I’ve been having fun landing on various peaks in MSFS 2024 recently - for example on Mount Hood & Mount Kilimanjaro - so I thought I’d create a topic for high mountain landings and reaching mountain summits on foot.
My latest adventure was to land as close to the summits of Mounts Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl south of Mexico City. Many years ago I climbed to the summit of Mount Popocatepetl, so was curious as to what it looked like in the sim.
I took of from the small airport of Acocotla (MMXJ) in the Draco X. This aircraft has awesome climbing power, so it was a short trip to reach Popocatepetl:
Here I am on final. The goal is to follow the slope up to the summit & stall the aircraft just before touchdown, then immediately apply the brakes to prevent rolling backwards into the crater!:
The view southeast. This was the route I took to reach the summit in real life from the foothills below. No trees then, and I doubt now too. Missing on the summit is the octagonal red meteorlogical hut that I remember - maybe that is no longer there today.
It’s quite easy to land on the summit, providing you reduce your speed to just above stall, and land just below the summit, letting your momentum bring you to the summit itself, while slowing to a halt. If you land on the summit itself, you won’t be able to stop before reaching the downslope the other side:
To reach the city airport - Jose Joaquin De Olmedo Intl (SEGU) - just look for the Rio Babahoyo in the distance and follow it as it flows down to the coast:
Switching hemispheres, today we’re going to climb Gaustatoppen (1,883 m; 6,178 ft) , the tallest mountain in all of Norway’s Telemark county. The view from the summit is impressive, as one can see an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 sq mi), nearly one-sixth of Norway’s mainland.
A good place to start is the airport at Tuven (ENNO). Don’t forget to check out the old church just after you depart:
Many, many years ago, I climbed this peak both in summer and in winter (with cross-country skis, the return downhill was one wild ride!). This is the view of the mountain from the hotel that we stayed at and we used as “base-camp”:
In those days, there was just 1 hotel, 1 fjellstoge and a few cabins on the shores of Lake Kvitavatn, surrounded by wilderness. There were also fewer trees then than is depicted in MSFS 2024 today (and they were coniferous too). Today, the whole area has been developed with many houses & roads, but it should be possible to hike up to the summit from the lake if you want to. Returning downhill on cross-country skis… not yet!
K2. Actually this peak is more rounded, so it was a little easier in some ways.
My challenge after loading in and seeing how close I was to sunset, was to land before it got dark, and bonus points to see the sunset from the top.
Took a few plonk and go’s off the peak to stick the landing, but no climbing required at least.
My latest summit: Mount Denali / McKinley.
I flew in from Fairbanks in the new Cessna C185 Skywagon to base camp at Kantishna (5Z5). From there, it is a short flight past Wonder Lake to the mountain:
Though not visible, you could follow the trail mountaineers use to Denali Pass (5,547m), then turn north to North peak (5,913m) or south to Archdeacons Tower (5,911m) and Denali (6,190m).
