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New Trips ~ Special Deals ~ Travel Tips

So there you sit in your office, reading your email, surfing the web, daydreaming about Alaska...

It's okay, we know you're doing it (and your boss probably does too). You're not alone; our numbers show that most people visit our website on Tuesday afternoons. (Visits are thankfully down on weekends, you should be outside after all!)

Well we'd love to help you kill some time until that next meeting...

Here are some great new trips to tempt you, and some special deals to make it even more attractive.

FInd out what some of our Guides are up to when they're not taking folks up the face of a glacier or cooking blueberry pancakes.

We've included some tips on doing your own independent trip in Alaska, a feature on one of our guests and more.

Guest Spotlight -
Tad Giyan

So what do you do when you've been "downsized"?

Pack up your life in the big city, sell most of your possessions, take a volunteer position helping young people and move to Boulder Colorado. But first, go on vacation in Alaska.

That's what Tad did. When he found himself jobless in Chicago, he decided maybe a change would do him good. Not one to go halfway, he left the city and headed west to Boulder where he now works with young adults as a volunteer with AmeriCorps.

"The connections made with some of the youth are so strong it is a tangible reminder to me of why we are here. This sense of connection with others is what was missing for me in the dollars and cents environment of my prior employment while pulling together the next big deal. "

Thanks to Tad for sharing his story with us. READ ON

Yes, that's ice. Oh that's gotta be cold.

What our Guides are up to this winter...

Tina - Working with a NASA Balloon project circling Antarctica, 20 miles up!
Don - Managing a science camp in cold, flat, white West Antarctica
Ben - Teaching English, in Outer Mongolia!
Bryn - Skiing, ice climbing and starting a "real job" in Anchorage
Heather - Skiing, ice climbing and working as a Medic on the North Slope
Jaya - Guiding on a glacier in New Zealand
Danny - Guiding ski trips in Yellowstone National Park
Jason - Started Graduate School in Vermont
Jessica - Living in Vermont, up at 4 am baking and teaching rock and ice climbing
(Congratulations to Jason and Jessica who just got engaged!)

Why Fly?
Well, in case you haven't heard, Alaska is BIG. And we don't have many roads so one of the best ways to access some incredible places is by bush plane.

These workhorses use skis, floats or "tundra tires" to land just about anywhere. Sometimes a 30 minute flight will get you right into the "middle of nowhere"; it would take you days on foot or be impossible.

Taking a flight should definitely be a part of your Alaskan adventure. Either a stunning flight seeing trip, a fly-in fishing day or a drop off out in the wilderness.

Denali Climbers
Tina and Jaya stopped by the Moose’s Tooth to meet Dan, Tad and their Guide Don for dinner halfway through their customized, souped-up version of Extreme Week. The boys had already sea kayaked Prince William Sound, even going for a swim in the 50 degree water. Then they rafted Six Mile Creek, including the exciting third canyon and more swimming in even colder water (ok, so they had dry suits this time). But they were starting to think of themselves as real Alaskan mountain men.

But the next day was going to be ice climbing, Jaya was going to be their Guide, and they were starting to have some doubts.

Jaya Marr is not a particularly scary person…A great smile, a twinkle in her eye and that charming New Zealand accent. But her hands. Scarred from years of ice climbing, traces of glacier silt that no scrubbing can remove, permanently flushed from handling soaking wet and ice cold ropes, and obviously very, very, strong. On her right hand, in permanent marker, was scrawled “BEER”. This prompted all sorts of theories but was really just a reminder to pick up a six pack for a friend back at camp, her version of a Palm Pilot.

Jaya’s part of a team of three Exposure Guides planning to climb the highest peak in North America this spring. She’ll join Bryn Clark and Heather Lee-Burnell for an early season attempt on Denali (Mt. McKinley, 20,320 feet). If you’ve been fortunate enough to have any of these extraordinary women as your Guide, you know first-hand how tough they are. It’s likely that their pack was twice as heavy as yours and they were barely breaking a sweat.

Even so, they’ll be spending this winter training for the physical challenges of the mountain; On Denali they’ll be carrying over 60 pounds on their back and dragging a sled.

