In the only book devoted to the greatest mountaineering expedition in Canada, the first ascent of the tallest mountain in Canada, we learn of the struggles of the naturalist and the mountaineers, as well as the challenges and conflicts during a complex expedition in an unforgiving landscape, in this classic true adventure story.

“With the help of both Laing’s and Lambart’s diaries, Hughes delivers two adventure stories for the price of one. Two men, a naturalist and a mountaineer, offer the reader a visceral experience of the North and its mighty landscapes.” – Vancouver Sun

“From his extensive research, Hughes weaves the tale of two concurrent, never repeated events into one story for the reader: the stoic naturalist who spent three months alone in the Chitina River valley, and the mountaineers struggling against the odds as a team upward toward the the 5,959-metre summit of Mount Logan in a landscape devoid of any living thing.” – Paul Geddes, Canadian Alpine Journal

“Trevor Marc Hughes tracks the connection of Laing’s story with natural history and photography amid changes in ornithology and conservation in early-twentieth-century Canada.” – BC Studies

Hughes “writes with a strong sense of the epic that at times leaves one holding one’s breath with anticipation or fear, at times wanting to clap and cheer for the participants out loud, and at times smiling or even chuckling at an event that feels well-deserved, or shows the resourceful strategies used to circumvent a potential downfall or to amuse the person or persons involved.” – Miramichi Reader

“What stands out in the book is the clever way Hughes juxtaposes the two solitudes of Laing, on one hand, languishing in the forested lower country interacting with birds and animals, and the mountaineers on the other, ensconced on rock and ice.” The British Columbia Review

“Hughes deftly weaves two compelling stories.” – BC BookWorld

“People who have never climbed mountains will gain an appreciation for the trials that face an ambitious mountaineering expedition, while others will learn about the accomplishments of a biologist whose work has gone unrecognized for too long. People interested in birds should find this account informative.” – Michael Gates, Yukon News

“Hughes does much to rescue from obscurity the life and times of Hamilton Mack Laing, the exploratory naturalist who breathed science into the epic first ascent of Canada’s highest peak.” – Zac Robinson, chair, expeditions committee, Royal Canadian Geographical Society

“Mack was left alone in the remote wilderness, relying on his ingenuity and resourcefulness to survive. Many of the species he collected are now under threat from climate change. Essentially, Mack was an ecological historian.“ – Mack Laing Historical Society

The book approaches the subjects of conservation and how the development of motion picture photography changed both how expeditions were carried out and perspectives on the natural world.

During four months alone in the remote windswept wilderness, adventurer and ecologist Hamilton Mack Laing spent his days deeply immersed in observing the natural world of the Chitina River valley. He endures dust storms, befriends a family of ravens and fearlessly tracks elusive bears.

Hughes documents the gruelling expedition to the summit of Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada. In their wool gloves and canvas trousers, the mountaineers soldier on across the frozen landscape despite escalating tempers and rivalries.

Hughes gives the reader a visceral, tactile and cinematic experience of the north in this remarkable tale highlighted with archival photos.