Talkeetna Air Taxi

We are more than halfway through the Denali climbing season.  Summit success rates have been a bit over 40% most in part due to the Denali weather, the biggest obstacle in climbing this mountain.

 Here are the current stats from the National Park Service. 

Climbing Statistics the 2012 Season	Mt. McKinley	Mt. Foraker
Number of Registered Climbers	1,166	12
Climbers Currently On Mountain	440	3
Completed Climbs	488	9
Number of Summits	212	0
Summit Percentage	43%	0%

 

 

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.

So as climbing season is starting to gear up we have some pre-season condition reports while we are still awaiting our first groups to return with some good beta.
Snow fall in general has been above average, compared to the last five years, and the snow conditions appear to be stable.
It is starting to warm up in the range with temps of zero at night and up to a whopping 20 degrees during the day.
Looks like ice is starting to take shape. Stay tuned for reports as our groups get back.

Kahiltna and Ruth routes are looking good from the air, but no climber reports yet.

 Groups that have been into the Mountain House in March have been lucky to get spectacular shows of the Northern Lights.  But our day light is coming back at 6 minutes a day, and the sun is now setting at 9:00 pm.  Welcome to the midnight sun.

Here is a picture of the East face of the Moose's Tooth and the Bear tooth taken earlier this week.

   

Early season sneak preview of the Gorge......  ohh la la.  Conditions are looking good, reports should be coming in these next weeks.

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.

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. 

The plants are enjoying their daylong dose of sunshine! The sun rose at 4:11 a.m. and sets at 23:49 tonight.  Here's a little sample of the veggies and flowers we have growing out on our sundeck!

These climbers are so enthusiastic to get to Kahiltna Base Camp!  See you in a few weeks!
Climbing season is well underway here at Talkeetna Air Taxi, Base camp is set up and we've got climbers coming and going to Kahiltna International!

   
July 9th 2010
11:45 PM

Midnight Sun Behind Denali



-Photo: Whitney Wolff