Ever since I heard about my friend Cameron Lawson’s adventure of riding a fat bike and packrafting the entire length of Alaska’s Lost Coast over the course of two summers, I have been somewhat infatuated by the place. Now, having moved to Haines three years back, the magical Lost Coast is in my back yard, so to speak. It was time for a re-con trip. Our group, consisting of Gene and Michele Cornelius, Angela Carter, Paul Swantsrom, and myself meet at the landing strip about 9 am, mount Gene’s new stabilized gimbal cam to the wing strut, and off we go in the 1956 DeHaviland Beaver, bound for Alsek Lake and the Lost Coast.
This mission was one of gathering aerial footage for financial and artistic gain, but for me it was far more, My insane love for this country out there has me on the constant lookout for opportunity to explore. Out past the Takhinsha Peaks and into the bowels of the icefields and glaciers flowing into Glacier Bay, we finally come around face to face with Mt Crillion and Mt Fairweather… the Giants. Mt Fairweather, at over 15,000 feet high, and rising less then ten miles from the Gulf of Alaska, is one of the highest Coastal peaks in the world, enshrouded in massive glaciers and reputed as to having some of the worst weather on the planet.
Cruising up the desolate coast, we see far below to Alsek lake, where mighty Glaciers congregate into a freshwater bathtub of icegergs, is engulfed in a sizable wind storm. The massive curtains of dust clearly visible from the confines of the plane. We opt to land on the whimsical darkened sand of the Lost Coast itself, just north of the La Perouse Glacier, and Wolf and Grizzly tracks are spotted immediately. We do some shots of the plane landing and taking off, shoot a time lapse or two, and before you know it we are flying again upwards of 11,000 feet on the flanks of Fairweather itself.
This trip strengthened my desire for a trip out here again, this time armed with a pair of legs and a pack raft.. Coming in April or May of 2017.
Here is a quick edit of that day… Enjoy!
Just Rolling By 