Olympic Parents
Parents of three Anchorage Olympians join us in the studio. Some of them are headed to Sochi, where the winter games start Friday, so we pre-recorded the show. We’ve heard from athletes, but as a parent it is easier to identify more with the parents: with their pride, and trepidation, and with knowledge of the sacrifices made for a young person to succeed at the highest level. We'll learn how parents produce an Olympian, and how it feels, good and bad, once you have one in the family.
KSKA: Thursday 2/6 at 2:00 and 9:00 pm
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Getting Ready for Paddling Season
The ice will soon go out soon on our lakes and rivers. The sea otters are ready to pose for our pictures. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re getting ready for paddling season. Host Charles Wohlforth and guests will be talking about canoeing, kayaking, rafting, rivers, lakes and the ocean -- gear, safety, planning and packing. We'll be dreaming about the trips we would love to take, and talking to folks who have done them.
KSKA: Thursday, April 17, at 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
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Chugach Front Linkup 2023: New Peak, New Record
In March, Ben Americus accomplished many firsts on the Chugach Front Linkup: the first late winter completion, the first to ski off the peaks and the first to complete the Linkup since Ptarmigan Peak was added as the 13th summit over 5000 feet. This week on Outdoor Explorer Ben joins host Lisa Keller to talk about how he added his name to Chugach Front Linkup history.
Rick Steves and The Art of Europe
On this show, our guest is Rick Steves. If you’ve watched public television in the last 20 years, you likely know him from his travel shows Rick Steves Europe and Travel with Rick Steves. Our discussion covers how he turned his passion for travel into a business as well as climate change and travel, why it’s important to say yes to travel opportunities, and his new show The Art of Europe.
Women and minorities in the outdoors
Women and people of color have traditionally been underrepresented in outdoor activities. That is changing quickly. On the next Outdoor Explorer, Lisa will be talking with women and men who are in the vanguard of the movement to open the outdoors to all people.
Thanks for listening!
Gold Prospecting
It’s a fair bet that the stampeders who flowed north during the Klondike Gold Rush never thought of mining as recreational, but the hunt for gold is something people do for fun, as well as profit. We’ll find out how and why modern recreational miners persist in sifting Alaska’s streams with pans and other obsolete equipment, going after glittering flakes of gold, and hoping for something much richer. It’s a hobby that gets them outdoors, and it’s a treasure hunt.
KSKA: Thursday, June 26, at 2:00 and 9:00 p.m.
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Water Taxis to Wilderness
Coastal communities are the best thresholds to the wilderness for most of us who live in urban Alaska. That’s because a short boat ride can get you from the small boat harbor to a wild beach many, many miles from the nearest road, a place that likely is inaccessible any other way. On today’s show, we’re going to talk about using water taxis and where they can take you for hiking, paddling, or just setting up camp and enjoying incredibly beautiful, biologically rich places.
KSKA: Thursday, April 30, at 2:00 and 9:00 p.m.
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Rickshaw Run across India
This week’s Outdoor Explorer features the Rickshaw Run Across India. Three Alaskans travelled 1800 miles across India in a motorized tricycle using their skills
developed in Alaska’s wilds.
A visit from Kikkan Randall
If Alaska were a country, she would be our national hero. Kikkan Randall, the Olympic gold medal skier, joins us on the next Outdoor Explorer. Randall is, of course, a household name in Alaska, where we’ve been watching her progress over the course of an amazing international career. As she retires from skiing and settles down with her family, we’ll have a chance to learn about her life, her racing career, her future--and, of course, that thrilling relay in Korea when she brought home the gold.
Thanks for listening!
Wildflowers
One of the great joys of hiking in Alaska is seeing the plants and flowers, watching how they change as you pass through different ecosystems and elevations, and learning the names and characteristics of the species you see. The mountains and woods where we hike are always beautiful, but when you understand what you are seeing the pleasure is greatly increased. Join host Charles Wohlforth and guests to learn more about Alaska wildflowers.
