Our May 17th team arrived in Talkeetna yesterday (May 18), but as is so often the case with expeditions into the Alaska Range, the weather has plans of its own.

There’s a familiar checklist that every team works through after pulling into Talkeetna, and the order it gets tackled in depends largely on when each team is scheduled to meet with the National Park Service (NPS). A required step in the registration process is the pre-climb orientation, where one of the NPS climbing rangers sits down with the team to walk through current conditions on Denali and the latest nuances on the glacier. Alongside the orientation, the team also has to unload, organize, and weigh every piece of equipment and supply they’ll bring onto the mountain — a meticulous process that ensures the planes can be loaded properly and nothing critical gets left behind. With all of that done, the only thing left to do is wait for the call to fly.

The flight onto the glacier might sound straightforward, but it’s actually one of the first major logistical hurdles a team has to clear. Throughout the Denali season, storm fronts moving between Talkeetna and basecamp on the South Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier can ground flights for hours or even days at a time, and it’s not uncommon for climbers to spend a stretch of time stuck in town watching the skies. The flight itself covers about 45 miles in a small single-engine plane, with travel time running anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes depending on conditions and the approach the pilot is able to take. Denali, sometimes called the “Great Massif,” is so massive that it generates its own weather patterns, and the airspace around it can shift quickly. It’s not unusual for Talkeetna to be sunny and clear while the glacier itself is socked in and unflyable. The bush pilots who fly this route are some of the most skilled in the world, so when they call a delay, it’s a strong signal that conditions are genuinely difficult.

After waiting in the queue until late in the afternoon, it looked like the team’s window had finally arrived. They loaded into the planes and got airborne, heading out across the lower Range toward the glacier. In the final mile of the flight, however, the pilot made the call to turn back due to deteriorating visibility at the landing strip. These planes operate in a completely different world from your standard commercial airliner. Rather than relying on banks of computers and instruments, the pilots of these small planes — often referred to as “Otters” — fly largely by feel and line of sight. When the landing strip can’t be seen and there’s no air traffic control to guide them in, the decision to land or turn around is made entirely at the pilot’s discretion. It’s a humbling reminder of just how much skill and judgment go into every flight onto the glacier.

The silver lining of a weather delay is the chance to experience Talkeetna itself — a small town that has served as a launchpad for some of the most legendary climbers on the planet. Quiet, tucked away at the literal end of the road, Talkeetna’s character is shaped almost entirely by the steady flow of climbers heading to and from Denali. It’s a place where you can grab a coffee and end up swapping stories with someone who just stepped off the glacier or is about to head onto it. For climbers across every discipline, Talkeetna has had a hand in shaping the culture of the sport, and simply being there is something a lot of people spend years dreaming about.

We’re wishing the May 17th team smoother skies and a successful flight onto the glacier soon! Take a listen to the team introduction.

—

Family and friends are encouraged to leave comments for their loved ones on this expedition. Please keep in mind that climbers will not be able to see posts or comments until they return to Talkeetna at the end of the expedition.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to this expedition’s Field Reports by entering your email address in the form to the right or below if viewing via mobile. That way, you never miss an update!

Interested in more information about conditions and happenings on Denali? Be sure to also check out the Denali National Park’s Denali Dispatches Blog where they post weekly Field Reports.