What is Mount Logan?
Answer
Canada's highest mountain at 5,959 metres, located in Yukon's Kluane National Park Reserve in the St. Elias Mountains, with the largest non-polar ice field in the world surrounding it.
Explanation
Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada at 5,959 metres and the second-highest mountain in North America after Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) in Alaska. The mountain is in the St. Elias Mountains in southwestern Yukon, near the border with Alaska. Mount Logan was named in 1890 after Sir William Edmond Logan, the founder and first director of the Geological Survey of Canada (1842 to 1869). The mountain has the largest base circumference of any non-volcanic mountain on Earth.
Mount Logan is part of Kluane National Park Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (along with the adjacent Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay national parks in the United States and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, designated 1979 and expanded 1992 and 1994). The combined Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek World Heritage Site is the largest internationally protected area in the world at 95,820 square kilometres. Kluane National Park Reserve covers 22,013 square kilometres of southwestern Yukon, the principal Canadian portion.
The St. Elias Mountains are the highest coastal mountain range in the world and contain the largest non-polar ice fields. The Kluane Icefield, surrounding Mount Logan, covers about 21,980 square kilometres and produces some of the largest non-polar glaciers including the Lowell, Hubbard, and Logan Glaciers. Surge-type glaciers in the range periodically advance several kilometres in a few months. The Kaskawulsh Glacier abruptly redirected its meltwater drainage from the Slims River to the Kaskawulsh River in May 2016, the first documented river piracy caused by climate change.
Mount Logan has been climbed by mountaineers since the first ascent in 1925 by an American-Canadian-British team led by Albert MacCarthy. The climbing season is short (May to July) and the mountain's remote location, severe weather, and complex approach make it one of the most demanding climbs in North America. Mount Logan was the focus of a 2002 federal proposal to rename it Mount Trudeau in honour of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (who died in 2000); the proposal was rejected after objections from mountaineers, geographers, and the Geological Survey of Canada (Trudeau Peak in the Premier Range is named for him instead). The mountain's elevation has been re-measured several times, with the current 5,959 metre measurement based on 1992 GPS surveys.
Why this matters for your test
Mount Logan is Canada's highest mountain and a defining feature of the country's far northwestern geography. Recognising the 5,959 metre elevation and the Kluane National Park Reserve location gives candidates two specific anchors.
Source: Parks Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
