Here, for the first time, the grandeur and stone-cold beauty of Mt. McKinley is captured as few of us may be fortunate enough to see it-from the cockpit of a small, single-engine airplane. From the terminus of the 38-mile-long Ruth Glacier, through the deepest gorge in the world, around the summits of Mounts Hunter (14,573 ft.), Foraker (17,400 ft.), and McKinley (20,320 ft.), alongside 14,000-foot-high Wickersham Wall, into the level lowlands of Denali National Park, and back down Kahiltna Glacier, past the jagged spires of Little Switzerland, to the braided rivers of Denali State Park, aerial photographer Jordan Coonrad takes us on an aerial journey of wonder and excitement. Coonrad spent the better part of three summers working on the unique collection of photographs that comprise Flightseeing Alaska: Mt. McKinley & Denali National Park, a postcard book with a two-page introduction and twenty-two removable cards. Those who have experienced Denali from the air will want this collection of unique aerial images as a memento. Those who haven't won't be able to stay away once they have witnessed what a flight into the heart of Mount McKinley has to offer.
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About the Author
Jordan Coonrad was born in San Francisco in 1953 and made his first, imaginary, trip to Alaska on his father's knee. His father was a geologist who spent every summer doing field research in Alaska and came home each fall with stories that filled his young son's heart with wonder. Jordan was 19 before he made his first trip north and though well prepared, he was stunned by the beauty and sheer magnitude of everything he saw. He vowed that when he returned, he'd come as a pilot and see it all.
In 1989, the time had come and Coonrad, by now a well-established aerial photographer, flew from Oakland, California, to Alaska in his own Cessna 170. It was to be a two-week trip, but he found then, as he has nearly every summer since, that once Alaska has you in its grip, it's difficult to leave. He stayed until the termination dust appeared in the Chugach Mountains and inclement weather threatened to bar his return home.
Coonrad now flies a Cessna 180 and has spent hundreds of hours flying over nearly every part of the state, hanging out the window, camera in hand. His photographs, of Denali in particular, have been called "awesome" by the very pilots who make it their job to shuttle sightseers around "the Great One" on a daily basis. When not in Alaska, he lives in California's Napa Valley where he photographs and publishes a golf calendar called Fairways to Heaven and a wine calendar called Napa Valley Cuvee.
Flightseeing Alaska: Mt. McKinley & Denali National Park is the first in a series of postcard books Coonrad plans to publish documenting his journeys over the great land. The next, Prince William Sound & The Kenai Peninsula, is due out in spring of 1999.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From a distance, bathed in a soft pink glow or surrounded by a halo of puffy clouds, Mount McKinley appears benign. Only by flying into its belly do you feel its awesome power. Sheer-walled canyons, thousands of feet deep, seem to swallow you alive. Climbers inching along its buttresses look like ants in a vat of sugar. Glaciers more than 25 miles long creep imperceptibly down its flanks. Jagged icefalls create a frozen impression of inferno. Airplanes circling its great amphitheaters look like flies in the Coliseum of Rome. And even if the mountain has gathered every cloud in the sky about it (which it does more frequently than not) and the mist has erased the boundary between ground and sky, you might just sneak through an opening near the summit where Denali, floating in the crystal-clear air above you, provides a visual feast you won't soon forget.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pictures so breathtaking, I didn't want to part with them!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Flightseeing Alaska: Mt. McKinley & Denali National Park (Paperback)
I love these postcard photos so much, I had to get two copies so that I could keep one copy for myself. I didn't want to part with them! If you are fascinated by Alaska, Coonrad's bird's eye view will delight you no end. Absolutely fantastic vistas take you there. I keep buying extras because they make handy gifts, too.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous Alaska Views,
By Maria Stel (Saint Helena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Flightseeing Alaska: Mt. McKinley & Denali National Park (Paperback)
Absoultely stunning aerial shots of Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park. Breathtaking views of snow-capped mountain peaks. The rugged beauty of Alaska is beautifully realized in Coonrad's photos.
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