Chitina Airstrip.  This is as far into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park as we got by car.  From here all travel was by air.	Loading the Cesna 185.  No seats, no beverage service.  But the inflight movie was great.  We took  this plane on our first leg travels into the National Park.  It was a forty minute journey along a glacial river to a remote luxury lodge (accessible only by plane)  "Ultima Thule".
Here is a view out the window of the plane  as we followed braided river bed up into the park.  Elevation around 3000 feet.  I was in the copilot seat.	On some medieval maps the remote and inaccessible  north was call "Ultima Thule".  This wilderness  lodge, by the same name, is on an inholding within  the National Park. Accessible by airplane, it is generally a luxury type facility catering to only a few travellers at  a time--  but they do also host climbers.  We flew in  here before heading on to the mountain.  Bad weather  higher  up kept us here two nights.  There are plenty  worse  places to get stuck!  We played with fifty sled  dogs, used the sauna, checked our gear and feasted.
We had to wait two nights at the lodge.  Dave Staeheli,  our guide used some of this time to instruct us on the finer points of Alaskan climbing.  He is a pretty  accomplished guide, having been on Everest and  working in the mountains of New Zealand.  What impressed us particularly was his winter climb  of Mount McKinley-- solo.  Here Dave is explaining where to stick a picket.  A picket is the big aluminum stake he is holding-- it can be used as an anchor in deep snow.  Where to stick it ison the side of your backpack,  where you can get it, but it won't fall off.  (What did you think I was going to say?)	While waiting at Ultima Thule, we practiced our skills.  The biggest danger on Bona is falling in a crevasse.  There  are many ways to get out of a crevasse while hanging on a rope.  One is a self rescue using sliding knots (prussiks).  It is pretty strenious, with much of the effort being getting the backpack off and assembling  the system. Here we practice in a barn while hanging  from a overhead beam.  See the ladder... well first you climb the ladder, then Dave kicks it out from under you...
The secret of Ultima Thule.  Fifty sled dogs, five puppies, don't mind the noise, go pet them-- no waiting.	We were two days at Ultima Thule waiting for the  weather  to clear at higher elevations.  Six AM day two there was a  banging on our  bunkroom door--the pilot screaming, "Weather is clearing, LETS GO!"   Fifteen minutes  later we were lifting off the dirt runway,  the Beaver rising rapidly.   The flight was one of the  most spectacular parts of the trip...
Up past snow covered peaks with glaciers below.  At this  pointwe were pretty worried about that cloud ceiling--  the pilot need to be able to see up to 11,000+ feet in order to get us up onto the glacier on Mount Bona...	We break out of the clouds...  hey, what is that in front of us? The Beaver rises in the cold clear air passing by the 14,000 foot high pyramid of University Peak and on towards our  goal.
We begin to descend to an open glacier.  Or rather, we flew level up the valley  as the ice river rose towards our skids...  In a minute or five we will be on the snow.	Our plane touches down on the glacier as smoothly on skis as the best airport landing.  Smoother in fact,  because we are landing uphill and the plane comes to a rapid stop.  As we halt the pilot turns a sharp 180, so as to be facing downhill for takeoff.  Then comes a mad scramble to unload.  I hand the pilot  some postcards to take out and within a minute  or two he roars off.  Leaving us standing alone, likely the only people within fifty miles in any direction.