Fluting and deep power on the St. Elias mountains. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click on the image for a larger version.

Hey Folks,

As promised, more photos from the St. Elias mountains. An aerial I shot on one of the most gorgeous days I’ve ever been out shooting. On the subject of the newly released film, Mount St. Elias:

Few people realize just how special these mountains are. Everyone knows Denali, of course, and the Himalayas, but the St. Elias mountains just don’t seem to have caught the public eye like these others. I suspect it’s because they’re full of  “seconds”: 2nd highest mountain in the US (Mount. St. Elias, second highest mountain Canada (Mount St. Elias, also known as Boundary Peak 186, sits on the US/Canada border), 2nd highest mountain in North America (Mt. Logan in Canada is in the St. Elias range). We’re a culture of competition, and there really ain’t no second prize.

Part of what makes these mountains so commanding is their proximity to the coast. Mount St. Elias rises right from the beach, over 18 000′, from shore to summit, and is only 2000′ shy of it’s more well known brother in the Alaska Range, Denali (Mt. McKinley).  McKinley draws, for examples, climbers a year, on average. When Alex Naglich and Peter Ressman reached the summit of Mount St. Elias in 2007, while making their film, they were the first people on the summit in 4 years. The mountain has been climbed by only a handful of folks. Indeed, after it was first successfully ascended in 1897 by a party led by the Duke of Abruzzi, nearly 50 years passed before the next ascent.

Suits me fine though – it just means when I go visit, there’s hardly anyone around. 🙂

By the way, I have this image in black and white, as well. I  might post that one in the next couple of days.

My Mt. St. Elias photos can be found here.

Cheers

Carl