Talkeetna Air Taxi

Come one, come all! Just come dressed up as a TV character. Think Jersey Shore, Gilligan's Island, Fat Albert, The Office, The Lone Ranger, MASH, Charlies Angels, Fantasy Island, Starsky and Hutch... the list can go on and on.

We work hard to keep things running smooth around here...

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. 

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.

Come fly with us!

Taking a scenic flight in May can be an amazing adventure.  Here is a photo that a scenic passenger shared with us and we thought we could share it with you.  The weather has been great for flying to the mountains.

These two foxy ladies got a ride into the Gorge on Thursday.  Watch out Goldfinger, here come Kirsten and Winslow.  Hopeully the snow slows down in the range so we can continue flying climbers to and from the glaciers.  There have been reports of fresh snow all over the range, 8 inches at Kahiltna Base camp.



Currently there are about 400 climbers on Mt. McKinley.  The summit rate for this year so far is at 33%.

               

 

Team Vermont  came back yesterday all glacier tanned and bright eyed from the Ruth Gorge. They were out for thirteen days, did some nice routes, took some beautiful photos  and gave us this report from the area:

 

               Ruth Gorge camp,  conditions are changing rapidly into summer mode. We had two weeks of perfect weather. Japanese Couloir is slush, needs a really cold night. We did freezy nuts, also needs a cold night. Did Ham and Eggs, all the ice is slush and gone, probably will be the last ones in there. Crevasses are opening up quickly and snow bridges are shrinking. Rock routes are starting to come in. Gold fingers still wet. Good conditions. Every day was hot weather!

-Jeff Wagner and Eric Esser