Mt Logan High route Info?

[RichardKorry]

Does anyone have any info on the Mt Logan High Route that goes from Easy Pass area? Beckey has a description of a Cross Country route but it would be great to get some beta from someone who actually has done it. We are looking at doing it this coming weekend over 4 days. We might either carry over or drop camp and tag Logan via the Douglas Gl.

 

[Lowell_Skoog]

Hi Richard,

 

I've done the Logan high route from Silent Lakes to Mt Logan three times. All on skis, so I may not have the beta you need. It's pretty country and far enough above treeline that I don't think you'll have much brush (except maybe at Fisher Pass). I don't recall any "blockers" on the route, but summer could be different from spring.

 

If you've got time to drop by the Mountaineers Library this week, you could photocopy any of the following articles for accounts of pioneering summer trips over the Logan high route:

 

Summit, Dec 1971: Duff, "Cascade Pass to Rainy Pass"

Mountaineer Annual, 1972: Heathershaw, "Cascade Pass to Rainy Pass"

Mountaineer Annual, 1993: Duff, "Looking Back at Logan"

 

I believe the library is staffed by volunteers Tues and Thurs, 5-8:30 pm. See the following webpage for the current schedule:

 

http://www.mountaineers.org/library/

[Lowell_Skoog]

Oh, one thing--the Douglas Glacier has been getting pretty broken in recent years. The glacier has been shrinking and there's a lot of exposed bedrock in that area now. My trips were in spring and we had no troubles. But, it could be more interesting in late season. I'd bring steel crampons and a few ice screws, just in case.

 

Another thing--As of early July, the Thunder Creek footbridge was closed, forcing hikers to use Panther Creek and 4th of July Pass to get to Thunder Creek from highway 20. Maybe it's fixed by now, but you should check with the NPS if you're thinking of carrying over.

 

[off_the_hook]

I think that bridge is fixed now. We did Logan from Colonial Creek Campground trailhead with no problems last weekend. From the summit ridge, the Douglas Glacier did look pretty broken at lower elevations so I would consider bringing the aforementioned gear. Otherwise, it seemed like there was no other snow to be seen on the route.

[Off_White]

I've approached the Douglas Glacier basin via Easy Pass. Over the pass, down Fischer Creek a mile or two, then cross the creek where the stream flows down from Douglas Glacier. Stay on the left side of the creek through slowly thickening brush. Thread through alder in the basin below the first basin headwall, and head for the area just left of the stream. Follow decent bear trails straight up just left of the stream until you hit the next basin up. The next headwall is tackled via right slanting brush ramp until you're comfortable heading straight up. The further right you go the easier it gets. This puts you up on the bench that will contour around the E. Buttress to the Douglas Glacier. The approach is quite doable in one day, though we enjoyed doing Easy Pass late in the day in the shade and sleeping on the far side of the pass, to complete the approach the next day. Take all info with a grain of salt, it's more than 10 years old. Make lots of noise on the bear trails, we could have kicked one of them in the ass.

[forrest_m]

douglas glacier TR

 

(my very first post on this board, oh so long ago)

[Lowell_Skoog]

I suspect that Richard is aware of it, but casual readers of this thread should be aware that two routes are being described here.

 

One, the "high route," goes from Silent Lakes across the south flank of Mt Arriva, then past the north side of Meulefire Peak, to "Spectacular Ridge" then down to Fisher Pass and over the N shoulder of Pk 7910 to the Douglas Glacier. This route could be reached from Easy Pass by descending from the pass, then walking up Fisher Creek basin. Originally (in the 1970s) it was reached by circling around Black Peak from Rainy Pass. When I skied it in 1987, we approached from the drainage east of Fisher Peak.

 

The other, the "low route," goes down Fisher Creek valley from Easy Pass, then takes an unnamed spur valley toward the Douglas Glacier. That's the route described by Off White and Forrest.

 

[RichardKorry]

Thanks Lowell, I think with the fires in the Thunder Creek basin

and the state of the Douglas Gl I'll do this as a ski trip. Do you have a published trip reports of your various ski tours on the high route?

[Lowell_Skoog]

RichardKorry said:

Do you have a published trip reports of your various ski tours on the high route?

 

My ski history website has brief summaries of two of the trips:

 

http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/ms/lds-journal.html#lds-journal-p400

http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/ms/lds-journal.html#lds-journal-p1029

 

I wrote an article about the 1987 trip which appeared in the December 1987 issue of Climbing magazine. You could find the article in the Mountaineers library. The article was poorly edited, but includes a few mediocre photos and a sketch map.

 

In June 1991, my brother and I skied the high route to Logan, encountered bad weather, then skied the low route back to Easy Pass.

 

The 1996 route, finishing at Cascade Pass, is highly recommended. It may be the best ski traverse I've done in the range. A nice variant of the route would be to start at Rainy Pass and cross the south shoulder of Black Peak, like the 1970s parties did on foot. We didn't do that on our ski traverses, since we had skied Black before on weekend trips and wanted to get to the heart of the traverse quicker.

 

[Juan]

Hey Richard:

 

I'm glad that two kids aren't slowing you down. We just had a third son and it remains to be seen how this plays out.

 

I was thinking of our Goode trip/Logan attempt just this evening. That was fun.

 

Good luck this time with Logan. I dont' think snow is in the cards . . .

 

Cheers,

 

John Sharp

[RichardKorry]

John, I sent you a private message...

[Stefan]

I know some friends who did Logan on July 26/27 and they looked at the Douglas glacier and said it was in terrible shape at that time.

 

This year with an 80% snowpack and continual good weather has enhanced it's demise. However, they said it probably would have been good during June to be on the Douglas Glacier.

[Kyle_Flick]

I'll be taking my kids up Logan via the Fremont Glacier this weekend. Should be nice. Congrats John on your newborn.