Quebec woman reaches summit of Mount Logan in solo trek

A Quebecer has become the first woman to climb to the top of Canada’s highest mountain in a solo trek, her agent said Wednesday.

“Monique just reached the summit,” Francois Masse said in an email message to The Canadian Press, referring to Monique Richard.

Richard had to deal with harsh weather, equipment woes and delays in her ascent of the 5,959metre Mount Logan in Yukon’s Kluane National Park.

Parks Canada says there is no record in its data stretching back to the late 1800s of any woman having reached the summit in a solo climb.

The Montreal mountaineer, who began the trek May 15, found herself Tuesday at one of the camps along the King’s Trench route, about 800 metres from the summit, waiting for a window of good weather.

“Tonight I sleep at 5,144 metres,” Richard said in a brief exchange with The Canadian Press.

“Wow! 815 metres to go. Awesome. I am so lucky. Tired. Burned face but still smiling.”

Weather was always going to be a major factor: winter conditions exist year round and tem- peratures regularly drop to -40 C, sometimes even during peak climbing season. Storms can last days or weeks and winds in excess of 160 km/h are common.

Parks Canada says the weather has come as advertised this climbing season.

“It has been somewhat unseasonably cold, with mountaineering groups reporting -30 C temperatures even at this time of year, but this is not far from normal,” the department said Wednesday.

Parks Canada warns all climbers that the three biggest obstacles to reaching the summit are the remoteness, the weather and the altitude.