Talkeetna Air Taxi

Lisa has arrived at her camp for the next 2 1/2 months, where she will be there to meet and greet climbers that come from all over the globe to climb Denali.  She and her troop of strong volunteers flew into the Kahiltna Glacier on Friday April 27th to shovel her tent spot for the season.  They dug down about 8 feet to provide shelter from the wind, cold temperatures and the inevitable meltage from the Alaskan midnight sun. 

TAT's Downtown Superstar Randi volunteered to help set up basecamp.  Here she is resting her back from shoveling while basking in the sun.  Seems like one of the first years that basecamp set up has happened without delays on a beautiful bluebird day.  Hopefully that weather trend will continue this summer with beautiful days of mountain flying and taking climbers to their next adventures.

Our first French group, 'Alaska Moose' just returned from their trip to the Bear Tooth.

They have  made a first ascent on a route they are calling "The Bear Skin".  Below is a very descriptive map of their route, which is also on file with the National Park Service office in Talkeetna. They said snow conditions were good, but during their trip the temperatures were warming up and the ice was melting a bit.

Congratulations to the group for establishing a new route, we will be looking forward to seeing them next time for their climbing expedition.

The first trip of the year into the Root Canal and conditions look good for Ham and Eggs.  Stay tuned for updates.

TAT flew a group up to stay at the Mountain house in early April.  Matt, Amber and Ian shared with us their photo shoot of the Northern Lights, that they were so lucky to get a glimpse of and share with us. 

Looks like the Spring might be the new hot time to see Northern Lights.

The Ruth has been a busy landing strip the last few days after a fresh meter of snow.  Once the drizzle stopped in Talkeenta and the snow in the mountains TAT flew all over Alaska to drop climbers off for their adventures. We have groups in the Buckskin, Gorge, Pika Ruth glacier and even into the Kichatnas.  They all know that TAT will get you there, and pick you up!  Current conditions around the range appear good with average snow pack.  Looks like there has been little to no freeze thaw yet.

Currently in the range, over half of our climbers came all the way to Alaska from France.

Here is a photo from when we dropped a group of 9 French off in the Kichatna Mountains.

To start off the climbing season, John Frieh and Doug Sheperd pioneered a new route on the Northeast face of Mt. Dickey. 

 Check out their BLOG for some photos and hot info on Mt. Dickey.  

Thanks for the info John and Doug, happy climbing this season.

(2011 photo of Mt. Dickey in all it's glory)