They’ll also be eating, a lot. Our guests often remark about how much our Guides can put away, and how lean they are. These three will be burning even more calories as they train, plus needing to put on a little extra. It’s going to be cold on the mountain…20 – 30 below and that’s not wind chill.

This will be the second team of Exposure Guides to climb “the Hill”. In 2002, Don, John and Danny finally reached the summit after being stuck for 5 days in a half-buried tent at 16,000 feet. Typically, about 50% of the climbers each season reach the summit.

And Dan and Tad? They survived ice climbing, hiking high in the Talkeetna mountains and all the rest of their Alaskan adventures. As he climbed to a 5000 foot pass, Tad remarked “I’m glad we don’t have one of those girls for a Guide on this part of the trip. I would feel kinda bad having to take all these breaks!”

Their version of Extreme Week is now offered as one of our regular trips. Return to Top

About Bears ~

Read about Alaska's bears in a previous newsletter.

Fishing
Enjoy a night on the town where you'll bend elbows with mountain climbers, dog mushers and a whole cast of characters. The next day you'll be up early to board a jet boat for a ride up one of several rivers in the Talkeetna area. We'll spend the next few days fishing and floating our way back to town in our raft. Comfortable camps, some good fishing and a great way to travel through the backcountry.

If you're really serious about fishing and catching lots of trophy fish, another great option is flying in for a day at a known hot spot. We can set you up with a professional fishing guide that lives and breathes the sport, and knows where the fish are! Return to Top

Tad's Story
I was employed by a specialized finance company in the Chicagoland area, with a portfolio of about $2.0 billion, in the leveraged finance industry. In my job, each situation was unique and always required an innovative, creative solution. Being able to have a major say in coming up with that solution was quite thrilling.

But the stress involved in that line of work not only burned me out, it also contributed to the end of my relationship with my fiancé before we were to be married in October 2002. The end of the relationship prodded me to question what I wanted to do with my life, and, being burnt out with my current situation, I knew it was not more of the same. I slowly began exploring a number of different possibilities for what to do next. One thing that consistently intrigued me was AmeriCorps. It was something that remained in my memory and prodded me every time I wondered what I wanted to do next.

In June, 2004, I was let go when the company was going through some significant downsizing. It was at that point that I knew the next step for me was to start putting into action what I had been slowly dreaming up over the past few months. I was going to move to some part of the country that I had always dreamed of living in and do a year of service with AmeriCorps.

In researching all the projects AmeriCorps offered, I decided to work with foster youth in Boulder County, CO. In my current position with the Boulder County Department of Social Services, I am a mentor for youth in transition from the custody of this department to independent living. Our program was designed to minimize the challenges the foster youth have traditionally faced being unprepared to be self-sufficient by their 18th birthday when they were no longer in custody of social services. The youths’ lack of preparedness and the discontinuation of support from social services often resulted in, and still does result in, homelessness, drug use or other anti-societal behaviors.

My activities with the youth include teaching them some basic life skills they will need to be self-sufficient covering such topics as employment, money management, nutrition, health, housing and legal matters.

This is accomplished through lessons, in either a group setting like that of a class or individually. In addition, I work one-on-one with youth getting necessary identification cards, searching for jobs and filling out applications together, searching for apartments, tutoring them in their homework and generally mentoring them in what ever individual need the youth has.

I am currently 5 months into my service here and the experience has been invaluable. Although progress is challenging when working with this population, progress is being made. I have learned to appreciate the victories big and small because it is positively impacting the entire lives these youth have in front of them. The connections made with some of the youth are so strong it is a tangible reminder to me of why we are here. This sense of connection with others is what was missing for me in the dollars and cents environment of my prior employment while pulling together the next big deal.

At times I am asked, either by others or myself, “what I am going to do next”, and I can honestly say I have no idea. I just know that giving myself the freedom to make my life a bit of an adventure while getting to help some people out along the way has rejuvenated what my life means to me. I have learned to trust through what I have recently been through that life has more fantastic experiences lined up for me down the road, but right now I choose to focus on helping the youth I am currently working with to the best of my ability. Time will tell what I do next.

More information on:

Backpacking

Sea-Kayaking

Matanuska Glacier

Climbing Denali

FAQs

Other Adventures