In Europa Journal, the lost World War II pilot, who vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, crash lands on a glacier high atop a mountain.
          I thought you guys might like a glimpse of where I first got the idea.
          This is a photo of me just after landing on a glacier on North America’s highest mountain, Mount McKinley, whose name was recently changed to its original Athabascan name of, Denali, “The Great One”.
          Easily the most terrifying part is the landing.  The runway is so short we had to dive below the glacier’s shelf and land on a 20 degree angle going upwards.  This 20-degree up angle dramatically reduces your taxi time and keeps you from dropping off the other side.  It’s pretty much a one-shot attempt.  As we came in on our final approach the glacier literally filled up the entire cockpit windshield and it looked as though we were about to slam right into the mountain.  Just when I thought this was it, I was about to become rock paste, the plane abruptly cleared the edge and began taxiing upwards.  As the plane, and my stomach, bounced along the glacier on under-inflated Tundra tires, I hoped it would stop before we ran out of runway and dropped off the other side.  When the engine finally died I remember thinking, I should probably start breathing again.
          As I recall, it was a pretty nice summer day on top of the highest glacier in North America, and nowhere near as cold as you might think.  Despite the warm temperatures, we still had a pretty awesome snowball fight.  My best friend beamed me so hard he actually broke my sunglasses!
          The take-off isn’t nearly as gut-wrenching as the landing but the view of the surrounding mountains and glacier fields on the way out is nothing short of spectacular.
          Before we landed back in the small bush town of Talkeetna I already had at least five pages of notes.
Tagged: Alaska, Alaskan Wilderness, author, Denali, Glacier, ice, Jack Castle, landing, mountains, Mt. Mckinely, plane, snow, Terrifying Landing