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Talkeetna’s about eighty miles from Denali Base Camp, located on the slopes of the Lower Kahiltna Glacier. You get there via a forty-five minute flight on a De Havilland Otter wearing skis. This is the single engine version of the plane that flew us to Vinson Base Camp in Antarctica.

It’s a gorgeous flight, even on my second time around. May 18th was another bluebird like the day before, and we got the go-ahead early in the morning. Wheels were off the ground at about 11 AM.

The lush green land crisscrossed by rivers slowly gives way to towering peaks that seem like they’re close enough to touch the plane as it banks and weaves its way through the mountains to the base of Denali. But this time, my view was a bit better.

I’ve traveled a decent amount, visiting thirteen or so countries in my life, but I’ve never had the privilege of sitting in the copilot’s seat of a plane while it was underway! I even got to wear the same radio headset the pilot had so I could hear all the comms chatter. As an aviation enthusiast, I was totally psyched!

After touching down on the glacier, we hauled our stuff out of the plane – no baggage service here – and put them on sleds, which we hauled a short distance away. Some teams hit the ground running and begin climbing right after landing, but Colby has a more relaxed itinerary planned. As he put it, “we’ll be climbing like humans.” As such, we had a day to kill.

We practiced setting up the Hilleberg tube tent, which was new to me. I’d always wanted to use these vaunted tents but never had the chance. This time, I’d be getting one of my own for the entire trip! Jason and Grace’s team also practiced rigging their sleds, which I observed. It was good to have a refresher on some of the knots from last year, though I’d of course already practiced before the climb.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and I actually got a decent night’s rest. It usually takes me a few days to acclimatize to sleeping bags and air pads. So far so good! Just hope the weather holds. Denali can see 100 mph winds and brutally cold conditions that kill. In fact, a climber died on the mountain just a couple of weeks prior, and after we got to base camp, we heard one member of a Japanese film crew died on the mountain that very day.

Continue to ‘Camp One’