Category archives for Alaska
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Expedition Denali Short from Distill Productions, LLC on Vimeo. I’ve been told it shouldn’t matter. But as one in a handful of black professionals in the outdoor recreation industry, I can’t help being wildly excited. In June the first team of African-American climbers will attempt to reach the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the tallest…
The Powder Highway Road Trip – Dispatch #7 – Haines, Alaska (Video + Photos)
Posted by Bruce J. Bauer on May 8, 2013 See previous dispatches >> A cold, dark winter subsides as the days grow longer and the sun’s rays intensify. The inevitable change in seasons triggers an innate response in all living creatures—bears awake from hibernation, birds take flight, and fish swim upstream. Migration is a matter of survival for certain animal species while select humans…
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A snowboarding pioneer risked his career to usher in a new era of exploration in the world’s wildest mountain ranges. Vote for Jeremy Jones See photos of all ten Adventurers of the Year! “There is no longer anywhere in the world that I consider too hard to get to,” says big-mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones. In…
Adventurers of the Year in Their Own Words (Vote for the People’s Choice!)
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on November 4, 2012 
Last Friday we announced the ten inspising 2013 Adventurers of the Year. Each has shown a long-term commitment to striving, suffering, and rejoicing in adventure—in diverse ways. They prove that great adventures do still exist. Now you must decide which one will become the new People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year for 2013 by voting every day for…
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After a summer of training hard in Washington’s Cascade Range, British Columbia’s Waddington Range, and Alaska’s Chugach Range, the Expedition Denali team is poised to embark on their journey to Denali in June 2013. This film clip will give you a brief window into their training this past summer and their thoughts on the upcoming…
Skiing the Wild West: A Summer Heli Tour of Alaska’s Tordrillos
Posted by Kim Havell on July 3, 2012 
If there is a Wild West to Alaska heli-skiing it can be found at the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge (TML). Accessible only by small aircraft, TML is a 40-minute flight from the city of Anchorage. Serving as the base camp to mountain and river adventures, the lodge offers a rare solitude, perched on the edge of…
Contributing writer Casey Dean helped with this post. We have peaks on the brain here at NOLS, as one of our own returns from an expedition to the highest point in the world and our Expedition Denali team prepares for a summer of training on glaciers in Alaska, the Waddington, and the Wind River Range.…
NOLS is training the Expedition Denali team for their 2013 attempt to summit Denali. With the help of Climb Strong, we’ve set up a rigorous fitness regimen that will whip the team into shape. They’ve already established a base level of fitness and have started building it up with a simple 30-minute metabolic workout. Follow…
We adventurers often daydream of climbing rugged peaks, swimming in pristine high alpine lakes, traversing across blue-green glaciers, or trekking along rugged ridgelines with dramatic views … while we’re sitting at our desk eating donuts. Do you feel like reaching for your next adventure is just making your arms sore? At NOLS, we’re working with…
By Contributing Writer Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin, Faculty member and Diversity & Inclusion Manager at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) On June 7, 1913, Alaska Native Walter Harper was the first person to summit Denali, the highest peak in North America. And though the face of our nation has evolved from mostly white to a mosaic…
Fringe Elements Videos: The Evolution of the Splitboard
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 5, 2011 By Fitz Cahall; Video still by Bryan Smith Watch more Fringe Elements videos >> In the last year, splitboarding has reached a tipping point. Ski movie stalwarts Teton Gravity Research released Deeper, which featured snowboards that transform into skis, to much fanfare. In the last three years, several snowboard companies have begun aggressively marketing these…
What It Takes to Compete in Alaska’s Iditarod–Jamaican Musher Dances to Keep Warm
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on February 28, 2011 By Tetsuhiko Endo; Photograph by Bob Hallinen, Landov, see more adventurers in our Ultimate Adventurers gallery. The long, cold winter is winding down for most of us, but in Alaska, they are gearing up for one last hurrah. That’s right, the 86th Iditarod kicks off March 6. The dogsledding race goes from Anchorage to Nome,…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: See Andrew Skurka’s Story in National Geogarphic Magazine
