Mount McKinley Summit elevation 20,320 feet - 6,194 metres

Talkeetna Airport - basically each airline had own building

       Mr. McKinley is the tallest peak in North America, attracting over 1000 mountain climbers annually from around the globe.   The climbing season is from early spring to late June.  As soon as the snow from last winter has melted, the crevices of the glacier are exposed and it becomes too dangerous to climb.   Most of the climbers are flown to base camp; their success rate about 65%, just running out of time is the biggest problem.  There are fatalities annually, this year 5 people have died trying to climb the mountain, one just the day before we got to Denali National Park.

 The flight services are based out of the little historic town of Talkeetna because it is air distance closer to Mt McKinley then the visitor’s portion of Denali Park, which lies north of the Alaska Range. Weather is looking promising, blue skies greet us as we rise.  

We back track to Talkeetna for our reserved flight around Mount McKinley.  Caroline and Neal gave us the flight as a gift, wow and what a gift!   Thank you very much. 

If you ever wondered what skies and tires on a plane look like

        We arrive at the Talkeetna Airport and Check-in. (Oh the dreaded check-in for small aircraft.  I really do not want to be weight with all my gear on, oh well I will never see these people again, and Henry can’t hear what they said anyway.  Mental note to self – need to lose weight. )

Leaving Talkeetna

See the shapes of the lakes and landscapes

        We get special glacial boots to cover our foot wear.  The pilot (hunk and in his 30’s – ghees young enough to be my son) walks us out to the plane.  Yeah red, my favourite colour!  Has to be a good sign – right?  

See the iron in the river colour

        Our Pilot, Ryan,  instructs us to tighten our seat belts well, as there is turbulence ahead.  The weather is so warm that the ride will be bumpy and as we approach the Alaska Range the winds can be rough. 

        The first part of the flight is over the valley, and  like everything else in Alaska, was formed by a glacier.  From the air it is easy to see the effects that the glaciers had and still have. Several lakes were formed. all elongated in the same direction as the glacier slid. 

A lot of swamp land, making for happy moose. We can see many homes out in the wilderness, with no road access.  The pilot tells us that these people fly in and land on the lakes to get to their homes.

 As we approach the mountain range we see existing glaciers and how they have dropped their sediment along the way.  It is like watching the earth’s history unfold.  

shows how the glacier is forming the land

As we fly around the mountain our pilot pointed out how we can see the different colour rocks that make up these ridges and shows how these mountain ranges were formed.  The forces that lifted Mount McKinley—the seduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate—also raised great ranges across southern Alaska. As that huge sheet of ocean-floor rock plunges downward into the mantle, it shoves and crumples the continent into soaring mountains. 

  Ryan flew around one particular ridge to show us the dark, almost black sedentary rock of the Pacific plate and on the other side of the cliff a lighter colour rock of the North American plate.  It was absolutely amazing. 

 Mount McKinley, in particular is uplifted relative to the rocks around it because it is at the intersection of major active faults that move rocks laterally across the Earth's surface which allow the deep buried rocks to be unroofed more rapidly compared to those around them.

Our flight path takes us through passes; the rock formations seem so close I am sure the wing tips are just inches away.  Okay I know they are further away, but it sure looks scary.  We fly over base camp for the climbers, and can actually see the tracks left by recent climbers.  Ryan tells us that approximately 200 climbers are on the mountain at this time.  

We are extremely lucky that the weather has cleared enough that we can fly around to the north side of Mt. McKinley.   The north side has one of the longest vertical drops in the world.

Landing on the Ruth Glacier, a frightening as much as exciting experience.  The pilot announces the approach and I have great confidence in this YOUNG man, but as I see the wing of the aircraft seemingly to tickle the rock cliffs of the surrounding mountain, I think “ Well I had a good life, my kids are grown and can take care of them selves, if he crashes into the rock face I hope for a quick end”  

  Before I can finish the thought,  we clear the rock faces and the amp theatre opened up in front of us as the plane continues to descend.  Phew.

“Please tighten your seat belts, this landing will be rougher then what you are used to” comes over the headset. 

I can not express in words how exciting it was.   Me, grown up as a couch potato in the ghetto of Montreal, How did I get to this place?  How did I become brave and lucky enough to do this outrageous thing?  WOW.  I thought we had done some wild things in the past, but this takes the cake.

 As we climb out the plane (using a flimsy step ladder) and first step on to the mushy snow and look in awe at the massive amp theatre of mountains I am shocked at the size of the place.  We are standing on Ruth Glacier, beside Mount McKinley with about 20 other people and 3 planes.  

Ruth Glacier’s upper reaches are 4.8 km below the summit of Mount McKinley. The glacier's "Great Gorge" is 1.6 km wide, and drops almost 600 m over 16 km, with crevasses along the surface. Above the surface on both sides are 1,500-m granite cliffs. Ryan tells us from the top of the cliffs to the bottom of the glacier is a height exceeding that of the Grand Canyon. Ruth Glacier moves at a rate of 1 m a day and was measured to be 1,158 m thick in 1983.
Surrounding the Ruth Gorge are many mountains of the Alaska Range, including the Moose’s Tooth another favourite among the climbers.


  Walking on the glacier is not easy; the area is very lump, as you are walking in tracks made by the landing planes.  The snow is granular, like ice snow crystals.  Ryan measures the depth of this year’s snow as 1.75 m.
            I am pumped with adrenaline from the experience.  We were so lucky to have the opportunity to do this.
            Standing on Ruth we watch another plane take off.  He rolls along the ice surface and suddenly disappears and then reappears.  It is hard to explain, but the glacier makes a dip so the planes actually take off down hill and then become airborne and is in sight again.   

On our way back to Talkeetna Airport

Water left behind by a glacier

Evetually will be a lake that looks like this

Can you guess what this is

            After a while it is time for us to take off and head back.  Reluctantly we climb back into the plane and Ryan takes us on a straight line back to the Talkeetna airport. 

This is the same thing

            The time just flew by.   Would I do it again?  In a heart beat.