense of distance was completely thrown off. For 20 minutes we flew directly towards Mt. Logan and yet it seemed to be holding it’s distance perfectly .. kinda reminded me of a classic scene in Monty Python’s ‘Quest for the Holy Grail’ movie. Eventually we approached the mountain close enough for some decent images. Then we headed south past Mt. Logan over to the Bagley Icefield and Mt. St. Elias, another equally impressive peak, standing over 18 00′ high.

Even as the light faded and I couldn’t take any more images I was still on the edge of my seat, flying around this incredible landscape, looking to the right, looking back to the left, in front of me, behind, and all points in between, trying to soak in just a tiny little bit of the grandeur of this magnificent country. I think I’ll always look forward to returning to this part of the world, and standing witness to it the simple majesty of such mountains as these. I’ve had the good fortune to see some of the greatest mountains in North America, and none of them, in my opinion, have that special magic of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, particularly the 2 crown jewels of the area, Mt. Logan and Mt. St. Elias. More photos from the Yukon Territory, Canada.

Cheers

Carl