I landed up on the glacier today for the first time this summer on tires. The snow is finally melting off the ice at lower elevations allowing decent access. It was a great day to be up on the ice. I love watching the hillsides come to life each June as the heart of summer quickly approaches.
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OK, so we have returned from our stay down in Halibut Cove, and we are back up at Sheep Mountain. Our friends are still in town, and we flew out for a couple of different hikes today in the surrounding mountains. It was windy, cold, and damp at the house, but at the toe of this glacier the air was calm and warm. We hiked for quite awhile and the view was awesome. We saw a bunch of sheep, and had a great time just exploring surrounding area. I love Alaska in the summer.
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We landed here to take a quick break and stretch our legs. After several hours in the air it feels great stop and kick stones for awhile. My favorite part of my job is landing in various random places and listening to the silence. There are countless areas to explore and experience and so many of them are accessible with a Super Cub. If you are in Alaska this Summer we ought to go out on a little flight together, I might be able to show you something you will never forget.
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I took my dad out on the glacier this weekend. We landed up at 8500' and it was still more than 40 degrees. It was an awesome day to be up on the snow. We landed above a huge 2000' ice fall on a glacial shelf. Often the cold air makes up for the high altitude in terms of flight characteristics, and density altitude, but with 40 + temperatures the poor old bird was really feeling it. When we were done with the job on the glacier we said good-bye to the mountaineers and crawled into the cub. There was a little bit of wind blowing down glacier, plus we were pretty heavily loaded, in slushy snow at 8500' elevation. The climbers reminded me that I only had a little bit of smooth snow before the huge crevasses trailed into a 2000' vertical drop of broken snow and ice.
The Cub very slowly accelerated and after several hundred feet the tail came up and we began gaining speed. We lifted without a problem, and seconds later huge crevasses were passing just 15 feet below the skis. As I carefully accelerated and began bleeding off the flaps I allowed the Super Cub to loose a couple hundred feet as we came over the shelf because the terrain was falling away quickly and there was a bit of a downdraft with the falling air. After we had been airborne for about 2 minutes, a concerned voice came over the radio inquiring as to whether or not we were airborne. I laughed and said, "all was well" when the leader responded on the radio we heard a loud cheer from the team on the ground. My Dad and I busted out laughing not realizing the dramatic view the mountaineering team had experienced as we had disappeared toward the icefall with our skis still plowing slush as we doggishly accelerated down a one way slope. We got a good laugh over this, and then flew back to the house for hamburgers and steaks with the family.Comments [0]
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The weather is so fickle in this area that we will often make caches for mountaineering courses passing through. By making the cache we ensure that the teams will get their groceries on time. I first dig a hole and then put the 350 pounds of groceries into it. After that I pile snow on top so that nothing is exposed. This is important because the ravens will peck holes in the bags and scatter the supplies, even at 10,000'. If a storm rolls in, this tiny mound and the wands will disappear in mere hours so I always get a good Lat/Long to ensure that it will be found.
I took this picture on Sunday, and it was perfectly calm and warm. There is nothing like standing in a spot like this totally alone...I love it, and would like to show you.Comments [0]
I flew up to the Alaska Range today with 400 pounds of groceries for a mountaineering team. This photo only shows the blue sky, but immediately behind loomed dark clouds brought by a hot afternoon and unstable air. This is an annual trip for me, and in the past I have been able to do this on wheel skis. This year the snow was so thin in the Alaska Range, that I was easily able to do it on tires. I only flew 6.5 hours today so it was nice to have some time off this evening to hang out with my girls, do maintenance on the plane, and eat a big steak.
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This is 8000' near Marcus Baker. I flew this group in for a week of skiing, and they started the trip off right with some awesome weather. There was a 20 mph breeze blowing down glacier, but the air was warm, and the sky was blue, so nobody was complaining. This area is known for it's wind and weather, but this group was well prepared for the it. They are gonna have a good time.
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I was following Mike and we were headed towards Prince William Sound. That flat area up ahead is the glacial flat between Marcus Baker and Mt. Goode. It is a massive smooth snowpack that you could land a 747 on if it had skis. It's a popular place for mountaineers to begin an attempt on the tallest mountain in the Chugach, and I have also seen it used by kite skiers. There is only one spot that we fly in that is windier than this area, and that's the Tazlina Glacier. A 70 mph breeze is nothing and almost guaranteed at some point if you spend a week up here.
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My name is Matthew Keller. I am an Alaskan Bush Pilot. I own a small air-taxi in Alaska named Blue Ice Aviation (BlueIceAviation.com). I transport people into the Alaskan Wilderness.
Get lost for a month, or an afternoon in my backyard of Waterfalls, Granite Peaks, High Meadow Lakes, and Glaciers. Guided, or un-guided it will change your life.
