Logan '92: an expedition to measure the height of canada’s tallest mountain

Abstract

To mark the 150th anniversary of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), as well as Canada’s 125th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, in partnership with the Geological Survey of Canada, the Surveys, Mapping and Remote Sensing Sector (both of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources) and the Canadian Parks Service (Environment Canada) undertook an expedition to determine the exact elevation of Mount Logan. In addition to measuring the elevation of the mountain the expedition also collected rock samples and positioned brass survey markers on the mountain. Since the first recorded sighting of the mountain in 1890 a number of different values for the height of the mountain have been quoted. Most of these values centered around 5950 metres. However a value of 6050 metres was very widely used. The differences in elevation can in large measure be attributed to the difficulties associated with conducting surveys in the extreme remoteness of the Saint Elias Mountains combined with measuring techniques of varying accuracies. The Logan '92 Expedition was the first expedition to attempt to measure the height of Mt. Logan using the Global Positioning System (GPS).