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IV |
To get to the Devil's Thumb, climbers generally choose between two options. The first is to have a boat drop them off in Thomas Bay (hang-out of the mythical demons kushtaka), trek 30 miles over the scratched and clawed Baird Glacier, up and over the Burkett icefall and across a piece of the Stikine Icecap. Jon Krakauer took a variation of option one, part of an epic so epic he included it in two books. The second option is to catch a ride with Wally at Temsco Helicopters.
Wally was not eager to fly three unknown climbers of dubious caliber into a range with notoriously unpredictable weather, and to a landing spot that can stretch the capabilities of his MD 500 on a sunny day. The last people trying to fly into the Thumb ended up going for the aforementioned option one after having trouble convincing Wally to take them. Wally has pulled bodies off the icecap, and if Wally says no, you're walking.
