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LISTEN: Imagine hiking all the tallest summits of the Chugach Front Range in one trip. These people did it this year.

Alaska Public Media | By Eric Bork
Published October 25, 2019 at 5:21 PM AKDT

There are 12 summits over 5000 feet in the Chugach Front Range: Mount Williwaw, Temptation Peak, Tanaina Peak, The Ramp, Tikishla Peak, West Tanaina Peak, O’Malley Peak, Koktoya Peak, Hidden Peak, North Suicide Peak, Avalanche Mountain, and Suicide Peak. Any one of these peaks is a great destination for a day hike. Now imagine stringing them all together in just one outing. The Linkup, also known as Cosmic Integration in the Chugach Mountains, is between 36 – 45 miles with 18 – 21,000 vertical feet. Since legendary hiker Shawn Lyons first established the Chugach Front Linkup in 1990, there have been 17 known Linkups by 25 people. Five separate Linkups by 8 people happened just this year, an unprecedented number that produced 6 records. In the first segment today we’ll hear from Sophia Tidler, the first woman to solo the Linkup. Next up are Julianne Dickerson, April McAnly and Abby Jahn who intended to become the first women to complete the Linkup without a man but instead ended up breaking Sophia’s 3 week old time record. Finally, Lars Arneson will share his journey in taking 3 hours off the men’s record which was only set a year ago and was seen at the time as being near impossible to top.

HOST: Lisa Keller

GUESTS:

Segment 1: Sophia Tidler: first solo woman
Segment 2: Julianne Dickerson, April McAnly and Abby Jahn: women’s record holders
Segment 3: Lars Arneson: men’s record holder

LINKS:

BROADCAST: Thursday, October 31st, 2019. 2:00 pm – 3:00 p.m. AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday, October 31st, 2019. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT

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Eric Bork
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs. After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
See stories by Eric Bork