Some years you get all the luck. I have spent my last 26 summers in Alaska, and some years Denali and the Alaska Range barely peak out. Other years you see it day after day. I just returned from 3 weeks of shooting in Alaska, and had some great windows of clear weather for incredible aerial photography. After flying and shooting on the south side of the mountain earlier this summer, I had a chance to fly and shoot on the north side of the mountain in July. Without a cloud in the sky! Even though Denali is the most prominent and famous mountain in the Alaska Range, a highlight for me was flying right over the French Ridge on Mt. Huntington. This is a mountain I have some history with…
I flew in with 3 climbing partners one summer season to climb the classic Harvard Route on the West Face. To access the face, we had to traverse a double corniced ridge appropriately named the Stegosaur. This ridge is dangerous, you never really know if you are climbing on a cornice or the actual ridge. On top of that, we waited weeks in a tent below the face waiting for a break in the weather. When we finally got good weather, we raced up to start climbing the Stegosaur. We spent a day just tunneling through deep snow to get on the ridge. The next day we started our climb across the ridge, and set off a huge avalanche, almost burying two of our party. We retreated to the tent, broke out some whiskey, and stayed away from the route for a few days. And then the weather got nasty again. Mt. Huntington would not be climbed by us that season…sometimes you make the summit, sometimes you don’t. Better to be safe.
As with all aerial shooting, dial up your ISO and shoot at as fast as you can to ensure sharp shots. One thing we found with the windows of this plane is using a polarizer resulted in a strange color balance. Off with the polarizer, and keep on shooting! Get your lens as close to the window as you can but without touching it to avoid reflections. Better yet, fly with the door off if your pilot will allow it.
