Heartland Magazine
Volume: August 27th 2000
All in a Denali day’s work
Story by Jeannine Patané
Each summer, life in Denali National Park’s Kantishna Valley starts before the morning sun hits Alpha Ridge on the west side of the valley and continues until the alpenglow fades off Denali. Like in most other Alaska tourist destinations, business in Kantishna operates only during the summer. Work is fast and furious, from the first week in June through mid-September, but the seasonal employees will survive the pace until the aurora borealis again begins to illuminate the night sky, and the snow falls on the deserted buildings.
Overhead flies a Cessna 206, making a westbound approach for the 1,800-foot gravel airstrip. “Kantishna International” is where the 90-mile unpaved national park road comes to an abrupt end. The airstrip is where Greg LaHaie operates his summer business, Kantishna Air Taxi. LaHaie is chief pilot and owner of KAT, the only air operator based within park boundaries. Like the local lodges, LaHaie and his employees start the day early as well.
LaHaie has just finished his daily probe flight toward Denali to see if flightseeing is possible later in the morning or if clouds will obscure the mountain. It’s now 7 a.m., and already the coffee has been brewed, weather conditions checked by phone and Internet. Phone calls to the lodges have been made to Finalize flightseeing schedules and passenger lists. Matt Unterberger, ground operations director, has the daily schedule already updated. LaHaie heads back to the office. Near Kantishna Roadhouse, KAT’s leased office is a railroad car which is as uniquely historic as Kantishna itself.
The car has been used in the past for employee housing and storage, but its original purpose is unclear. The unusual dome roof is similar to those on cars that ran on the Northwestern Railroad along the Copper River. They were used to haul copper ore from the McCarthy and Kennecott mines during the early 1900s through the 1930s. After the railroad’s abrupt closure in 1938, one of these cars may have been transported on the park road all the way to Kantishna. The car is one of many relics in the valley from Kantishna’s past century.
During the gold rush of 1905, Kantishna saw its highest population when more than 2,000 gold-seekers filled the valley and surrounding hills. Just as quickly as they came, most prospectors cleared out of Kantishna within a year. Only a handful of miners stayed, and out of that handful, only a few set up residences. The best-known name in the valley is Fannie Quigley; an independent miner, trapper, gardener and woman of every skill. She married one of the first Kantishna gold prospectors, Joe Quigley. Over the years, Joe’s richest find would be along the Banjo Vein, the same vein that in 1931 caused him major injuries during a mining cave-in. Joe eventually retired to more hospitable living in the Lower 48, but Fannie wasn’t going to leave the land that she loved. Fannie lived in Kantishna until 1944, when she peacefully died in her sleep at the age of 73. Kantishna today has changed dramatically since a century earlier. The mining has ceased in the hills. Even full capacity of guests and employees at all the lodges put Kantishna’s summer population at less than 400. Kantishna consists of four lodges, threaded together in the valley by Moose Creek. Each lodge could easily be defined as an eco-resort, attempting to keep a low impact on the park. Education about the environment is a high priority for each lodge. All offer naturalist programs.
Upstream, next to Moose Creek are Camp Denali and North Face Lodge. They are situated high on the hillside and tundra meadows for excellent views of Denali. Lower in the valley is the Kantishna Roadhouse. This location displays relics of history, such as the first recording office and the original roadhouse, built at the beginning of the century. Farther downstream, past the horses at Kantishna Trail Rides, is Denali Backcountry Lodge. The cabins and lodge are nestled along the Moose Creek bank with surrounding flora.
Just past the lodge, Moose Creek continues onto a straighter course, then quickly turns to cut off the area where Fannie Quigley saw the potential for an airstrip. Quigley hired miners to bulldoze the tundra and creek deposits to develop Kantishna Airstrip. Transportation in and out of Kantishna was then made easier and more inviting. The second home Fannie built was right next to the airstrip. Her house currently sits on temporary girders, waiting for a new foundation from the Park Service. Restoration work began this year. LaHaie, like Quigley, recognizes the importance of the airstrip. When KAT is not chartering lodge guests in and out of the valley, its employees may be delivering equipment and supplies, shuttling lodge employees or flying out people who need medical attention. However, flightseeing is one of the biggest demands of KAT’s business.
Travelers come to Denali National Park and Kantishna with two large hopes: to see wildlife and to see the mountain. The best view of the former is from on the ground and the best view of the latter is from in the air.
The three Cessnas’ props begin to rotate as the pilots Justin Shoffner, Peter Bockman and Roger Fuiten radio in. One by one, the planes taxi and take off with camera-laden flightseers. The pilots clear Moose Creek and follow it out of the valley where the terrain opens up and they turn west. As soon as the Kantishna Hills are behind them, the flightseers look out over the McKinley River, which is fed from the Muldrow Glacier on the north side of Denali. Numerous kettle ponds dot the green tundra below. The terrain quickly rises and the green almost instantly disappears. Silty, debris-covered glaciers intrude on the steep, rocky mountains. The glaciers run off the Alaska Range like a spider’s legs.
Suddenly, the pilots head directly for the north side of Denali. Wickersham Wall, one of the largest precipices in the world, faces them. To the passengers the planes get uncomfortably close. “I thought we were going to crash into that wall,” says a man from New York, after pulling his dropped jaw back to its normal position. “Everything looks so close, but then I see the plane’s tiny shadow on the mountain and realize just how small and far we are from this.”
The flight continues around the mountain massif. Each time the passengers think they have seen everything, they are taken up another glacier or over another buttress. The three planes take the same course for the daily tours, but the course may change on any given day due to the weather.
After circling the mountain, the planes point north back to the valley and the end of the hour-long tour. Sharla Toller, part of KAT ground operations, helps the sightseers out of the planes and into a shuttle van. A woman pours out her feelings about the flight, “We’re here in this warm valley with greenery and animals, then a few minutes later we’re in a whole different world filled with massive amounts of ice, rock and glaciers. Now we’re back in the warm valley again. Amazing.”
As passengers, now introspective about their experience, disperse by van to their respective lodges, there are little or no words spoken among them. Tomorrow will be another early day for Kantishna. There will be work to be done, history to be learned, wildlife to see, activities to participate in and a sky to fly.
