May 1987 - Thunder High Route

Jens Kieler climbs the Douglas Glacier on Mount Logan on the third day of the Thunder High Route in May 1987. Mount Goode is in the distance.

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I've been wanting to write more complete stories about some trips I did before the web or turns-all-year existed. It's nice to be able to refresh my memories of these trips.

I'm starting with a story that I wrote for Climbing magazine in 1987 about the Thunder High Route, a trip from near Rainy Pass over Mount Logan to Eldorado Peak. This story was poorly edited by the magazine, and they didn't include very many good pictures. The web makes it possible to revisit the story and tell it more like I originally intended.

Here's a link to the online story:

www.alpenglow.org/skiing/thunder-1987



Jens Kieler and Dan Nordstrom ski the Forbidden Glacier on the fourth day of the Thunder High Route. The Northwest Face of Forbidden Peak towers above.

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For me, the story of the Thunder High Route is intertwined with a later trip that I did with my brother Carl in 1996. Carl had wanted to ski the Thunder High Route in 1987, but he was unable due to an injury that winter.

After a gap of almost a decade, we returned to ski a variation of the route which traversed Mount Buckner on the south side instead of on the north side and ended at Cascade Pass. We extended the name "Logan High Route" to apply to this variation and to distinguish it from the earlier route.

I've written up this story as well, and you can find it here:

www.alpenglow.org/skiing/logan-1996

The photos in these stories can be enlarged by clicking on them. I've also included links to topo maps (see the caption of the first photo in each write-up).



Carl Skoog greets the day at Mount Arriva camp with Mount Logan beyond in June 1996.

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Great reports Lowell - thanks for posting!

Fun to read. And done with big packs and in climbing boots too!

Man, we were young, strong, bold and good-looking, weren't we? Aging gracefully, though...

Lowell, are you going to write a book one of these years:
A fusion of a long-tour ski guide and a local history. I mean you have the photo's, and you clearly like to write???
Thanks for the stoke.

Super cool lowell. Nice to see the pics and hear the story. I still need to do the thunder high route. Was turned around by weather on the summit of logan last time. Someday I'll be back.

Lowell… Can't thank you enough for posting your stories from ages past. I'm following your footsteps…

Dan

Awesome.

I love this. Thanks for sharing, Lowell.