UKC

Hi,

I am off to LFT next year with one of my mates from the US.

We have all the common information, route description, descent info, Kluane airways etc.

we have about 10 days to work with.

I am after further advice from people who have completed this adventure.

In particular, where did you pick up your food supplies before taking the air taxi, and what did you take?

Other info have picked up is take a lot of bug spray and plenty to read. So thats the kind of stuff I am after.

Many thanks in advance.

Kev

In reply to elcapitainkev:

Bump. Academic curiosity. And jealousy. Although the mosquitoes mitigate that a bit.

In reply to pneame:

My info would be irrelevant as we helicoptered in from Cantung Mine (1981) which is probably not an option now. Our food came from Anchorage. We didn't take enough - take a lot! We had 14 days. We climbed LFT on our second day. After that it rained and snowed for all but two or three remaining days. The good news for Peter is that although Watson Lake and Glacier Lake were a breeding ground for Canada's national bird, there were absolutely zero mozzies in the Cirque!

In reply to elcapitainkev:

Hi, climbed in the cirque and did the original rt on LFT- etc
Been 9 years.... But I'm sure there's tons of the usual relevant into gear etc on the web. Linkage info for in a day etc.

As far as logistic stuff.... You can buy food & alcohol in White Horse.
I don't recall the name of the place but WH is super small & the commerical district (at least was) only couple blocks long....
We brought climbing food, not a ton as we were going for long pushes...the rest of what we bought was your general American stock grocery store stuff. If you're inclined or very partial about nongmo or organic this and that you'll probably suffer.... Short of that for 10 days you'll be fine. Whiskey is good, bring a lot...good trade item w/ other teams.

We had couple splitter days (tho things were varying degrees of wet w/ sun out, couple not raining but sorta grey, dank and kinda wet and full on bad weather.....as such I think we were partial to hot soup-stew sorta things.... If there's a few teams already there the best overhanging Boulder sites will be taken....if not they help keep you out of the rain....tarp would be good....there's all sorts of bolts- installed stuff for tarp rigging...some cord for that too....6-8m would probably be enough.

There was no shortage of bugs...not as bad as a spring day in New England but you aren't going to be walking around in just shorts. Bug spray....few cigars if you're inclined...tent w netting for sure. Cold & snowy keeps them away...don't know when you're going, we went last 3 weeks August.

There's an outdoor shop in WH.... We lost one of our bags in transit....which some three weeks later turned up. Ended up buying some very over priced shell gear etc. pack wisely, especially for 10 days as a lost or delayed bag will end your trip. Spread essential stuff around.

There had been (some 10 years ago) a massive rockfall that had the approach from the lake to the cirque super unstable....we used float plane and helicopter into cirque.... Met some young Canadians who carried two massive loads in...we flew there gear out and they walked on way out....wasn't super bad w/ light packs.....no idea what it's like now but with only 10 days Id fly into the meadows if at all affordable.
Not an inconsiderate slog...especially if your doing it on the only two nice days of your trip.

Other then that if you've done other big trips you'll be fine...usual sorta stuff, you'll appreciate growing up wherever you did and not in WH.
Got any specific Q ask.... Can't think of anything else pertinent.

Regarding costs, I really don't recall but it's expensive- as in Alaska type of expensive....WH is a long ways off, and costs change....Warren is a good guy, but hunting & fishing is his bread and butter....climbers are a side show, his clients at the lodge get priority for planes etc....but we flew out at the tail end of his season and he fed us well, put us in guest rooms (as opposed to plywood dorms) and was quite entertaining.

Oh and the first couple easy corner pitches when wet (which is the only way we saw them on our trip) are really slick and greasy. Ever exuberant I was a long was up w/ no gear on the first pitch when I came to the realization just how greasy it really was and how falling would really suck.

Enjoy...super cool place.

In reply to Michaelchx:

I was in whitehorse this spring en route to the St Elias. There are lots of good places to buy food. Its a much easier place to shop than anchorage as its so much smaller. There is a huge and well stocked gear shop.

In reply to philipjardine:

Just took the Google car for a spin - there's quite a lot of new construction in Whitehorse, trendy hair salons, a CD store (probably don't have streaming media here...), an art gallery, a sushi restaurant, Starbucks, night clubs.... And that's just from a spin up one street. A happening place indeed.

Good grief it's a long way to Fairy Meadows!

In reply to elcapitainkev:

Great to see a real request about climbing what is now called Beta. I used to dream of this and glad to see Jon did it. Have a great trip whatever.

In reply to pneame:

Well......there you go, non-gmo cereal to go with your latte'.
That's not the White Horse I was in, but with the steady influx of tourism I guess things have improved....hopefully for the indigenous folk there as well.
Still gonna be an awesome trip!

In reply to Michaelchx:

Indeed it will be fabulous. Although 10 days seems a bit short unless that doesn't include travel time.

There's at least 2 large new housing developments in WH (as of 2013 - the only date the satellite surveillance has) - it looks depressingly modern in some ways. But at least it looks as if there is a good bus service.

And more construction going in next to Mountain View Golf Club. Yikes.

This from the city website: "Whitehorse is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in Canada. Named the Wilderness City, Whitehorse is nestled on the banks of the famous Yukon River surrounded by mountains and pristine lakes. Gorgeous scenery and a vibrant city lifestyle, it’s no small wonder over 26,000 people enjoy living here year round. A healthy economy, small town values, a safe environment in which to raise a family, and access to the great outdoors, makes Whitehorse one of the best cities in Canada in which to live and work. Whitehorse provides diverse services to all outlying communities. Its economic base includes mining, transportation services, tourism, and government services."

In reply to pneame:

Our internal flight was Anchorage > Fairbanks > Whitehorse > Watson Lake. It was like being on a bus. The plane landed, people got off/on and it took off again. Buying anything in Whitehorse (or Fairbanks) was therefore not an option - even if it had been available. I suggest that elcapitainkev might like to take that into account and either buy before or schedule a stop there. Not quite sure what's available in Watson Lake now, but it's probably more than 1981!

In reply to pneame:

Yup, short indeed but that wasn't the question....go with what you got I guess.
Id not go for that amount of time...

That's almost hard to believe it's the same place....we met a guy who was working there for the govt. as payback for his university degree as a teacher....his description of living there after the relatively short tourist season sounded like the screen play for a horror film....
Sushi & a golf course...amazing; good for them tho...always wanted to go back & do a Yukon paddle trip originating from WH.
Met a dad & son who was doing a 3 week trip...apparently there's all kinds of river trips to do.

We got off in WH....had a driver take us to the float plane....wasn't anything that I recalll of note but who knows now.
Probably McDonalds and a petting zoo.

The Yukon felt really remote..more so that a lot of other places Id been.
It's too vast to easily be tamed but it'd be sad to see it lose its rough edges...unless one lived there I suppose.