Ski Traverses, Mount Logan, St. Elias, Steele, Hubbard, Alverstone, Icefield Ranges. During the 1981 climbing season there were 19 groups, made up of 95 men and women, climbing and skiing in the Icefield Ranges of Kluane National Park. During the latter part of the season, in July and August, the weather conditions were poor and groups were delayed or forced out of the mountains by heavy snows. There were remarkable ski traverses: Jack Duggan, Steve Hackett, Gunnar Naslund, Brian Okonek and Vern Tejas skied across the Bagley Icefield and across the Seward Glacier, down the Hubbard to Yakatat on the Pacific. Conrad Baumgartner, Peter Carr, Doug Gilday, Peter Heebinic, Dave Manzer and Jim Maxwell skied from the south side of Mount Logan and out the Kaskawulsh Glacier to the highway. Bob and Lee Jamieson, Andy Thamert and Mike Price skied in and out from Kluane Lake to Mount Kennedy, failing just short of the summit. There was much activity on Mount Logan. The following groups were successful on its east ridge: Kevin, Jim and Pat Haberl and Matt McEchern; Gerry Holdsworth, Danny Varrel, Martyn William and Michael Demuth, who also did scientific work; Brent Ash, Nona Rowat, Dave Timewell and Jane Weller; Murray Taft, Stephen Bezruchka, Rusty Baillie and Urs Kallen; and John Rehmer, Dave Bjorkman, William Cardozo and Charles Sturgis. Two other groups were unsuccessful. Pamela and Ted Simper, Gordon Rathbone, Peter Ruben, Allison Essey and Mike Newson were successful in their work for the Arctic Institute of North America and in climbing Logan by the King Trench route. A Japanese and a Coloradan group failed on that route. Spaniards were prevented by the weather from completing their climb on the Centennial Ridge. An Austrian and a Coloradan expedition failed on St. Elias. Jim Rennie, Norm Brown, Dick Ireland and Dean Eilertson climbed Steele by its east ridge. Brian Vezina, Peter Steiner, Len Soet and Jane Weller climbed Hubbard and Alverstone from the Cathedral Glacier.

Lloyd Freese, Kluane National Park