Don Sheldon Mnt. House/ Ruth Glacier Denali NP AK TR

[skifishbum]

A couple years after I was born, eminent glacier pilot Don Sheldon began strapping lumber/supplies to the struts of his plane.
He picked a small rock outcropping on the Ruth glacier as a spot for his dream house/smoke shack/emergency shelter.
The fruits of his labor

When Denali NP was expanded, the hut and a 5 acres parcel were retained by the Sheldon family.
The Alaska Mountaineering school manages it for the family. The hut, while only beind 14' in diameter and lacking amenities, has what every prime piece of real estate ,location location, FKNA location,

So last summer when my bud Pondo said he scored the hut I jumped on the opportunity.
The crew was assembled Pondo, Jon, Josh, Topher and myself. A late night flight and a night at the Longhouse. Followed by a bloody mary and reindeer sausage breakfast at Gwinnies, 5 guys and a shitload of gear strapped to a durango, on the road. They even provided a map so we wouldn't get lost, as the gps unit got left back in SLC.

The plan was to get to Palmer score supplies and do a day of touring at Hatchers Pass before flying in on Sat. morning.

Grocery shopping was humorous. 5 guys 3 carts the most bickering of the trip. Capers?? We don't need no stinking rat turds grab another pack of bacon and an extra pouch of Bugler could get weathered in ya know
Some $800 and a couple credit card refusals later, the realization that we were not gonna be able to cram any more on the roof of the durango, ment we would be making an early morning trip to Talkeetna to store stuff in the hanger. Arriving at Talkeetna air taxi we learned they were calling for weather Sat. and flying in a day early would be possible. This set of a scramble to get shit togather. Jon dealing w/ UPS (What can Brown Fuck up for you today) to acquire a Sat. phone, National Park briefings , picking up CMC's (aka shit cans), AMS briefings, and another trip to the store for firewood and last minute supplies.
Loading the Otter

For ~$420 per person the !/2 hour flight was damn near worth it just for the views


Our pilot Paul threaded his way through mountain passes

After a smooth landing and unloading the Otter flys away
leaving us in an silence with a 1/4 mile uphill trek to haul in our gear to the hut. 3 or 4 trips and it was party time
To be continued.....

[skifishbum]

So the 1st day we awoke about 9:00 to the "whats going on" alarm clock.
A hearty bfast of bacon & eggs. Skies were cloudy and gray validating the decision and effort to fly in early.
We roped up for glacier/crevasse travel and set out a few miles across the glacier to Telemark hill


The clouds burnt off and we witnessed, what would pretty much be a daily
occurrence, a natural avalanche. Most of which were due to serac icefall.


The snow quality was good and stablity decent.
The kneedroppers Pondo, Josh, and Toph tele'd down while Jon and I locked em down.
Pondo
TBC.....
Day 2 we decided to go for a little stroll and check out the hood.

Towards the Don Sheldon Ampitheater around Mount Bayrill and into the Great Gorge.

The Great Gorge

Is massive and it's hard to imagine your standing on 3-4 thousand feet of ice
We slogged on past the Mooses tooth on the left and around Mount Dickey
past the Japanese couloir to 747 pass.

A quick lunch break
747 pass Pondo leading the charge w/ another one of his subhuman trail breaking exploits.

From the top of the pass we headed up again towards Pittock pass which would allow us to pretty much ski down to the hut.
The FKNA lets go down hill point shot

At the top of Pittock pass we were able to get a look at the huge ice seracs
we could hear grumbling from the hut

[skifishbum]

Product placement/pimping photo

And a little somthin somethin from the high dollar camera guy.

I'll try and track down some more pics and add more tonight

[hoarhey]

Great start to the thread, Dibs.
Can't wait to see the rest of the TR.
Looks like a sick trip!

[lg]

5 guys squeezed into that tiny shack must be pretty cramped but totally worth it!

[Optimus Prime]

NICE!! Great Photos

This TR right here is why I live in Talkeetna...

[Dhelihiker]

Hollee shit that looks soooo R4Dd

How hard is it to reserve that hut? What an epic trip, thanks for sharing

[Fritz]

Looks like a blast. Sick shot.

[bio-smear]

Don Sheldon was THE MAN. Read Wager with the Wind, great story if you like flying reads.

Great TR so far.

[AKbruin]

Holy crap, what an awesome start. Can't wait to see the rest of the pics.

[Northway]

Bump...the people, well me anyway, demand more pics from this incredible looking trip!

[iceman]

My son and I watched a ~750 pic slideshow of this trip a couple days ago...he's got the pics, know that.

[JTrue]

Awesome stoke SFB, loving it...

[jepilot]

This thread does not suck...some adventure, D.


Did you ski right after you unloaded the plane? Or did you just have your boots on for S's and G's while loading it up?

[fortysix&2]

FKNA. A dream trip. That is a lot of food, beer, and gear. Looking forward to more pics.

[Hutch]

Holy shit. Looks like the trip of a lifetime.

[fish]

That's so badass. Best believe this is already a fantastic TR

[AKPogue]

Hollee shit that looks soooo R4Dd

How hard is it to reserve that hut? What an epic trip, thanks for sharing

Depends on the time of year but you need to reserve it a few years in advance is what I have been told.

[powderpond]

Even the wind affected face shotted.........

[FreakofSnow]

Envy, it's a killer

[powderpond]

This place has thick glaciers, in case of trouble one should always be prepared for a prolonged extraction. SFB was our latte guy. In a crack??? Trouble with a slot?? Three shots with a sprinkle of nuts. Big pile of nuts.

[powderpond]

This was the way in. That would be Denali, with the hat.

[Dam Skier]

OH YEA!! Can't wait for more.

[skifishbum]

I hate the interweb, Crunk, and Volie binders

Fixed that for ya Jong (Winkie Wickie Wickie)

[schwerty]

Looks like an incredible trip!