At Home with Tech

While flying over this glacier in the Chugach Mountain Range, fact and fiction merged into one reality, as I was suddenly transported to the Star Trek universe. Here’s what happened.

In “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), you may recall that Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are banished to a Klingon ice planet, and it’s home to a not-so-cozy penal colony. Spoiler alert – They don’t stay there forever. When they break out, Kirk and McCoy have to hoof it on the frozen landscape beyond the Klingon force field to send their distress signal to the Enterprise.

Today’s topic is about that fictional Klingon icy terrain. Turns out it’s not that fictional.

The Elusive Denali
On the last full day of our Alaska trip, my family and I were hoping to take a plane ride up to see the famous Denali (the tallest mountain in North America). Any other transportation route starting from Anchorage would have taken too long for our 10-day itinerary.

The big unknown was if that day would offer decent enough weather conditions to fly around Denali. And apparently, those days are few and far between. We had originally scheduled our Denali plane ride during our very first day in Anchorage. But knowing the atmospheric odds were against us, we had this back-up day planned as well. As it turned out, both days failed the weather test. Fortunately, we were also prepared for that likelihood.

Glacier Flightseeing Tour
So, the backup plan was to take a Knik and Colony Glacier flightseeing tour (by Regal Air) in a tiny Cessna plane through the Chugach Mountain Range.

Whoa! What a ride. It was simply spectacular flying right over these glaciers. Sure, we had already seen a few glaciers while hiking in the Kenai Fjords National Park and during our glacier cruise on Prince William Sound. But doing a flyover was an entirely different adventure.

It’s hard to describe exactly what it’s like to experience a glacier this way. So, let me show you. Here’s some of my GoPro footage from our remarkable flight.

The Undiscovered Country
But as the title of this post suggests, there’s a bit more to my story.

While we were passing over Knik Glacier, our pilot informed us (as a throwaway comment) that below us was where they filmed scenes from one of the Star Trek movies with Captain Kirk.

I quickly turned my attention away from the outside view.

Star Trek? Star Trek? What?! (My Trekkie mind kicked into overdrive.)

“Which one?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think the one with a Klingon planet.”

Klingon? Klingon planet? Klingon glacier? Klingon ice planet?

Holy Pike! It was Rura Penthe! Of course… the Klingon penal planetoid from “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country!”

I blurted it out for everyone to hear above the roar of the Cessna engine. (I felt like I had just won a round of “Jeopardy.”)

The pilot smiled at me. She said with a bit of amusement, “Yes, that sounds right.”

I could tell she wasn’t a Trekkie. But she was clearly a really great pilot. That was good enough for me.

Knik Glacier is my Star Trek Nexus
When we got home, I scrubbed through “Star Trek VI” on my iPhone, and yep, there it was. Knik Glacier.

So yes, my family and I visited Rura Penthe during our Alaska vacation.

It’s a nice place to visit. But I wouldn’t want to stick around for too long.

And don’t forget, the terrain is best viewed either from a Cessna… or a Federation starship.