Flightseeing...A wonderful way to see the mountains a normal person would never see on foot.
Flightseeing- Taking a plane to the peaks of the Alaskan Range was such a eye-opening experience. The sky could not have been much clearer, the glacier much better to land on, the pilot much nicer, or the plane much smoother. But let's start at the beginning of my experience.
Each person filled out a form, basically a waiver, complete with how much each person weighs. If you lie the entire plane could be at risk so you must tell the truth. If you don't the guy will add at least 10 pounds to your weight. People are seated based on weight and couples often may not sit together. And yes, the form says you do not hold the company responsible if you DIE…I'm thinking that's not going to hold up in court if it is pilot error.
Next I was asked if I needed boots to cover my shoes for the glacier landing. Seeing that my tread was worn smooth I willingly accepted the NEO overboots, having never worn them in my life. I was amazed at the ease with which they went over my shoes, how lightweight they are, and how ugly they weren't! I WANT SOME!!! I was the only one on the flight to accept them and was very glad I did. Others expressed their dismay at not wearing them, as the glacier was quite slushy.
We were reminded to go to the restroom before boarding, because there would be no other chance for four and a half LONG hours. Most everyone thought that was a great idea…being mostly older people I'm sure you get my drift.
We were shown to our plane, placed in seats according to their seating chart, and told to buckle up.
We also put on headphones so we could hear the pilot's commentary throughout our flight. Those headphones kept our ears quite toasty and drowned out the engine noise. The safety lecture was given, location of sick bags explained, last words (not last rites!) were said, and we taxied for takeoff. We followed another plane down the landing strip and did a 180 turn in front of the first plane since two planes cannot sit side by side on these strips, nor can one pass another one. As soon as we turned around we flew down the runway and up we went. I am not a fan of takeoffs or landings but this guy did a pretty good job of both.
We passed over the small towns surrounded by the green hills and Nenana River snaking its way through the canyon. This canyon is a natural break in the Alaska Range. It did not take long for us to see the difference in the north side and the south side of the Alaska Range. The AK Range is 50 miles wide at Mt. McKinley. The moisture is mostly on the south side, because it originates from the Gulf of Alaska. As it goes over the range it warms up and dries up.
Mt. McKinley was named for Senator McKinley, soon to be President McKinley. Because he was a staunch supporter of the gold standard and gold was what brought many people to Alaska the powers that be deemed it fitting as a way to honor him. It is the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet tall.
Now for the science of what I was seeing. The Pacific plate subducts the Northern plate, resulting in the Alaskan Range formation. These mountains are primarily sedimentary so they erode quite easily. The Denali Fault runs along the valley, appearing very similar to a meandering river. The Alaska Range has the highest rise in the world- 3,000 feet of rock and ice. Looking down upon all the snow and ice it is very difficult to determine height of these ice walls and snow banks, because there is no frame of reference such as trees.
This is a glacier tour so we expected to see many glaciers and we were not disappointed. There are major glaciers in this area, several of which are called circuit glaciers because they appear to be sitting in a cup-like formation. Muldrow and Trilicka Glaciers come from Mt. McKinley, Eldridge Glacier from Mt. Eldridge, and others are named Ruth, Peters, and Tahiltna. The dark areas in them are called moraines and can be lateral or medial. This is sediment which has collected as the glacier travels down from the mountain. Thousands of tons of sediment are transferred and the landscape is covered with very large boulders, ice chunks, and field debris, making it look like a river. The very black sediment is from the granite mountains.
As we flew closer to McKinley it appeared we would run into it and several of its shorter peaks. Of course we did not really come close to hitting anything, even though it looked so close we could have touched them. One area we flew through was a narrow spot between peaks so it was nicknamed "root canal". This is followed closely by "floss gap", "broken tooth" (a really jagged set of peaks), and "loose tooth". We wondered if they had been named by a dentist-explorer. Many of the peaks were named by the explorers, prospectors, and geologists who have visited, studied, and/or climbed these mighty mountains.
We also viewed upper ice faults whose ice was 1000 feet thick. Here's what they look like:
There are areas where cracks formed, water got into them, froze, and formed jagged edges. One such area is called Fang Mountains.There are also Eractics- ridges where glaciers melted and left valleys and sharp peaks.
Mt. McKinley and the associated peaks are actually one big rock! From 2,000 feet to 20,320 feet is a rise of over 18,000 feet. Mt. Everest, the world's tallest totally above ground mountain, has a rise of only 12,000 feet, so it looks like McKinley wins in that department. McKinley's base camp, #14 camp, and #17 camp were established by the National Park Service. They recommend that climbers wake up around 2:00 AM, go to the summit and back to Camp 17 in one day and spend only about 20 minutes on the actually peak itself. They do not use oxygen to climb this mountain. Most climbers call their friends and take loads of photographs before descending.
Lest people think this is a less dangerous one than Mt. Everest every season people die on this mountain. Only a week before my flight a man successfully summitted, returned to Camp 17, went to sleep and never woke up. So far at least five others have died and seven others needed rescuing. People cannot just go climb this mountain- a permit is required. 1700 permits are issued and no more than half, in any given year, make the summit. So more people successfully climb Mt. McKinley every year than have ever finished the Iditarod Sled Dog Race (That number is now at 595. Somehow you knew I would get around to talking sled dogs in here!).
Finally it was time for us to land on a glacier. Many flights are unable to land due to low clouds, rain, rough winds…snow too soft for a safe landing. Mine was flawless as we flew over those 1000 feet tall ice and snow walls. The landing was one of four planes this particular point in time and two others left soon after we landed. We were able to hang out on the glacier for about 25 minutes, walking only a short distance from the plane, (needed to stay out of the way of other planes coming in) and taking tons of photos. It is very difficult to see the screen because of the snow's glare (We were required to wear sunglasses and now it was obvious why) so we all hoped our photos would turn out okay. I had to make a snowball to see if it would hold together and it did not because it was too slushy. It made for a fun photo though. Soon it was time to takeoff so we all got back in the plane and had a smooth run in the slush. It was quite fun watching those ice walls get smaller and smaller.
Our flight went in a different direction for some of the return flight. Most of the scenery was quite similar to what we saw coming up to Mt. McKinley. We did see Dall sheep on a very high mountain, as they like it up high since the bears do not like it that far up.
So many mountain peaks, so much snow, and beautiful blue sky the whole way…what a grand way to spend an afternoon.