KSKA: Thursday, July 31, at 2:00 and 9:00 p.m.
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Olympic prep & a viral skating video
KSKA: Thursday, December 7, at 2:00 p.m. The winter Olympics are coming up. How will Alaska’s winter athletes get there? Who pays the bills for their elite athletics and world travel? We’ll talk with ski coach Erik Flora to learn more about how they manage all this. Also in the show, we’ll hear from a pair of skaters who made a spectacular viral video you may have seen, about backcountry ice skating. t's a packed show we're sure you'll enjoy.
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National Parks Exploration
KSKA: Thursday, Aug. 25, at 2:00 p.m. On this Outdoor Explorer we’re saying happy birthday to the national parks by airing the show on the 100th anniversary of the creation of National Park Service, which takes care of some of the nation’s most dramatic and valuable wilderness. We’ll hear a little about that history and how the centennial is being celebrated during the show, but our main emphasis is on the parks themselves.
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Outdoor summer camps
On the next Outdoor Explorer we are learning about outdoor summer camps for kids. Once school is out camps are a ritual for many families, however camps have changed a lot in the last 20 years. Camps have become more professional and are not just a month living in the woods.
Glacier Trekking
A huge proportion of Alaska is covered with ice. A lot more than has towns and cities or anything man made on it. That’s a lot of country to explore, and its truly beautiful, like another world. On the next Outdoor Explorer the topic is glacier travel. We’ll be talking with a guide who takes newbies on glacier treks, a photographer who specializes in glacier journeys, and a glaciologist who goes to work on glaciers, and knows how they’re made.
KSKA: Thursday 6/20 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
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Swimming Alaska
In this Outdoor Explorer, we’ll be joined by Sheryl Mohwinkel, Melinda Greig and Jenny Kimball, open water long distance swimmers. This summer they swam the Nancy Lake Canoe Trail System, becoming possibly the first people to swim the traditional canoe route. Their future swimming adventures in Alaska are even more ambitious.
Aviation Safety
KSKA: Thursday, April 07, at 2pm and Thursday, April 14 at 8pm
In Alaska, we rely on air taxis and private pilots to go hunting, hiking, floating and to climb mountains. If you’ve been doing that long enough, you’ve been on some scary flights, as I certainly have. But for some reason we don’t talk about that much, or about the people who have died, as if we thought we couldn’t do anything about it. On the next show we are having that talk.
Whittier, gateway to the Prince William Sound
The town of Whittier is surprisingly close to Anchorage. With luck on hitting the tunnel schedule, you can be there in an hour. That hour puts you on the edge of one the the world’s largest and modest spectacular marine recreation areas, Prince William Sound. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re going to talk about going to Whittier. It’s not just for tourists, it’s a threshold to the ocean and the wilderness.
Trail building in Alaska: Summer of 2021
Trails are one of the primary infrastructures in the outdoors. They lead us to destinations or are
an end unto themselves. Trails provide opportunity for observing nature, getting exercise, and relaxation. Trail building in Alaska has come a long way since people went straight up the fall line. On this week’s Outdoor Explorer we will discuss the summer of 2021 trail building projects and how to get involved.
Nordic Combined: A Developing Alaskan Sport
At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the U.S. went from no medals ever in the sport of nordic combined to a gold and three silvers, more than any other country. Now there’s a push on to keep performing in this combination of jumping and distance skiing, and Anchorage is a key to the effort. On the next Outdoor Explorer, host Charles Wohlforth will be joined by a national team skier and coach, in town to build the athlete pipeline.
KSKA: Thursday 4/18 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Sports Psychology
KSKA: Thursday Nov. 17 at 2:00 p.m. Successful athletes often say the mental game is as important as physical training, but what does that really mean? We’ll find out on the next show. What you’ll learn on the next show could make you a better athlete, and it can also make you more successful in life.
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