DENALI, Alaska — It’s true that landing on a glacier that’s part of North America’s highest mountain leaves you speechless. Finding the words to describe it is just as difficult so if this is the shortest blog you’ve ever 
seen on this site, you’ll know why.
Actually, the pictures do tell the story.
The eight passengers that Captain Matt took halfway up Mount McKinley to land on the Eldridge Glacier had little to say on the way up, and less on the way down. For his co-pilot, who goes by Nancy, it was her first ride in a single-engine DeHavilland Beaver. It was her first ride in a single-engine anything that didn’t have four wheels rolling on terra firma.
“I’m speechless,” she said.
It was rampant.
Ours was one of the three Beavers that flew, in tandem, to land on McKinley. On the way, we caught a glimpse of the mountain peak in all its majesty. The reality is you don’t ever 
know you’ll see it until you get there. You also don’t ever know if the glacier landing will take place until you get there. But the clouds parted enough for us to do both, and the glacier landing was smoother than just about any tarmac landing, 
which probably doesn’t surprise anyone who is accustomed to landing on snow in an airplane wearing skis.
In Alaska, you dress in layers to deal with changing weather. It’s been that way throughout a series of Princess CruiseTours as we make our way to the Coral Princess, down south in Whittier, to cruise the Inside Passage. As it turned out, most of the passengers who went “flightseeing” on the Three Beavers were peeling layers off on the glacier, where it was pleasant enough to have some idea why there were campers up there for a night, or two.
When you fly in and out of mountain peaks that look closer than they are, it’s easier to understand why the only safety issues are mechanical ones, and this company’s been flying aircraft like this one for 30 years. The peaceful passage of upper mountain valleys delivers spectacular scenery that gives newcomers that never-thought-I’d-ever-see-this feeling. That’s certainly true when it comes to landing on Mount McKinley, which at 20,320 feet looks down on all of North America.
Captain Matt said he’s made this flight a couple of hundred times before (whew!) and the only thing that bores him about it is listening to his own voice.
In this setting, it’s usually the only one to be heard.
For a different look at our Alaska trip, check Ports and Bows.