Alaskan Wonderland Mount Denali

ALASKAN summertime is known for its rain and overcast skies; however, when we arrived at Talkeetna, the blanket of thick solid clouds was slowly sliding away, faintly introducing the High One in a distance!The next two hours were to become my special gift of visual memories to take along with me to nurture the rest of my life. The pilot, Mike, with 25 year’s experience of flying this scenic route in his monoplane with ski’s to land in the snow, told me that even he can count these very special weather circumstances over the many years on his one hand.The two of use took off late afternoon and flew some 60 kilometres in a northerly direction. In front of us a magic scene was unfolding: a soft golden glare on the snow-capped peak of Mount Denali, (the second highest mountain in the world)breaking through the cotton-like clouds, forming a layer halfway up the mountain. To the western side, the rainy clouds were rolling away, with the only evidence of the past two weeks of rain in the double rainbow!We circled twice the cluster of peaks, Mt Hunter, Foraker, Koven, Brooks, Mather and Silverthrone, before making a final approach to touch down with the ski-plane in an ice-covered enclave, surrounded by snow and solid rock formation.There we were, small specks in a total silence of God’s perfect creation; a sight that only a few fortunate mountaineers can experience conquering mountain heights after days of exposure to the toughest elements of nature. I could just breathe in the total beauty and could not stop taking hundreds of memory capturing photos of the stage-play that was unfolding in front of me.PERSONAL TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHYCopyright by ©johannbeukes

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Alaskan Wonderland Mount Denali

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