Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Aerial Approach

All photos taken from the surprisingly small helicopter seen below.


Wally, our most excellent pilot, escorted us from the quaint fishing village of Petersburg, AK directly to the Burkett Boulder Base Camp (BBBC?). After 17 amazing days spent climbing ourselves silly Wally received our indirect request for a pick up, jumped on a brief window in the weather and brought us back for a relaxing night at Chateu Klose. While airborne I made every attempt to capture the landscape and these are some of the results.


This water crossing necessitated the donning of bright orange inflatable vests.


Entering the glaciated madness, I was struck by the wild patterns in the ice.




We got an incredible view of the infamous NW Face of the Devil's Thumb, not in good shape on the day we arrived.


Our first view of the objective, Burkett Needle, on the left. Mt. Burkett towers to the right.




The day we flew out was not as clear, the clouds added quite a bit of drama to the landscape.