Online Version 2010
2010 Season Highlights
Road Rehabilitation Project
Last year we reported on the Denali National Park road widening project between miles 73 and 86. The project began in earnest this year, widening the road in certain sections. The creation of additional intervisible passing pullouts will provide more safe places for buses to pass one another. Park visitors this summer noticed large culverts staged on the sides of the road awaiting installation, as well as heavy equipment, flagging and road cuts where expansion was taking place.
Denali’s new Vehicle Management Plan, which determines the system used to provide visitor transportation into the Park, is set be released in 2012 when the current plan expires. An Enviromental Impact Statement and the Road Capacity Study will be considered. Find out more about road issues in Denali at the Denali National Park website.
Roundup of Projects at the Lodges
The 2010 project season started early after the discovery during a winter visit that the North Face Lodge spring had frozen solid. This caused no small alarm, as it has always flowed freely all winter long, often producing frost crystals a foot long on the inside of the springhouse. All signs pointed to deeply frozen ground as the culprit, including huge ice formations on nearby Lake Creek and Moose Creek, where our ground water appeared to be diverting to. So in early April, amid returning sunlight and warmth, Simon and friend Peter Harrison flew in and spent the day plowing snow to help speed the thawing of the ground around the springhouse. Did it have the desired effect? Hard to tell, but with only days to go before the arrival of the full staff cohort, we were greatly relieved to see the spring once again flowing freely at full capacity, where it remained all season.
In addition, the following accomplishments marked the 2010 Operations season:
•Completion of guest room remodeling at North Face Lodge
•Remodel of the NFL staff room
•Water treatment upgrades at Camp Denali
•Installation of skirting and gutters at Potlatch
•Acquisition of a Ford F-800 truck for heavy hauling and towing
•A new satellite earth station for dramatically enhanced office communications and guest and staff phone service
•Fuel storage upgrades at Upper Camp
The Newsletter of
Camp Denali,
North Face Lodge,
& Parkside Guest House
Vol. XXXVI!
December 2012
Edited by Jan Tomsen and Simon Hamm
Illustrations by William D. Berry and Amanda P. Devine
P.O. Box 67
Denali National Park, AK 99755
(907) 683-2290
info@campdenali.com
www.campdenali.com
www.parksideanchorage.com
Interested in Working with Us?
The enthusiasm of our staff is often what makes the guest experience so memorable. If you know of someone who would be a good fit for our organization, encourage him or her to view the employment pages of our website, www.campdenali.com. General staff positions are available for the 2013 season, as well as the following professional seasonal positions:
Dinner Chefs
Naturalist Guides
**Registered Nurses are encouraged to apply for any of our positions.
Excerpt from Denali Heart, upcoming memior by Kim Heacox
Denali is what America was; it’s the old and new, the real and ideal, the wild earth working itself into us on days stormy and calm, brutal and beautiful, unforgiving and blessed. It’s where we came from, long before agriculture, television and designer coffee, before our goofball ideas of having dominion over all living things, before our modern, paradoxical definitions of progress and prosperity, and too much stuff; it’s the lean, mean, primal place buried in our bones no matter how much we might deny it, no matter how fancy our homes, how busy our routines, how cherished our myths. Denali resides in each of us as the deep quiet, the profound moment, the childhood lost and found again, the open space and rare chance to be observant, truly alive.
Now taking 2014 reservations!
We opened our reservation books for 2014. Check out the stellar line-up of 2014 Special Emphasis Series speakers. For more information on our 2014 rates and schedules click here. Summer 2013 availability is limited.