Fall 2006 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Yukon Centennial Camp expands region’s climbing record
STORY & PHOTOS BY PAUL GEDDES
This past June, I was out with a
group of Alpine Club of Canada
climbers, ‘whooping it up’ in
the Icefi eld Ranges of the Saint Elias
Mountains.
During several previous expeditions
by me and other Toronto Section
members to the area, an inventory
of climbing opportunities had been
tabulated: Pinnacle Peak 1990, Donjek
1992, Slaggards 1997, Steele 2000, Latus
Arm 2003 and South Walsh 2005.
Donjek, the site of our 1992 camp, was
selected as the prime location for the
Club’s Centennial camp for several
reasons: its close proximity to the lee
side of Mount Logan, relatively simple
aircraft access to the Kluane Lake airstrip
and a multitude of reasonable climbing
objectives, all approachable on skis.
When our group arrived on the
shores of Kluane Lake on June 2, the
last remnants of the winter ice were
still evident. Beginning our fl ights into
basecamp the following day, we felt
very lucky to get the majority of our
Camp participants proudly display ACC Centennial fl ag
10 Alpine Club of Canada � Gazette � FALL 2006
party onto the glacier
as scheduled. Th e 2006
climbing season had been
particularly hampered
by poor weather
throughout May, and
several parties couldn’t fl y
in to their destinations
at all. Unfortunately,
our window of fl ying
opportunity closed with us – short two
fl ights and four members of our group.
Willa Harasym, our volunteer logistics
manager, provided the necessary support
to the splinter group at the airstrip until
fl ights could resume four days later.
Reading, grocery trips to Haines Junction,
and eating and socializing with other
stranded climbers occupied their days. By
the time the fl ights resumed, one delayed
participant had decided that the potential
isolation of the Saint Elias was more than
he cared for and he stayed out to hike and
tour the lowlands.
With everyone fi nally together, the
camp was now in full swing. One or
more climbing objectives
were accomplished each
day except one, all skillfully
planned and executed by
Association of Canadian
Mountain Guides guide
Helen Sovdat, assisted by
Tim Styles, an ACMG ski
guide.
Th e climbing record of
the rarely visited Eclipse
Glacier was greatly
expanded during our nine
days of active climbing, with
11 peaks climbed – four of
them fi rst recorded ascents
and four by new routes.
Yukon Centennial Camp with Mounts Walsh and Steele in the distance
Donjek, Badham and Eclipse were all
popular objectives for most of the group.
With a stable weather forecast, Helen
and three of our strongest members set
off on a three-day expedition to establish
a high camp at the Walsh/Steele col,
a day’s travel on skis with sleds from
basecamp. Th eir reaching the 4507metre
summit of Mount Walsh was an
accomplishment beyond our expectations.
Enjoying the best weather of the 2006
climbing season, we were restricted to
camp only one day, for 12 hours during
a period of rain – very unusual for the
camp’s 2830-metre elevation. We also
enjoyed mostly excellent conditions,
despite a wide variety of temperatures.
During the fi rst few days we experienced
winter-like ski conditions on north
facing slopes, then after the rainstorm,
conditions fi rmed up. In the last days of
the camp the glacier surface was very soft
by late afternoon.
Taking advantage of blue skies, we
fl ew out a couple of days prior to our
scheduled departure date. Again, we
managed to fl y out all but four of our
team before a two-day weather delay. A
brief respite in the weather allowed for
the quick two fl ights needed to get the
four remaining climbers out, but there
wasn’t enough time for a third fl ight
to fl y out the last of our gear and food.
It would be a week before the weather