Powerful passions seized me as we flew into the white wilderness.
It is one thing to look at pictures of great peaks and dream about climbing them.
It is easy to pack food, buy gear and talk about an eminent enterprise.
It is effortless to exude confidence when you are sitting in the comfort of your living room.
It is shocking and scary to come face to face with the reality of a great peak.
The plane moves too fast, and you are never ready. I do not use the word great lightly.
Unless you are brain-dead, the attributes of greatness will move you. Every time.
As we approached Lucania, I strained for a view, but it was too big and too far above the tiny plane.
I could neither see nor grasp it all. I was scared.
– Gerry Roach - From Ride The Breath - Touching History |
| North America’s Highest Peaks |
Photo Gallery |
8. The Yukon’s 17,147-foot Mount Lucania |
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Lucania’s complicated northwest side
Gerry took this shot in June 1967 from the back seat of Alaskan ace bush pilot Jack
Wilson’s Super Cub. At the time, Jack had no idea where we were going to land, and
my careful plans seemed precarious. The huge mountain dwarfed Jack’s tiny cub.
We did land on the Chitna Glacier seen in the bottom left of the photo, and went on
to make the second ascent of Lucania via a new route, the north ridge. |
| Lucania lies buried deep in the Yukon’s icy mountains 40 miles north of Logan.
You cannot see Lucania from roads or towns, which adds to its allure. Lucania is the
third highest peak in Canada and the eighth highest peak in North America. |
| – Gerry Roach |
