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 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!

Come fly with us!

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!

A fabulous picture taken in the range. No wonder people love it up here.

Happy Solstice, everyone!
As you may know, today is officially the first day of summer, and up here in the Northern Hemisphere we will have our longest day of the year- around twenty-one hours of sunlight. Trust me, we plan on enjoying it (Alaskans are known for their high deficiencies in vitamin D, so we're long overdue for some quality sun-basking).
Last night Whitney Wolff took a picture of the sun setting over Mt. Hunter. This will be the farthest north that the sun will move into the Alaska Range from Talkeetna. Check it out:


In other news, record-setting (see our earlier post) Vern Tejas passed through our office the other day. While waiting to fly out to Base Camp, he showed his Alpine Ascents group a thing or two about knot-tying. (he's the one in the light blue)