Logan Mountains. During July and August of 1967, Lew Surdam and I climbed in the previously unvisited northwestern sector of the Logan Mountains. We flew to the area by helicopter and established our first camp in a spacious boulder cave in a broad cirque below the most northerly alpine peaks of the range. During the first days of reconnoitering we climbed two easy summits, “Shiva Peak” and “Consolation Peak.” Our first major ascent was “Mount Oberon,” highest of the nearby peaks. A hidden couloir through the lower cliffs of red shale led to a tiny glacier high on the south face. We now followed the southeast ridge, alternately granite and shale, then diagonaled across slabs covered with heavy, wet snow to a high shoulder from which the summit was easily attained. We descended couloirs to the west and then traversed the long, narrow, frequently corniced ridge to “Mount Titania.” “Blue Gateway Peak” was climbed by its northwest face and ridge, difficult iced chimneys of the last few hundred feet presenting the main obstacles. Our last climb from this camp was the “Bastion of Darkness.” We crossed the low pass between “Shiva Peak” and “Blue Gateway Peak” and followed winding third-class shelves to near the top of a semi-detached southwestern buttress. After some intricate maneuvers, the main mass of the peak was gained, whence several enjoyable pitches of medium fifth-class rock along the south ridge brought us to the summit. We then backpacked south, over a high pass, and placed camp near a small lake on the north margin of a wide glacier tongue which sweeps below the precipitous north walls of the “Stone Flower,” a spectacular ridge of granite peaks and towers. “Pika Tower.” the lowest and westernmost of these, was climbed by a moderate rock route on its south face. After a week and a half of stormy weather, we climbed “Dawn Mist Mountain,” the highest peak of the “Stone Flower.” Moderate climbing on the south ridge, now plastered with fresh show, led to the heavily corniced, knife-edged summit ridge, which we followed eastward, past a tricky rock notch, to the highest point. On a rare, cloudless day, we climbed “Morning Star Spire.” We followed a steep, deeply incised southwest snow couloir to the beautiful high col west of our objective. Badly decomposed granite above the col gave way to firm rock above, providing several pitches of pleasant climbing.After rappelling back to the col, there remained time to climb the two summits to the west, “Dolphin Tower” and “Torsion Tower,” both of which were easier than anticipated. We moved camp east, over a low glacial pass and down to the basin of the “Phantom Lakes.” Again, we were beset by bad weather. When it cleared, we traversed the ridge between “Ptarmigan Peak” and “Ouzel Peak.” On the following day we did a long ice climb on “Mastiff Peak” via the eastern icefall on its north face and the northeast ridge. We descended the west ridge over two smaller sedimentary peaks, “Juncture Point” and “Appoggiatura Peak.” Our final ascent was a delightful rock climb in the cracks and chimneys on the southwest face of “Tempest Tower.”

William Buckingham