Exploring the St Elias Mountain Range and landing on the icefield
Having entered back into Canada from Alaska we were ready to slow down and spend a week in the beautiful Kluane region of the Yukon. Travelling southeast down the Alaska highway we could see the front ranges of the St Elias Mountains to our right while we hugged the shores of Kluane Lake on our left.
Due to the high grizzly bear use of the area, tenting is only permitted inside the electric fence perimeter
We found a campsite at Congdon Creek Territorial Campground on the shore of Kluane Lake (the largest lake in the Yukon). We arrived relatively early, but still not early enough to get one of the a prime sites that back onto the lake. Due to the high grizzly bear use of the area, tenting is only permitted inside the electric fence perimeter of the tent camping area. Sadly we didn't see any bears during this portion of our trip. A few days at Congdon Creek allowed us to explore the local area and book a flight seeing tour of the St Elias icefield and mountain ranges.
Landing on the icefield in front of Mount Logan
Taking off from the gravel airship at Silver City, we followed the Kaskawulsh Glacier up into the St Elias mountain range and towards Mount Logan. Mount Logan, the tallest mountain in Canada and the largest mountain massive in the world. The St Elias icefield is equally impressive as it is the largest non-polar ice field in the world with over 2000 glaciers. The weather was beautiful and we could see Mount Logan slowing coming into view and growing in size on the horizon. After circling over the ice field to check the snow conditions our ski-equipped aircraft touched down on the St Elias icefield. With the aircraft shut down, we stood in awe; completely overwhelmed by the silence, indescribable vastness of the landscape and of course by the magnificent view of Mount Logan in front of us.
After about 30 minutes on the ground we boarded the aircraft for the return flight. The return flight was just as amazing as the flight in and we enjoyed some of the most awesome views of the two arms of the Kaskawulsh glacier coming together at Kaskawulsh Mountain. Before long we were back on the ground and reunited with Ruby who had spent the time in her kennel in the cool shade of the aircraft hangar.
There are several “flightseeing” tour operators in the region; however, we used Icefield Discovery Air Tours which is the only operator that actually lands on the icefield. If you have the opportunity, this flight is an absolutely amazing experience and highly recommended.
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