Jazz band serenades climbers

You arrive at Mount McKinley base camp to start your trek -- only 14,000 feet more to the peak. While unpacking gear you begin to hear the sound of jazz emitting from a circle of climbers. "What's this?" you ask yourself. As you draw closer, you find that it is the Colony Middle Jazz band, made of 17 seventh- and eighth-graders and their conductor, Toby Lambert.

That's the scene that played out high above the Valley recently. Denali's base camp was the most anticipated destination of the bands' miniature tour which included stops at Midnight Sun Family Learning Center, Talkeetna Elementary, Su Valley High School, and the midtown gazebo in Talkeetna.

Nearly a year ago, the jazz band had a dream of serenading climbers before their dangerous journey to the summit. To reach their own summit, the band raised over $3,700 to go on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. All of the money went toward the cost of airfare to base camp. The musicians gave up countless weekends to play at dances, at MEA's annual meeting, retirement parties, and a play-a-thons. Many local companies, such as Alaska Airlines, MEA and MTA, also sponsored the band.

The band members and their parent support team left Colony Middle School at 8 a.m. on May 23 to begin their two-day trip. After two concerts and one dance, the band arrived at the Talkeetna airport with their instruments in hand. The Otter, one of three K2 Aviation planes and the largest allowed on Kahiltna Glacier, transported 10 people, instruments and emergency supplies.

The band had only 90 minutes to play, but it still astonished the climbers. An older mountaineer told the students that the band had, "made his weekend" and that he, "simply loved the music!"

After landing on the mountain, all fears of freezing and being stranded on the glacier dissolved as sun seeped through sunglasses and any untouched snow demanded snow angels. The airport supervisor commented, "This was the ideal day to fly up, the weather has never been better." The sky was cloudless and the only danger seemed to be snow blindness and heat stroke.

When atop the mountain the band met up with a camera crew from National Geographic Explorer filming a documentary on climbing Denali. The crew was ecstatic to be able to include the band and swing dancing climbers in their footage. The Alaskan Music Educators Association (AMEA) has also requested pictures and an article about the band's expedition for the front page of their fall edition.

Throughout the trip publicity was thrown at the band, but it didn't seem to affect their performance. One student quipped, "Music is music, no matter the altitude or how many people are watching." The jazz band hopes to repeat this trip although they must practice, find the money to get there, and "all that jazz."