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.

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 love accessorize it day!

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

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

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!

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!

Look close... closer... this is a picture from one of our flights checking on some climbers heading back and forth from their camp... Climbing season here is quickly coming to an end...currently there is a 53% summit rate for Denali.