Summit panorama and looking back on the route just travelled. Mark Brophy photo.
Five Adventure Guide Diploma students set out in May to scale Canada’s highest peak — Mt. Logan — and then ski down after they were done with photos, videos and sending well wishes to family and friends.
Four of the five reached the summit on May 30, where they were treated to a clear day and views of peaks and glaciers for as far as the eyes could see.
Listen to a CBC Radio Kamloops interview with climbers Chris Petersen and Mark Brophy
Read about their journey: Following the leaders to the top of Mt. Logan
Mark Brophy reached the top along with Chris Petersen, Oscar Haley and Carter Jewett. Nic Hamilton was feeling ill, so he stayed at camp 3.
TRU Newsroom posed the following two questions to Brophy, who was the campaign’s lead organizer and who came up with the idea based on a class assignment that called for the planning of a dream expedition in detail.
What did it sound like at the top of Canada’s highest mountain?
“It was a blue bird day, little wind, so it sounded like infinite space,” said Brophy. “Imagine a place where there is no sound because it’s too big to hold, everything just drifts into the sky and out to the ocean and into the world. That’s the best I can relate. It sounded like a massive open field on a breezeless day.”
How was the ski down?
“The ski down to basecamp was so fun and so frustrating because some of the snow was wind-packed hard slab,” said Brophy. “It was impossible to ski on and we had our heavy sleds with us — those unruly beasts. I named mine torpedo because it kept trying to rocket down the hill and kill me. But there was some really nice snow, some good turns. Every metre you dropped you felt ten times better too, so by the time we got to camp 2 we were cruising along feeling energized. The sun was low, there was light cloudy fog, skiing into the alpine glow of a setting midnight sun.”
Mark, Chirs, Oscar, Carter on the summit. Oscar Haley photo.
On the way from camp 2 to camp 3 when the weather finally cleared, Nic and Chris charge up the slope, with King Peak behind. Oscar Haley photo.
King Peak with skis and maple leaf ski basket made the company Leave a Leaf. Mark Brophy photo.
