First ever skydive over Mt. McKinley: still up in the air with no landing in sight

Read more about: adventure, Alaska, military, mountains, national parks

Incredible Adventures, the Florida-based adventure company best known for its fighter jet flights and great white shark dives, is now offering the chance to be one of the first to see the top of America’s tallest mountain from a parachute. The company is working with a group of military-trained skydiving professionals to offer the first high-altitude skydive over Alaska’s Mt McKinley.

At 20,320 ft tall, Mt McKinley is one of the tallest mountains in the world.

However, the company has hit a bit of a “snag”, as where the jumpers will actually will land is still up in the air.

Because Mt McKinley lies within Alaska’s Denali National Park, a permit from the National Parks Service is required for jumpers to be allowed to land on a nearby glacier within the park’s borders. Regulations introduced in the 1960’s, to prevent squatters and others in national parks from being supplied by air, prohibit air delivery in a National Park without a permit.

The company’s initial permit application was denied by the Superintendent of Denali Park. Incredible Adventures is currently awaiting the results of an appeal to Alaska’s Regional Park Director.

“We’re hopeful the Park Service will come to realize that we’re really only asking for permission to walk across a small section of the park, just like other park visitors do every day,” said Incredible Adventures president Jane Reifert. “The only difference between our jumpers and other park visitors is that we’ll be arriving by parachute instead of by bus or air taxi. We’re a little surprised that getting a permit has proven this difficult.”

No permit is required to actuallyjump over the park, so the first-ever Mt McKinley skydive will happen regardless of the verdict. However, if the National Park Service will not issue a permit for jumpers to land within the park, skydiving instructors in charge of jump operations say the difficulty of the jump will increase greatly. Skydivers will be required to wear special extended-range parachutes and endure frigid temperatures in order to make the long canopy ride from above Mt McKinley to an approved landing spot outside the park’s border.

The president of Incredible Adventures believes the jump will serve a purpose beyond providing an incredible view for participants and a new entry for skydiving record books. “It’s amazing how many Americans don’t know where Mt McKinley is, or that McKinley is one of the world’s tallest mountains,” continued Reifert. “I had never heard of Denali National Park until we started planning this jump. Hopefully park officials will see this as a great chance to get publicity for the park and put Mt McKinley back in the minds of Americans.”

No skydiving experience is necessary to be part June’s history-making skydive. All jumps will be performed tandem and under the control of the same highly trained and certified skydiving professionals called upon to train NATO forces in military freefall.

For more information, contact Incredible Adventures at 800-644-7382 or visit the company’s website, www.incredible-adventures.com.

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