Greetings all....Chris here.

After a long and eventful week, I finally found my way back home from Denali to Irvine....with a slight detour through Alaska's Copper River ;~)

Alex and I left 14,200 Basin Camp last Saturday/Sunday around midnight.  We had an absolutely beautiful and serene walk back down the 7000 vertical foot, 12 mile trail to the Base Camp air strip.  It was like walking through a dream...there were no other climbers on the trail at all until we got down to the 7800 foot camp.  The snow was still fresh, but the trail was well packed.  The conditions were absolutely perfect for a little sled racing competition most of the way down the mighty Kahiltna Glacier!  We didn't have skis with us this trip, so riding our sleds was the next best thing.  Alex and I both agreed that the sledding was as good if not better than the best sledding days we remember as kids!  We knew in order to make this an official race, we had to christen our sleds.  For the rest of the trip, Alex's sled was known as the 'Yellow Hornet' and mine was the 'Flying Tiger'.


Alex and Chris' midnight sunset walk just down from Windy Corner


Serene Sunrise looking back up the Kahiltna Glacier


Prepping for another sled race with Chris' 'Flying Tiger' and Alex's 'Yellow Hornet'

After the sledding, we finished the long walk back across the much flatter, lower Kahiltna in to Base Camp.  The last, 500 foot climb UP to the airstrip is very appropriately named, 'Heartbreak Hill'.  We reached the air strip around 7:30am Sunday morning, but were actually stuck there for a day due to weather conditions in Talkeetna.  Then, an early flight on Monday morning finally carried us back in to Talkeetna.  After a shower and a massive breakfast at the Roadhouse Cafe, we were back on the road towards Anchorage!


Downtown Talkeetna and the Roadhouse Cafe

Alex flew back to Seattle on the red-eye that night to make his friend's wedding in Hawaii...but for me, it was off to Alaska's Copper River with Brother Tom and friends to do a little Salmon fishing before I had to fly home!

We finished preparations and packing by Tuesday afternoon and were on the road for the 6 hour journey by Tuesday evening.  Total count was seven of us...Tom, Roberta, Tom's daughter Megan, Roberta's sister Liz, Roberta's daughter Kristina, and Roberta's 6-year-old grandson Sebastian.   It was a bit more 'civilized' camping than I had been used to from the past couple weeks, so all was well!

All in all, it was a great trip.  The salmon run was very slow compared to previous years, but we were still able to catch ten fish...two Kings, and eight Copper River Reds.  While it was not an epic fish gathering trip, it was still a great deal of fun and a perfect end to an amazing Alaskan adventure!


Liz cooks up some fish bellies at Campo Copper


Tom and Roberta by the fish wheels along the river


Liz and one of the Kings


Roberta and Master Chef Kris prepare some freshly caught Reds over the camp fire


Megan....Professional Anchor...


Megan and Kris hang their nets over the side while Captain Tom keeps the boat steady

Sadly, Friday morning saw us packing up camp, driving back to Anchorage, and me getting on a plane back to LA.  I have very much grown to love Alaska and will for sure be back up there in the future!  Many Thanks again to Tim, Tom, Krista, Roberta and everyone else who made our team's Alaskan adventure so ridiculously amazing!!

Now that I'm back at a high speed connection with all of my editing 'toys' at hand, Episode 6 of our SecretSpot.TV Podcast will begin editing and post production and should be online shortly!  You will be able to check it out at: www.secretspot.tv

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates from Phill and Dawa as they continue their journey back down to Denali's Base Camp!


Cheers!

-Chris  8^)


CHRIS STANKO | Base Camp Manager
Everest Freestyle Expedition/Secret Spot Seven Summits