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on February 18, 2011 Photograph by Michael Christopher Brown. See the story, photos, and map in the March issue of National Geographic Magazine. About a year ago, Andrew Skurka embarked on the hardest expedition of his life—4,679 miles of skiing, hiking, and packrafting in wildest Alaska and the Yukon. You probably recall his thoughtful blog dispatches on this website.…
The Wild Within TV Host Steven Rinella on Adventuring to Eat (Video)
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on January 19, 2011 What if you could use your philosophy toward food to fuel a life of adventure? And we don’t mean digging around in your veggie garden. How about hunting octopus off Maui, crabbing in Alaska, or even gathering snails in San Francisco’s sprawling Golden Gate Park? For consummate outdoorsman Steven Rinella adventuring to eat is a…
Andrew Skurka Answers Your Questions on Expedition Planning, Grizzlies, the Ladies, More
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on October 19, 2010 Here Andrew Skurka answers your questions about his 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition.See a photo gallery from the expedition and watch for the article in National Geographic Magazine in spring 2011. 1. What would you do without your mother? — George Eichman III My mother is certainly an integral and critical part of my trips, though my father should get some…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Three Ways the Expedition Changed Me
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on September 28, 2010 By Andrew Skurka, written from Boulder, Colorado, after finishing his 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition See a photo gallery from the expedition and watch for the article in National Geographic Magazine in spring 2011. This past weekend, just two weeks after finishing my trip, I moved back to the exceptional city of Boulder, Colorado. My life does…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: A Few Words on Finishing – Chocolate, Bears, Feeling Humbled (Photo Gallery)
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on September 8, 2010 On Monday Andrew Skurka finished his epic Alaska-Yukon Expedition, covering 4,700+ miles and finishing a few weeks early, even! We'll hear more from him later in the week. Until then, here are some of his initial thoughts on finishing. Check out our photo gallery with highlights from the expedition. THOUGHTS ON FOOD? After six months…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Wilderness Redefined
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on August 16, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. I grew up in a Masschusetts suburb where I found "wilderness" in abandoned gravel…
Alaska Heli-Skiing: EpicQuest’s Vertical Guarantee
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on July 27, 2010 By Greer Schott Heli-skiing in Alaska can be epic, but so can the weather—there’s always the risk of being grounded. When you’re making the trek all the way to Alaska, the last thing you want is your adventure vacation to turn into a sit-in-the-lodge vacation. That’s where EpicQuest’s new Ultimate Flex Package comes in. It’s…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: 5 Tips For Hiking With Vicious Swarms of Mosquitos
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on July 19, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.The section between Dawson City, YT, and Fort McPherson, NT, will be memorable for several…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: The Finish Line is in Sight–Just 1,700 Miles to Go…
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on July 8, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.Posted July 3, 2010, from Dawson, Yukon Territory There's a point in every trip when…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: On Finishing 450 Miles on the Yukon River
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on July 3, 2010 Posted July 3, from Dawson, Yukon Territory Earlier tonight I pulled into the historic gold rush town of Dawson, which marks the end of my 450-mile float on the Yukon River (starting in Whitehorse) and the beginning of my final leg through the wilds of northern Yukon and northern Alaska back to Kotzebue. I had…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: The Halfway Point: Should I Care?
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 21, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.Posted June 20 from Haines, Alaska Before I began this trip in March my friend…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Party in Haines – Help Plan Andrew’s Halfway-Point Celebration!
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 18, 2010 By Monday, Andrew Skurka will arrive in Haines, Alaska, marking the midpoint in his epic, 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition. This means he has traveled roughly 2,350 miles—all by his own power via skis, on foot, and by packraft. Though he's trekked some 25,000 miles over his 29 years, Andrew readily admits that this has been his…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Packrafting 101
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 8, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.Posted from Cordova, Alaska Two weeks ago I shipped my skis home and picked up…
