Archive for the ‘alaska’ Category

Trekking the Wild North

Friday, January 13th, 2012
Trekking the Wild North with Andrew Skurka. Some of you may recall that name. Andrew was named an "Adventurer of the Year" by Outside in 2010, the "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Society in 2007, and the "Person of the Year" by Backpacker in 2005. He's best known, perhaps, for his 2010 solo trek around the Alaskan and Yukon bush. His adventure deep into the wild north was roughly 4680 miles in length, including 1315 miles of skiing, 2100 miles of trekking, and 1270 miles of packrafting, and took him 176 days to complete.

Last March Skurka gave a presentation about his trek at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington D.C. During his discussion he shared photos and video clips from his adventure with the audience. The video below is from that presentation. Although it's fairly long when compared to most online videos, anyone who enjoys the outdoors, or has ever dreamed of doing their own big adventure, will likely enjoy this:





Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Andrew Skurka, Trekking the Wild North, Yukon, alaska | Comments Off

‘A Year of Adventure’ sweepstakes: Heli Skiing in Alaska

Monday, December 19th, 2011
‘A Year of Adventure’ sweepstakes, co-sponsored by Sierra Designs and Alaska Mountain Guides, continues with the final installment of its once-in-a-lifetime adventure giveaways.

Launched in April of this year, the ‘A Year of Adventure’ consumer sweepstakes is offering contestants an incredible opportunity to learn mountaineering skills in Ecuador, win a trek to Everest Base Camp, or access untracked powder via helicopter in the Alaska backcountry. Premier guide service Alaska Mountain Guides will lead the trips and Sierra Designs is supplying apparel and equipment.

The winner of the third and final sweepstakes will float through untracked powder on seldom-skied peaks in the Alaskan backcountry. The Heli Skiing in Alaska sweeps will start today. Contestants will be able to enter until midnight on April 17, 2012 with a winner drawn the following day. The Heli Skiing prize pack will include Sierra Designs Ministry 40 packs, Gnar down jackets, Mantra Fusion jackets, and Fusion pants.

For more information on the sweepstakes and how to enter, please click here. Each prizewinner will have up to one year to schedule their trip.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in A Year of Adventure, Heli Skiing, Sweepstakes, alaska | Comments Off

Local author returns from Alaska

Monday, August 9th, 2010
In case you've missed her blog recently, Danny Bernstein, author of two NC hiking guides, has been posting about her trip to Alaska.

Her travels took her to Anchorage, Barrow, the Kenai Peninsula, and a short cruise in Prince William Sound.

She's also published an excellent article on the National Parks Traveler website that goes into a little detail about her experiences in Denali National Park, as well as her stay at Camp Denali.

Danny does a great job of providing the overview of her experiences from the perspective of her "home" national park - Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

You can read her Denali article by clicking here, and visit her blog by clicking here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Denali National Park, alaska | Comments Off

National Parks factoid of the day

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
What percentage of the U.S. surface area is designated as national park?

Answer: 3.5%

There are 58 U.S. national parks. The largest is the Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which is two-and-a-half times the size of the country of Wales.

You can find a few other interesting factoids by clicking on this U.K. Independent article.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

Posted in Best of the National Parks, Wrangell-St Elias, alaska | Comments Off