Bush Pilot Way by Bill Quirk

Author:Bill Quirk
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594333828
Publisher: Publication Consultants

MEMORANDUM 6

SUBJECT: Flying to Mount Marcus Baker in the Chugach Mountains

September 3, 2009

1. Thursday, September 3, 2009 was a sunny day in Anchorage. I decided to fly to the Knik River and complete a trumpeter swan survey. I keep track of the nesting swans and record broods of cygnets to determine how many make it through the summer to fledging. After the swan survey was completed, I landed the Arctic Tern on a gravel bar. I set up my folding chair and had lunch on a pleasant day with little wind and the temperature up to 58 degrees Fahrenheit at 2:20 PM. Then I hiked along the gravel bars for about an hour. On the hike, I kept seeing large flocks of sandhill cranes passing overhead at about 6,000 feet. The cranes were already on their traditional fall migration out of Alaska to the Lower 48 states for the winter. The cranes were telling me that the weather in the high mountains they would be crossing must be very good. I decided to take that signal from the cranes. I’d get in the Arctic Tern and fly into the massive mountain and glacier country to the east over the Knik Glacier in the Chugach Mountains.

2. I was now flying low over the terminus of Knik Glacier which is only 200 feet above sea level. I knew I would have to gain thousands of feet in elevation to climb to the top of the glacier. The top of the glacier is a snowcovered pass at an elevation of 8,400 feet. The back side of the pass drops off into Radcliffe Glacier, which falls down to Harvard Glacier, which flows into salt water in Prince William Sound. I’ll have 25 miles to fly up Knik Glacier before arriving at the pass. This will take about 20 minutes from the terminus of the glacier. A steady climb rate at 500 feet per minute will meet my goal. The Tern will climb at the needed rate at the normal cruising power setting. There were many glaciers and mountains on both sides of Knik Glacier. I took more than 50 images with my hand-held Canon digital camera flying to the pass. When arriving at the pass I wanted to circle around a couple of times and look at the mountains and glaciers in this snow-covered environment. I also did not want to stay too long at this high elevation as the oxygen level is quite low.

3. My goal for flying up to the top of Knik Glacier was to get close-up views of Mount Marcus Baker’s pristine snow–cone summit and to look for places to land ski-equipped airplanes in winter. Marcus Baker at 13,176 feet above sea level is the highest mountain in Alaska’s Chugach Mountain Range. Although many mountains are higher in elevation, Marcus Baker rises approximately 13,000 feet both from the west (terminus of Knik Glacier) and from the east (salt water at Harvard Glacier). Few mountains have this type of awesome vertical relief.

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