Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Hold on to your hats!!


strong winds out of the north for the next few days. 50 mile an hour winds threw broad pass today!!

Too Cute


what else can you say?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Book of the month


Talkeetna's choice for best book of the month!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Thoughts of warmer days.

N8190y hanging out at high lake lodge this past fall.

Monday, December 22, 2008

talkeetnas parade of lights


Sandra and Loomy congratulating each other on a job well done on decorating the plow truck for this years parade

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Down but not out !!



Randi making a run for the phone.

who knew an ice climbing trip to the matanuska glacier would end up in over 40,000 dollars in medical bills.

Fundraiser for Randi ,January 9Th, 6:00 pm at the Sheldon Community arts hangar.

sunny and warm ?

lined up and ready to go

Friday, December 19, 2008

Cabin fever


Beaver the cat is all ready climbing the walls and it is not even winter solstice yet !

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Mrs. Santa Claus visits TAT


Rebecca, Alaskan pilot, brought fresh home-baked cookies to us today! YAY!

Norio Matsumoto is Here!


Northern Lights Photographer extraordinaire (his photo on the screen behind him) is waiting for clear weather for some McKinley aerials, then he'll head out to build his ice cave in the Alaska Range. This year he plans to stay through mid-February, brrr... Norio has flown with TAT for 10 years, wow. See his photo's at http://www.noriomatsumoto.com/

Next... Cover of the Rolling Stones!


What could be more important than working on Planes?


Answer: Fixing the broken plow truck - in Alaska - mid-winter....

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

How far can you reach to buck a rivet?

Danial hard at work building an RV-4 - (A sleek - speedy aerobatic experimental aircraft... ooooh...)
She's been working hard since Paul is holding her passport as ransom for completion, ha! As if.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

morning sunrise


Warmed up today, 9 above! This is what it looked liked at 9:30 this morning at the Talkeetna Airport. :)

Otter N510PR in bits...



This is what an Otter looks like when it is packed in a "high cube container" to be shipped across the Pacific Ocean! We'll be putting this "Sheila" back together again in Seattle and flying her home~

Monday, December 15, 2008

the S.S. Grizzly



first adventure with the new machine up to the top of Baldy. not bad for a 25 year old snow machine.

TAT's new baby imported from Australia!



Meet our new Otter - N510PR.. Did you know that 510 is the police code for "speeding vehicles"? We are looking for suggestions for a name, anyone that has an idea can e-mail us at: info@talkeetnaair.com

Forced Air Therapy



Our pilots on a fall afternoon paragliding from Mt. Baldy, due East of Talkeetna...

Oh, the life of a pilot.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

April 18th flew in to the root canal. Brilliant weather! Climbed Ham and Eggs to the main summit on the 20th. Mostly snice, but overall great conditions. There was a good boot track all the way to the summit. We then climbed Shaken not Stirred on the 22nd. Totally classic route! The conditions could not have been better. We traversed in from the side into a really fun mixed pitch that gained the lower snow field. We beefed up and equalized all the single pin raps so it is all good to go. We were alone on both routes. Don't think that will happen for the rest of the season as it seems there are quite a few more parties coming in every day. Shaken is not the greatest route to be stuck behind another party as this is a real funnel for all the debris. Start very early for both routes, especially Ham and Eggs. there was alot of wet snow avalanches coming down the route in the late afternoon, so climb fast and get off the route early. TAT is the shit! They picked us up early so we could enjoy beer and pizza in town. Will surely fly with ya all next year. Paul is the man!

Cheers,
Matt Horner and Marc Waite

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Buckskin Glacier 4/08

Just skied out of the Buckskin (4/15/08). The south fork (Broken Tooth, Bear Tooth, Moose's Tooth) is much drier than last year. We climbed two pitches up a west-facing spindrift gash, what looked like ice was less-than-styrofoam snow and wouldn't take screws. The East Face of the Moose's Tooth looked like it had lots of powder over slabs and didn't inspire confidence. We skied up and down peak 8300 in beautiful snow conditions and weather.
Bill Billmeier and Jared Vilhauer

Saturday, April 12, 2008

2008 Climbing Season

Hello all!!
Climbing season has been kicked off. With a few groups in the range we are getting reports of good snow conditions. Much more snow than last year.
We will get updates posted as the groups come out of the range.
We look forward to another great season!
TAT