does tyax (or anyone else) do gear drops for people who are riding in?
I just asked them about that, here's what they said:
For gear drops, we always require the plane to be chartered - we wouldn't have room going in with another group (usually a pretty full plane load going in) and while there is sometimes a possibility of a back-haul on the way out (taking the gear back after we've dropped off a group) we can't guarantee that, so require the plane to be chartered for the pick-up, as well. If it turns out we are able to pick up the gear on a back-haul, we will refund a portion of your pick-up charter fee, but that is never a guarantee.
So unless you have a big group, it doesn't seem worth it… we've pretty much decided to carry gear into Spruce (seems to take about 3-4 hours according to previous trip posts). And do loops from there. We're planning on the first week of Aug, if you were interested in sharing a flight.