“Get mentally prepared to spend a day or two on the icefield.” Sherpal paused for a second and then continued, “I’ve set up a tent, we have enough sleeping bags and food. We will be OK.” Sherpal was our flightseeing pilot.
My husband Mark and Stephen, another tourist on our flight, didn't say anything. “Sure, but why a day or two?” I asked to break the silence. “The weather is getting worse, and a helicopter may not get here today or tomorrow.” Sherpal looked a bit worried for me. Mark and Stephen were still silent. I guess their frozen feet didn’t let them think straight.
“May I sleep in the plane as I am claustrophobic and can’t sleep in a tent?” I asked. The plane was very small, but at least there were windows. “Yes, that’s totally fine,” Sherpal answered quickly. I started imagining a night in the plane on the icefield of the Saint Elias Mountains. If the weather was getting worse, then there would be no stars tonight. “I also get claustrophobic in total darkness,” I said cheerfully as if I was offering Mark and Stephen a fresh pair of dry wool socks and warm winter boots. They had been trying to warm up their feet for the last two hours.
Sherpal looked more worried now, “Oh… It will get dark in an hour.” Then Stephen talked for the first time, “I will let you use a flashlight on my phone.” “Thank you, Steve. You are my saviour!” I said enthusiastically. I looked at Mark. He didn’t say anything, but his face looked like he would not let me use his phone as a flashlight.
“How cold will it get overnight?” I asked Sherpal. “Not much colder than now. And now it is -8. We will be OK.” I imagined -12 and it didn’t feel OK for me at all.
This was supposed to be a 1.5-hour flight to see the major peaks of the Saint Elias Mountains in Kluane National Park and Reserve, Yukon, Canada. Kluane is one of Canada’s largest national parks with endless kilometres of mountains and the largest nonpolar icefield in the world. We hoped for nice weather and clear blue skies, not only to see the peaks (Logan, Steele, Wood, Vancouver, King George, Kennedy, Hubbard, Lucania, St. Elias and others) and glaciers, but also to land on the 700-metre-thick icefield, get out on the snow and take a few photos and videos of us and the 5,959 metre Mount Logan.
The weather was absolutely perfect during our drive from Whitehorse to Haines Junction. We felt lucky. We saw aurora borealis on our first night at Northern Lights Resort and Spa near Whitehorse. And now we were to experience gorgeous views of some of the most beautiful mountains and glaciers in Canada from 10,000 feet up in the air.
Once we passed Haines Junction, I started asking Mark every five minutes if I should take some white wine with me for the flight. And he kept saying that wine was totally unnecessary. Two hours later I found that my intuition was right. I also found that Mark took some cognac in his flask for the flight.
September 29, 2020 was a beautiful sunny day. It was the last day of flying for the season for the Icefield Discovery company and we were their last clients. When Mark and I arrived at Silver City airport located on the shore of Kluane Lake, we realized that we looked like total city slickers: me in a leather bomber jacket and UGG short boots and Mark in a Puffa jacket and ECCO leather boots.
The flight to Mount Logan was surreal, beautiful and exciting. I asked Sherpal if we would land on the icefield to take a few photos. He said that he would try but couldn’t guarantee as there was too much fresh snow overnight. He also said that we would test the snow crust first. Testing went well. We would land on the icefield!
The beginning of landing was very smooth and then suddenly the plane’s right ski broke through the crust. We were stuck. Sherpal got out and went 80 cm deep in the snow. There were a few pairs of snowshoes on the plane. Sherpal asked Mark and Stephen to put them on and start stomping the snow in front of the plane to pack down a runway. I observed them walking back and forward from the plane. We were at an altitude of 2,590 metres and in 10 minutes I got bored and cold. I asked Sherpal for snowshoes and joined Stephen for stomping the snow while Sherpal and Mark were digging out the plane's ski, lifting the plane and placing it on the firm crust.
In one hour, everything was ready. Mark, Stephen and I stood behind the plane. Sherpal was trying to place the plane on our runway. After a few attempts he succeeded. We started screaming with joy. In five seconds, the plane went off the runway and got stuck again.
We were ready to make a new runway, but Sherpal told us that this time the plane stuck for good. The weather started to change and it was not fun to be outside anymore. Mark, Stephen and I got in the plane. Mark’s and Stephen’s boots and socks were wet and frozen. I thanked God and the Universe for my still semi-dry UGG boots. UGG forever!
Sherpal gave us sleeping bags to cover up and started boiling water to make tea. He said that there was a helicopter working in the area for Parks Canada, but he was not sure if they could make it here before the dark.
Mark and Stephen’s feet were freezing. I told Mark and Stephen to wrap up the sleeping bags around their feet, but it didn’t help much. Stephen fell asleep for 15 minutes. Sherpal brought us green tea. It was not hot, but we were super grateful.
“Get mentally prepared to spend a day or two on the icefield.” Sherpal sounded serious. I imagined these two days and especially night in detail, looked at Mount Logan and started praying “Dear Mount Logan, please make a helicopter come here and take us back to Silver City airport!” And it heard me or maybe it heard Sherpal. The helicopter arrived in 40 minutes. Sian, the lovely operations manager of Icefield Discovery, came on the helicopter to help Sherpal to get the plane back to the airport.
Our last minutes on the icefield were dramatic. We were happy that we were leaving after spending 4.5 hours there. We also worried about Sherpal and Sian, if they would be able to make a proper runway and get off the mountains. We said quick goodbyes and got on the helicopter as fast as we could so it didn’t get stuck in the snow too.
The flight back was beautiful. Our gratitude to the pilot was even more beautiful. We were very lucky that he was in the area that late afternoon.
Mark and I got into our rental car. I gave Stephen a bottle of white wine and thanked him for keeping a great spirit and being a great guy. And we drove to Haines Junction.
The car heater was at the max during the 45-minute drive to our hotel, but Mark and I kept shaking from the cold. Heated seats didn’t help to get warm. We were still shaking when we got into our room and drank a couple of glasses of wine. We slept like babies that night, not dreaming of anything.
We will remember this trip to the tallest mountains of Canada and our adventures there forever.
PS. On October 16, 2020 we found that after two stressful weeks Sherpal and Siam got their plane back https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/icefield-discovery-plane-stuck-1.5764418
3. Kluane lake
Luiza. What a story. What an adventure. You seemed so calm about possibly being stranded in the mountains for a couple of days! And fabulous photos. Loved it.
ReplyDeletePauline, thank you for reading and commenting! It means a love to me.
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