Denali tour
Since we were stuck in Talkeetna with a mysterious vibration in the Maule I decided to take a tour of Mt McKinley
while it was being addressed. I made sure that I would get on one of the Beavers
This is a tough job but somebody's gotta do it
I figured if I was gonna do it I might as well go all the way so I signed up for the grand tour with glacier landing
It was a stunningly beautiful day, the first time I had actually seen the mountain since coming to Alaska
The Beaver is one hella cool plane but it ain't no rocket ship.
About half an hour after leaving Talkeetna I glanced at the altimeter to see we were passing through 3500 feet
What I saw can't be captured in these pictures, even my words will certainly fall short of describing it
I think it's one thing that every pilot should do. If you are ever in the area and the weather permits
don't let the opportunity pass you buy - don't be cheap
Our tour took us up the west side between Mt Foraker and McKinley
over the base camp where climbers are landed for their ascent on McKinley during the climbing season
The scale of this stuff is hard to comprehend. When you see another airplane against it you realize just how small we are
The Beaver has a reassuring leisurly rumble that just feels and sounds right
It never seems to be working very hard
Our highest altitude was about 12,000 feet. Enough (barely) to go all the way around the mountain
The north face is incredibly steep
Although Mt Everest is about 9000 feet higher than McKinley it sits on top of the 17,000 ft Tibeten plateau
So the base to summit height of McKinley is actually greater than Everest
Doing a slow 360 we get a windscreen full of mountain but in reality we are still about 3 miles away
Coming around to the south face we pass over the Ruth Glacier and it's enormous gorge
Truly monumental
Here we are coming in for the glacier landing. That dot up there by the prop tip is another Beaver
Yup - it was way cool
To top it off I got to ride shotgun!
Heading back we did some low S turns over the Ruth
Getting a closeup view of the intricate structure of this huge Glacier
If you get the chance - just do it!