Talkeetna Air Taxi

We just love fan mail and Thank You Free Approved expedition for all of your beautiful photos.

This is from a group we flew into the Revelation mountains in April.  They had some stellar weather and caught some beautiful photos, that they have shared with us.  

"In the name of the Freeapproved Expedition members I would like to thank you all for your help and service flying us to our dream location in Revelation mountains and beyond. I hope the locations stays unpopular and not visited for yours to come :)

 

From what I have experienced, your service can hardly be improved. It is indeed so great, that there is nothing to add. If I try and search my memory, than the only thing there is left to do is for you to smile less being so kind, because smiling back to you makes my facial muscles hurt :)

You were truly amazing replying hundreds of my emails, tons of questions and other things such as receiving dozens of parcels and shipments etc.

I will make sure to recommend your company to everyone i know flying in that area and hopefully, we will be flying to you the next time we come to explore Alaska.

All the best from Freeapproved Team from Slovenia,

Anze Cokl"

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 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.

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. 

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.

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!