The National Park Service on Thursday announced the winners of highly valued concession contracts that allow the winners to guide clients to the top of North America's tallest peak.
Five firms won decade-long contracts for 2017-2026: Alaska Mountaineering School of Talkeetna, Alpine Ascents International of Seattle, International Mountain Guides of Ashford, Washington, Mountain Trip Alaska of Telluride, Colorado and Rainier Mountaineering, also of Ashford.
The National Outdoor Leadership School also was awarded a contract due to its historic use of the mountain.
For the next decade, they will be the only firms allowed to guide climbers up 20,308-foot Denali. Typically, about 1,000 climbers a year make the attempt, many of them on guided trips.
Climbers pay up to nearly $10,000 to join a guided expedition.
"Visitor services to be provided under the terms of the new contracts are essentially the same as under past contracts," said a press release from Denali National Park, "but include increased opportunity for commercial climbing during the shoulder seasons … and an expansion of the geographic area of authorization for climbing activities to include the entire Alaska Range within the boundaries of the park."
Kodiak students helped launch Arbor Day
As Alaska's 50th anniversary of Arbor Day approaches, the Alaska Division of Forestry is reminding residents to thank a class of Kodiak fourth-graders for the day in which Alaskans can celebrate their spruce, cedar, hemlock, birch, aspen and others.
In 1966, the new state of Alaska was the only state in the union without an official Arbor Day. So the Kodiak students asked their state senator, Al Owen, for help. By May, Gov. Bill Egan was signing legislation creating Alaska Arbor Day and wielding a golden shovel to plant a ceremonial tree near the Juneau Library.
Later, the Juneau Garden Club potted up a tree for each of the fourth-graders, who planted them in commemoration of Arbor Day.
A calendar of Alaska Arbor Day events in Alaska is located on the Alaska Division of Forestry website at http://forestry.alaska.gov/community/news.