Talkeetna Air Taxi

Happy Birthday to one of our rampers Dennis! Its time to celebrate with some awesome chocolate potato cake from the road house. We really appreciate all the hard work Dennis! Hope your day is running smoothly! The sun shines on you today!

Check out the cool motorcycle one of our customers drove up in from California. What will they think of next?

Planning on visiting TAT for a flightseeing tour?  Make sure you stop by our Downtown Gallery on Main Street.  It is full of beautiful gifts and art. 
Every year artists supply us with their latest creations.  It includes beautiful art, pottery, fabric arts, jewelry and Alaskana themed art.
Randi or Beverly are there everyday to help you book your scenic flight, let you know about current weather conditions or provide insight about the local art and artists.

Here is a sample of what to look forward to:

Team Salamander spent 10 fun days on the Pika, flying out July 1, 2011. Weather was in-and-out sun, allowing a total of 5 climbing days. The trend was toward evening clearing, with two days of full sun. The moats are in but with rain and warming things are quickly melting. There is still a decent snow bridge to the Gargoyle Buttress. The start of the first pitch had some ice which we attacked with ice axes (though one could climb with rock shoes and creative route finding). An Anchorage team replaced the webbing on the first 9 anchors last week. The Middle Troll has widening moats as well, but there are still a couple of intact bridges. The first 200' are loose gravel and boulders, and are not safe for more than one party to be on at a time. Lost Marsupials approach was straightforward. Summit ridge with corniced, soft snow. AMS arete approach without major crevasses, though the glaciers on either side are bare to the dust layer and snow cover melting fast. 

We don't waste any time!

Hey all you rafters out there, we just flew out our first group to Yellow Jacket to run the Talkeetna River. 
Here are the conditions that we have from the group....


The landing strip at Yellow jacket.




We just flew in with TAT and floated the Talkeetna. After the entrance to Toilet Bowl a log is jammed at the narrow spot below the entrance wave and above Toilet Bowl. At the water level we ran it at Saturday, June 25, the log and some branch stubs were exposed at the middle section. It appears that water is flowing over the log at the left and right sides, but the very powerful eddies on either side force rafts over the middle. Our 3 rafts all got hung up attempting to run over the log and made for some very exciting moments of high siding, weight shifting, and thinking about jettisoning cargo. We made it, but I wouldn’t want to try it at a lower level. It needs some chain saw work if it can be figured out how to access it to cut.

-Thanks to Kelly and the group for the current reports.

Oh look how our daisies bathe in the bright sunshine and deep blue skies! Our pilots have been too, their sun glasses tans can prove it!

 

Climbers put to work when the pilot needs a good place to land. 
This morning over 30 climbers were waiting for a pick up.  This clamor of climbers paced the runway to pack down the fresh snow.
In order for to pick climbers up on glacier the planes need an area that is at least 1200 feet long.
Stomp Stomp Stomp...



National Park Service ranger John Loomis coordinated the quick stomp so the planes could get in and land at Kahiltna Base Camp.

OOOH the mystery of the glaciers... you can find yourself on one if you do a Talkeetna Air Taxi glacier landing!  Who's this shadow?

Along with scenic flights, we also do...weddings! When weather did not permit to fly onto the glacier, the couple from Steamboat, CO decided to tie the knot in our very authentic Ger. Beaver, our resident feline, was the ring bearer and several of our office employees were witnesses to this special occasion. Congratulations and many blessings for your future!