And so it begins!!

The Mountain Trip May 24th West Buttress team drove from Anchorage to the (literal) end-of-the-road town of Talkeetna, Alaska this morning, where they checked in the the National Park Service in preparation for the expedition to climb North America’s tallest peak. After their NPS orientation, they hustled to weigh their bags, packs and duffels before stepping aboard a Talkeetna Air Taxi aircraft to fly into the magnificent Alaska Range. Taking off from the Talkeetna tarmac on wheels, they flew about a half hour and landed on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier on skis.

The scale of the Alaska Range is pretty intense when you step off a plane in the SE Fork. You look across the glacier at the Northwest Buttress of Mount Hunter, which is a vertical mile of rock and ice. Turning your head to the west, Mount Foraker soars two vertical miles above you. If the weather permits, your view to the north is looking through a notch at the summit of Denali, 13,000 feet above your boots. It is impressive!

The team is in fine spirits, as evidenced by the call from the glacier. I don’t know who left the message, so if you’d please let us know in the comments, we’ll give him credit for such an enthusiastic call from the Range!

recording