The sea of clouds rolled below and I wasn't able to view the ground, but the screen in front of me showed that my plane was reaching Alaska in a few minutes. I'd pass over Anchorage soon. The flight between Europe and Japan was formerly this route and Anchorage was an important stopping point and passengers took a rest and the plane was refueled here. I've not been to Europe in this time, but I've heard so. The development of aircraft seems to make it possible to fly directly between Japan and Europe. The function of Anchorage as a connecting point disappears. The name of Anchorage might be from "anchor" of ships, such an idea suddenly came up.
This flight took 14 hours with two sets of pilots - two captains and two co-pilots - were on board accordingly. I felt that the airline ticket was considerably expensive when I bought it, but I took it in order to know this flight route.
I suddenly remembered a famous Japanese adventurer of Uemura Naomi, who was lost sight of in 1984 on Mt. Mckinley(Mt. Denali). I searched outside of the window for the mountain, but in vain due to the thick sea of clouds. And another thing I remembered was the movie "Into The Wild", in which a wealthy young man threw all his money away and made his way into the wilderness of Alaska with insufficient equipment. There's no way that he could survive. Why did he attempt such a reckless endeavor?
眼下は雲海で、地上の様子は見えないが、飛行機はアラスカにさしかかっている。もうすぐアンカレッジ上空だ。かつて冷戦時代はロシア上空を避けるためにヨーロッパと日本を繋ぐ路線は全てこのルートを使用し、アンカレッジで燃料の補給をしていた。その時代にヨーロッパへ行ったことが無いが、そう聞いている。今は、飛行機の発達により一気にヨーロッパまで飛べるようである。中継地としてのアンカレッジは消滅している。
そういえば、この飛行機には機長と副操縦士が二人ずつ乗務しているとのこと。１４時間も連続勤務はきついだろうからなあ。
このルートを通るのなら、是非マッキンレー山（デナリ山）を見たい。日本の偉大な探検家を奪った悪魔の山。そう思ってずっと外を眺めていたが、雲に遮られてしまった。もう一つ思い出したのが映画「Into The Wild」 こんな過酷な環境の中へ不十分な装備で入っていくのは自殺以外の何ものでも無い。若者はどんな気持ちでこの厳しい環境の中に分け入ったのだろうか？
(Vocabulary)
The sea of clouds rolled....
be in order
1 〈書類などが〉 合法である, 有効である
Is your passport in order? あなたのパスポートは有効ですか．
2(フォーマル) 〈言動などが〉 ふさわしい, 適切である
lose sight of 〈人･物〉を見失う;〈人〉の消息がわからなくなる
attempt, endeavor
(July 12th)
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