Press Release
☷Army provides heavy lift for National Park Service
U.S. Army ( By Press Release office)
May 04,2022
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0 A CH - 47F Chinook helicopter is parked on Kahiltna Glacier while the Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , offload gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 A CH - 47F Chinook helicopter is parked on Kahiltna Glacier while the Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , offload gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 A CH - 47F Chinook helicopter is parked on Kahiltna Glacier while the Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , offload gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 Soldiers from Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , pose for a group photo with National Park Service staff on Kahiltna Glacier after transporting and offloading gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 The shadow of a CH - 47F Chinook helicopter is superimposed on Ruth Glacier as the Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , return to Talkeetna after transporting and offloading gear for the National Park Service at the Denali mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 Students from Talkeetna Elementary School tour a CH - 47F Chinook helicopter belonging to Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears . The unit was based in Talkeetna , Alaska , for a week while conducting high - altitude training and transporting gear for the National Park Service to the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 Denali , North America ' s highest peak at 20 , 310 feet , towers above the landscape on a clear day in Talkeetna , Alaska . The Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , are staged in Talkeetna for the week to conduct high - altitude training and transport and offload gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 A CH - 47F Chinook helicopter is parked on Kahiltna Glacier while the Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , offload gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 Denali , North America ' s highest peak at 20 , 310 feet , can be seen through the clouds from the window of a Chinook helicopter . The Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , transported and offloaded gear for the National Park Service at the mountaineering base camp for the Denali climbing season . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) 0 The tents of early - season mountaineers and other hikers are pitched in view of Denali , North America ' s highest peak . The Soldiers of Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , also known as the Sugar Bears , are transporting gear for the National Park Service to the nearby mountaineering base camp . ( US Army photo , Eve Baker , Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office ) FORT WAINWRIGHT , Alaska – Approximately 1 , 200 climbers are expected to attempt to reach the summit of Denali this year , and their efforts are supported in part by the Sugar Bears of Fort Wainwright , a company of CH - 47F Chinooks . Two helicopter crews from the company flew approximately 7 , 000 pounds of gear up to Kahiltna Glacier on Denali last week to help establish two base camps for the National Park Service , which oversees the climbing season . Formally known as Bravo Company , 1st Battalion , 52nd Aviation Regiment , the Sugar Bears have a decades - long relationship with the National Park Service in Alaska . According to ranger Joe Reichert , every year since the late 80s that the unit has not been deployed—and with the exception of 2020 , due to the cancellation of climbing season because of the COVID pandemic—the unit has assisted with delivering the gear to the mountain . “It helps these guys to be able to come to the park and train at altitude . They do some stuff in the eastern Alaska [mountain range] group on Deborah , Hess , and Hayes , but then they can come here and go to 14 , 000 and 17 , 000 feet on Denali . It’s kind of an exchange—they get their training , and we get some help every year , ” Reichert said . Not only do the Sugar Bears help deliver the gear—which includes medical supplies , camping gear , and other equipment—and retrieve it at the end of the season , they also train to assist with high - altitude rescues throughout the Arctic . Mission coordinator Chief Warrant Officer 4 Francois Collard said his crew members were staged out of Talkeetna all week , flying in the National Park each day to “train at different altitudes with different weights on board to really fine - tune our skills and our performance planning for these helicopters . ” The Sugar Bears have provided critical assistance numerous times over the years on occasions when National Park Service assets were not available or incapable of accomplishing the mission . The last time the unit assisted was in 2018 when a flightseeing aircraft crashed into a mountain in the vicinity of Denali . In addition to delivering the supplies and training at high elevations , the Sugar Bears also supported community relations by hosting groups of elementary school students from Talkeetna Elementary each day . On the day of the base camp set - up mission , the morning started with a visit by a first - grade and second - grade class . Students swarmed the helicopters , climbing inside and looking underneath , asking questions the whole time , such as “What is that zipper thingy , how much did this cost , do you bring dogs in here , and is there real - life Army - man stuff in here ” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bobby Webb was an outstanding tour guide , providing plenty of engagement for the children and answering the questions to the best of his ability . For the record , his answers to the above questions were as follows: a storage pouch; he wasn’t sure exactly; yes , sometimes; and “this whole thing is filled with real - life Army - man stuff . ” Provided Army commitments do not take the Sugar Bears out of the area and the weather cooperates , the unit will return in August to retrieve the gear from the mountain for the rangers , saving them many trips in much smaller aircraft .
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