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Francisco (left) and Frank in a posh Talkeetna restaurant enjoying the last real breakfast for the next three weeks.
Frank in front of the Talkeetna Ranger Station on a glorious morning. Time to get all those do's and dont's from the rangers. The only "don't" I remember was: "please do not return any bodily waste upon checking out at the ranger station".
Our friendly air service: Doug Geeting Aviation. They were our only connection to civilisation.
Frank waiting to be transported to the glacier. Note that the scales on the right were used to weigh our gear, not us.
Francisco posing before his flight. His bandanner is more suited to a Saharan wilderness adventure. But I'm sure he knew where he was.
Frank (left) and Francisco smiling for the cameras. These smiles soon turned to tears once we were in the air:-(
The contingent posing in front of our trustworthy Cessna. Left->Right: Frank, Francisco and Fausto.
All aboard and off into the wilderness! A landscape studded with streams and glaciers.
The end of the "Ruth" glacier.
It's getting whiter, colder and scarier. It was a 50 min. flight to base camp. I lost my stomach on two occasions - pilot error I suppose.
The Alaskan range coming into view. A virgin landscape waiting for diehards like us!
"Oops, I just missed that one" the pilot exclaimed.
Approaching the "Kahiltna" glacier. Notice the numerous crevasses on the right and a yellow tent stuck in one of them - just kidding!
On the ground at last, but my stomach is still in the clouds somewhere. The guy on the right is one of the base camp managers.
Fausto (left) and Frank posing in front of the tent.
Fausto (left) and Francisco filling up on Coleman fuel for the day's trek. So now I know why they were always so far ahead of me.
A view of the 7,200ft township. A very noisy place with planes landing, climbers lamenting, people snoring, people defacating and bossy rangers.