Visiting Alaska

Alaska is America’s largest and most remote state located in the arctic. With few Americans calling Alaska their home, the wildlife and natural beauty are the true owners of this vast state. People from all over the world visit Alaska to enjoy true wilderness, the northern lights, and take in Alaska’s natural beauty. Some of the best fishing, kayaking, hiking and world class mountaineering in the country if not the world can be found here. My first stop in Alaska was back when I was in the Marines and our plane broke down on the way to Japan. The brief unintentional stay in Alaska didn’t give me much of an experience except for a little bit of what winter was like in the city. My first real trip to Alaska was in May 2009, as I set out to climb the tallest and the coldest high altitude mountain in the world, Denali! Unfortunately bad weather on Denali made the climb much longer then it should have been, and I wasn’t able to visit other parts of the state. Next time!

Anchorage

Click here to see Anchorage

Alaska’s only major population area, Anchorage has over a quarter million residents who choose to make this subarctic city their home. Anchorage has very cold winters, but a visit during this time of the year offers a chance to view the northern lights, go ice fishing, snowmobiling or other winter sports. In the warmer months, the city has numerous festivals celebrating the long summer days and the midnight sun.

Denali

Click here to see my climb of Denali

Denali is one of the Seven Summits as the highest mountain in North America. The surrounding terrain is a national park filled with wildlife and some of the most impressive scenery in the world. Denali is the largest mountain in the world when measured from its base to its summit, rising 18,000 feet. Climbing Denali is one of the greatest challenges in the western hemisphere, with climbers exposed to some of the harshest conditions on the planet.