Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Clip 1 - Travel Writing Sample - Alaska

Denali National Park, Ruth Glacier, Alaska - Posted May 2008.

The Ruth Glacier is one of large glaciers that has sculpted the flanks of some of the great peaks in Denali National Park. The glacier begins at Denali and sinuously flows down valley, growing larger as it merges with smaller tributary glaciers. Thirty miles later to the south of Denali the glacier terminates at a moraine boulder field and the braided Chulitna River.

About midway down the glacier is The Ruth Gorge, or "The Gorge" as locals call it. The Gorge earns its name from the escarpments of granite, snow, and ice that tower some 5,000 feet above the surface of the ice. Some of these guardians include The Mooses [sic] Tooth, Mt. Dickey, Mt. Barrille, and Mt. Bradley. The United States Geological Survey renamed the Mooses Tooth (albeit without the grammatically correct apostrophe) to reflect a translation of the original Athabascan name. At The Gorge, the glacial ice is close to a mile thick, over a mile wide, and moves at over three feet a day. The relatively low elevations, easy access by bush plane, and copious climbable peaks, has made The Gorge a destination for world-class climbers.

My partner Jason Kuo and I flew from Talkeeta, Alaska, into The Gorge in Paul Roderick's (Talkeetna Air Taxi) 1955 single-engine DeHavilland Beaver. We loaded the Beaver with 1,000 lbs. of gear into the cargo hold for 20 days of climbing in The Gorge.

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