geared up | Sorting all of our gear at home prior to heading to the airport. We each took a 5000-6000 cu in. back pack and an equivalently sized duffel bag.

Cookin' | We flew into Anchorage, Alaska to meet the rest of the expedition team. Anchorage seemed to be a depressing city with a great view. This is a shot of the mud flats of the Cook inlet.

Packed | We had six "class mates" and two guides. We all met in Anchorage and then drove to Talkeetna, Alaska to fly onto the glacier.

rodents | We flew with K2 Aviation onto the glacier using ski planes. They use two sizes of planes depending on the number of people and amount of gear. The small planes are otters and the big ones are beavers. The skis are activated hydraulically so that they can take off from a traditional runway and then land on ice and snow.

carry on baggage | Carmen helps load all of the gear onto the plane. It took two planes to get us on the glacier. We had to scramble pretty quickly as we were working in a very small weather window. Climbers had been waiting on the glacier for several days to get off and we were the last flight for a couple of days to get onto the glacier. We were very lucky.

precious cargo | Perhaps the most important part of the trip were our CMC (Clean Mountain Cans) -- or crappers. It of course smells about like you would expect after a week of use, but it does keep the mountain clean. These beauties were made in Wichita, KS.